Research Associate

Job Details

Job Type: Exempt

Position: Full Time (Mid-level)

Location: Portland, OR

Compensation: $67,000.00 - $67,000.00 (Annually)

Apply

To Apply Visit our website to submit your cover letter and resume. The cover letter should include why you are applying to Children’s Institute as a Research Associate and how your experience aligns with the role.

Deadline: Oct 18, 2024

Application Link

Job Description

Title: Research Associate

Reports to: Director of Research & Strategy

Location: Open to applicants in Oregon; options available to work at Children’s Institute offices in downtown Portland (Hybrid)

Travel: 10-15%

Job Classification:   Exempt, l FTE (40 hours per week)

Salary: $67,000

Closing: Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on October 18, 2024 At Children’s Institute (CI), our mission is to shift systems toward justice for families so that all children in Oregon, prenatal to grade five, have access to opportunity. We advocate for and secure public investments in early childhood programs and services and work directly with school communities to improve the learning experience for children. We are keenly focused on children who experience barriers to opportunity due to race, poverty, disability, language, and geographic location. We strive to connect research, lived experience, and community voice as we work to ensure that more children succeed in kindergarten, meet third-grade benchmarks, and thrive in their early childhood experiences. CI prioritizes an integrated, team-based work approach and a flexible, collegial work environment grounded in our values of honor, equity, learning, connectedness, and innovation.

Position Description CI develops and implements innovative approaches to support children’s healthy development, kindergarten readiness, and academic success. We use what we learn from our school-based and health initiatives to inform legislative priorities and support public investments in early childhood. This ensures that we advocate for programs and services—like preschool, childcare, and home visiting—that meet the needs of diverse communities across Oregon and address longstanding racial and economic inequities. CI engages with research in three ways: we translate large-scale research and population census data in ways that illuminate gaps and needs in funding and services for young children that can then identify, and influence needed improvements to policy and programs, we evaluate our programs and initiatives, and we apply research practices to shape advocacy, program design, and implementation efforts. We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Research Associate to join our team to support the quality and expansion of our research efforts.

Essential Responsibilities

Responsibilities

• Collaborate on creation of the research process, from developing research questions and concepts, project design, data collection, community involvement, and sharing research findings with external partners and stakeholders.
• Lead aspects of the research and data process.
• Conduct literature reviews on a wide-range topics related to early care, maternal-child health, and education practices, policies, and
• Draft content for research reports and issue briefs, including summarizing relevant research, checking for accuracy, and fact checking.
• Develop data visualization charts, and infographics for reports, presentations, and a new data dashboard under development.
• Support research dissemination efforts in collaboration with our communications and policy teams.
• Collaborate with team members and key stakeholders to ensure research and evaluation projects are conducted efficiently and effectively.
• Develop and maintain professional relationships with staff and partners in other organizations.
• Attend and report back on meetings and conference calls as needed.

Other Responsibilities

• Support equity and inclusion initiatives within CI and support a culture of belonging.

• Serve as a liaison with other teams at CI and provide support to special projects and collaborate across CI programs as needed.
• Engage in growth and leadership opportunities as appropriate.
• Occasional travel to research conferences, data collection sites, and professional development opportunities.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Qualifications and Requirements

Skills and Qualifications

• Knowledge and experience of early child development, maternal-child health, and education research, policies, and programs.
• A strong commitment to and practice of advancing racial and economic equity and demonstrated ability to honor children and center their brilliance in the work.
• An understanding of how research and use of data can benefit or harm communities of color.
• Experience conducting literature reviews and synthesizing research findings.
• Demonstrated experience in successful delivery of project milestones, including effective troubleshooting and problem-solving.
• Strong organizational and communications skills.
• Highly motivated with strong attention to detail when accomplishing a task, including monitoring, and checking work while organizing time and resources eficiently.
• Excellent verbal communication and writing skills with an ability to translate complex information into simple concepts.
• Ability to prioritize projects to meet deadlines while ensuring that those impacted are given the opportunity to contribute.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Suite, Google, Canva, and Zoom and use of video to deliver professional learning.
• Oregon driver’s license for travel to school sites across Oregon.

Preferred Skills and Experiences

• Preferred 2-3 years of experience in early learning (Birth-3rd grade) settings.
• Experience with statistical software analysis software such as SPSS, R, Tableau, or STATA.
• Experience accessing large scale, publicly available data sets, such as US Census Data, NCES, and early childhood data systems.
• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in early childhood, education, child development, social sciences, public health, data analytics, or any satisfactory combination of experience and education that ensures the tasks and responsibilities can be completed with deep knowledge of content areas.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Children’s Institute, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace that exemplifies our values of honor and equity. If you are excited about this role but concerned your past experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply!

Benefits

• Employer fully paid medical/dental coverage
• Employer fully paid long-term disability coverage
• Employer fully paid life insurance, accidental death, and employee assistance plan
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with qualified match and contribution
• 125 Flexible Benefits Plan
• Commuter stipend
• Cell phone stipend
• Professional Development Stipend
• Annual office closure between December 26th and January 1st
• Three weeks paid time off
• Two weeks sick leave
• Eleven paid holidays, plus two floating holidays
• Paid time off to celebrate your birthday
• Paid time off to volunteer in CI’s community

Other Info

Equal Employment Statement Children’s Institute is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of CI to provide equal employment opportunity in accordance with applicable law to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, creed, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, military status, political opinion, national origin, familial status, mental and physical ability, source of income, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law in all personnel actions. Personnel actions include recruitment, selection, promotion, compensation, training, and termination. Relations between employees shall be based on mutual respect and regard for the organization’s effectiveness and well-being.

Reasonable Accommodation Statement Consistent with applicable disability law, Children’s Institute will provide reasonable accommodations to assist qualified applicants or employees with disabilities to participate in the job application process, to perform the essential function of a job, and to enjoy the same benefits and privileges of employment applicable to similarly situated employees without disabilities, provided the accommodation would not impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of CI. Please contact the Director of People and Culture, Whitney Wong, [email protected], with any requests for accommodations.

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Children’s Institute agrees to follow the internal protocols for partner organizations and school districts as a condition of employment for all employees unless they are granted reasonable accommodation under applicable law.

About the Organization

We’re making Oregon the best place to be a kid. Children’s Institute has always worked passionately to improve outcomes for Oregon’s kids. Since our founding in 2003, we’ve come to know that a brighter future for our state rests on a foundation of love and care for every child and family. Love sometimes requires a reckoning. We have to grapple with a difficult truth: many policies and practices designed to address economic inequity do not meet the needs of children of color and children living in rural communities. We’re committed to shifting these systems toward justice. And we invite you to join us.