Program Associate

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Program Associate in the Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives Department of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. 

The Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives Department (ASNI) builds state capacity and strengthens the connections between the ACLU and its network of 54 state affiliates and their 1,500 staff members across the country. Their work constitutes an unparalleled bulwark defending and advancing our civil liberties and civil rights. ASNI staff lead efforts to build program, build organizations, and drive resources to key battles across the country, positioning the nationwide organization for future challenges. 

The Program and Strategy Team of ASNI works with ACLU affiliates in two interrelated ways. The team builds and cultivates excellence, best practices, and alignment in communications, legal, digital, legislative, advocacy, and organizing programs in ACLU affiliates. The team also works with affiliate and national staff to drive and coordinate regional, multi-state, and nationwide efforts to advance civil rights and liberties issues. The team collaborates with other ASNI teams, ACLU national office partners, and ACLU affiliate program staff to advance high-impact collaborative efforts with affiliates, grow durable capacity and power in affiliates, and support strong and resilient organizations that center equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. 

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).

Reporting to the Senior Director of Program and Strategy, the Program Associate will primarily help coordinate and support the Program and Strategy Team’s work to build program capacity to secure civil rights and liberties victories with ACLU affiliates and national staff. The position will provide administrative and logistical support and help with the measurement, tracking, data collection, analysis, surveying and reporting needs. The Program Associate is a critical position in the success of the Team’s work, helping ensure efficiency, organization, impact, and a strong and healthy team culture in the Department. 

• Manage the scheduling, preparation timeline, planning, communications, execution, and follow-up of meetings, working groups, workshops, convenings, and affiliate visits.  
• Support and advance internal communications and coordination strategies within the Team, wider Department, and wider ACLU network.  
• Assist the Associate Director of Events and PST and ASNI colleagues with planning logistics and support during meetings, events, trainings, or convenings held in the NYC office headquarters or off-site.  
• Contribute to success of meetings, including room setup, creating presentations, preparing, and distributing materials, devising agendas, facilitating, and taking notes.  
• Research, contribute to, and produce and maintain a bank of resources that support program development.  
• Generate and execute ideas for maximizing the team’s efficiency, organization, and impact.  
• Support the Senior Director and Project Manager in managing and tracking team budgets, invoices, and supporting the execution of procurement processes and vendor contracts.  
• Collect, input, and maintain data that will support measurement objectives on program-related efforts.  
• Support the development of evaluative tools and fair measures of capacity and success of affiliate and Team programs.  
• Support and help operationalize a learning culture of ‘plan, execute, debrief’ in the team’s work and support the Program and Strategy Team with disciplined planning, tracking, and debriefing processes of the work for sharing.  
• Be an ambassador for the Department with national and affiliate staff to build a greater understanding of the role of the department and importance of affiliate work.  
• Support innovative practices that will build a talent pipeline in the ACLU.  
• Help support the National Director, Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives, and the PST Senior Director with coordination around grants to affiliates and new programmatic initiatives with the ASNI Grants Manager; and provide summary/analysis of grant reports as needed.  
• Manage the scheduling and calendar of the Senior Director.  
• Process expense reports and reimbursements for the Senior Director using SAP Concur.    
• Identify areas for own growth and strategies to accomplish.  
• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with affiliate staff and national colleagues to advance affiliate organizational effectiveness.  
• Facilitate, coordinate, and ensure team-to-team connectivity within ASNI and with other national departments; help problem solve if affiliate needs are not sufficiently prioritized.  
• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned. 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

• Demonstrated experience program coordination, administration or related experience
• Highly organized with attention to detail.  
• High proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and Asana.  
• Ability to take initiative, think creatively, problem solve, work well under pressure, and manage multiple priorities and projects effectively under tight deadlines.   
• Must be able to work both independently as well as within a team.  
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.  
• Demonstrate a commitment to EDIB within the office using a personal approach that values all individuals and respects differences in regard to race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and socio-economic circumstance.  

• Experience working in an organization dedicated to advancing civil rights and liberties.  
• Demonstrated experience with excellent project management skills executed in fast-paced and high intensity environments.  
• Experience supporting, managing, or executing digital and in-person events or convenings, including vendor coordination, travel arrangements, and on-site logistics.   
• Experience working with or managing budgets, including tracking expenditures, reconciling financial reports, attention to detail, and identifying budget risks.   
• Familiarity with design tools to produce visually compelling reports or presentations, such as Canva or similar platforms.   

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being. 

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change.  We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.    

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please complete the Accommodation Request Form

If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.