Public Policy Manager Responsibilities at a Global Health Non-Profit
Zeke's main responsibility as Public Policy Manager is "crafting the policy portfolio" by prioritizing the experiences of "the people who are doing the day-to-day work," translating their expertise into policy and facilitating direct communication between these individuals and elected officials to ensure policies reflect real-world impact. This approach emphasizes local-level impact, recognizing the direct effect of policy decisions on people's lives.
Public Policy, Non-profit Management, Government Relations, Policy Analysis, Community Engagement
Advizer Information
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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. Zeke crafts policy portfolios for his non-profit, interacting with local, state, and federal decision-makers. This involves understanding current issues and translating the on-the-ground experiences of his colleagues into effective policy proposals.
2. He emphasizes the importance of grounding policy decisions in the real-world experiences of those doing the direct work, rather than solely reacting to media or social media trends.
3. Zeke highlights the significance of connecting his colleagues directly with elected officials, believing that firsthand accounts from those implementing policies offer invaluable insight and context for policymakers. This direct connection allows for a more effective and impactful policy process.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
The overarching work I do now is crafting the policy portfolio for Path with our local, state, and federal decision-makers. This means knowing the issues and talking to our staff about them.
In a role like mine, it's important not to get dragged around by discussions on Twitter. I'm hopelessly addicted to that platform and need it out of my life. It's also important not to be swayed by conversations or what's going on in the media.
Those things are important for situational context, but I really work for our staff. I work for the people doing the day-to-day work of ending homelessness. My policy positions must be based on their experiences, as they are the experts.
So, it's also about knowing what's going on in their lives and their day-to-day work. I need to be able to translate that into policy and liaise with elected officials, ensuring they're speaking directly to the people doing the work.
Elected officials hear from me all day, and that's fine. But it's better for them to hear from the folks actually doing this work, so they know the real cost and triumphs of the policies they're implementing. This is especially true on the local level, where every action by a city councilmember or county supervisor ripples out and affects people's lives.
In my case, that's housing, which is fundamental to defining your day-to-day life. It's really important that I can make those connections: between myself and elected officials, myself and elected official staff, and our colleagues at Path, and then between elected officials and staff to staff.