A Day In The Life Of A Public Policy Manager At A Global Health Non-Profit
Zeke's week as a Public Policy Manager involves numerous meetings with county supervisors, legislators, internal teams, and other service providers to navigate the complexities of California's affordable housing crisis and homeless services funding; this includes "flipping Sacramento" to advocate for policy changes, building relationships at after-work events, and consistently updating leadership through over-communication to ensure everyone is informed and aligned on their organization's initiatives.
Public Policy, Advocacy, Political Processes, Community Engagement, Communication
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Zeke Sandoval
Public Policy Manager
Global Health Non-Profit
University of Southern California, 2019
Not applicable
Political Science, American Studies
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Legal
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Public policy management involves frequent meetings with diverse stakeholders, including government officials, internal teams, and community organizations. Zeke's schedule includes meetings with county supervisors, legislators, internal DEI groups, and city council offices, illustrating the collaborative nature of the work.
2. Navigating the complexities of policy and legislation is crucial. Zeke highlights working on a bill to reform homeless services funding, demonstrating the importance of understanding the legislative process and advocating for policy changes. The work also involves analyzing budgets and understanding their impact on policy initiatives.
3. Effective communication and relationship-building are essential skills. Zeke emphasizes the significance of consistent communication with colleagues and stakeholders, including proactive updates and participation in informal networking events. This highlights the importance of collaboration and building strong professional relationships in the field.
Transcript
What does the day in the life of a public policy manager look like?
Here's the cleaned transcript:
It's a lot of meetings. To give an overview of the week I just had, we're talking late April 2023. On Monday, I met with a County Supervisor in Santa Clara County. I also met with our Communications team to discuss our strategy for the next week, which is a regular meeting.
I met with our development team to learn about any affordable housing development projects that are encountering roadblocks. It's very challenging to build housing in California, especially affordable housing. Essentially, all of those barriers are political. It's crucial for me to understand these barriers so I can work to remove them.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was in Sacramento with other advocates, service providers, and local governments to discuss our legislative portfolio. A key focus was a bill to reform how the state spends money on homeless services. We need an ongoing funding source to do the work we aim to accomplish. This involved meetings with legislators and legislative offices.
Afterward, there were happy hours. While not always part of the job description, these are valuable for people interested in politics. A lot of work gets done and relationships are built outside the office, so it's good to be prepared for that. It might not be the healthiest habit, but it's part of the reality.
On Thursday, I met with our internal DEI groups to discuss how we're promoting inclusivity and our values in our work. Specifically, in my role, Black people disproportionately experience homelessness, as do LGBTQ+ minorities. It's important for organizations like ours to acknowledge this and uplift the perspectives of people in our organization with lived experience, so we can create better policies.
Today, I met with our LA staff. This is a bi-weekly meeting to get a sense of what's happening, any issues they're facing, which council members need to be engaged, who needs to be pushed to do more, and upcoming events. We also had a meeting with our communications staff to discuss how we're messaging our policies and their impact.
After this, I'll be meeting with another city council office. This is a regular meeting along with other homeless service providers to discuss the city's response. The city is finalizing its budget for the 23-24 fiscal year, so I expect the conversation to focus largely on that.
In between these meetings, a significant portion of my work involves writing. I write about budget specifics in city and county contexts, upcoming legislation, and changes to legislation we support, including necessary amendments. I don't make the sole decisions on what we support, which is understandable.
Therefore, I need to ensure our CEO, program leadership, and development leadership are informed about what's happening. This can be challenging for those early in their careers. It's always beneficial to err on the side of over-communicating in a workplace. Even if you think people don't want to hear from you, send the email or message. It's better for people to know what you're doing than to assume you're not working or simply be forgotten, which hinders career growth.
A lot of my role involves attending meetings and then updating people on them, as well as setting the plan of attack or a forward-moving plan to implement our discussions.