**Boston College Introduction** Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion. **Job Description** **ILH&PR** The mission of the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (the Initiative) is to address real property issues that impact poor and disadvantaged communities. Many of the activities the Initiative undertakes assist disadvantaged communities that have been harmed as a result of lacking adequate land, housing, and other property rights. The Initiative’s core activities include training law students and other students to develop legal and other technical expertise that can be used by these students when they are in school and after they graduate to help disadvantaged people and communities address their land and housing issues; catalyzing both theoretical and applied, policy-relevant research on various land and housing issues that have been understudied and undertheorized; proactively working to develop impactful legal reform and policy solutions to address property problems disadvantaged communities experience; and sponsoring both continuing legal education programs for lawyers and community legal education and other outreach programs for disadvantaged communities. The Initiative hopes to collaborate with other stakeholders in a true spirit of partnership to more effectively address land and housing issues that disadvantaged communities experience, specifically communities that are disproportionately though not exclusively communities of color. **Position Summary** The ILHPR seeks a Policy Associate to help build the Initiative’s Legal Reform and Policy Laboratory under the direction of the Policy Director. The goal of the Laboratory is to substantially increase the Initiative’s ability to develop legal reform and policy proposals to address critical land and housing issues at the local, state, and federal level and, in addition, to assist other stakeholders doing such work. A model of the type of legal reform and policy proposals the Initiative would like to help develop is the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), a groundbreaking model state property statute, which was principally drafted by Professor Thomas W. Mitchell, the Initiative’s founder and Director and a MacArthur Fellow. Thus far, the UPHPA has been enacted into law in 25 states/jurisdictions that are located in every region of the country, and it has helped thousands of disadvantaged families across the country maintain ownership of their family-owned properties and their generational wealth. Initiative staff have advised stakeholders in several states who have been interested in having their states enact the UPHPA into law. In addition, Initiative staff have helped a select number of other stakeholders at the state and federal level develop legal reform and policy proposals addressing critical land and housing issues. The Initiative is committed to playing leading and supporting roles in developing additional bold yet pragmatic legal reform and policy proposals to address a range of land, housing, and other real property issues disadvantaged communities face. The Policy Associate will work under the supervision of the Policy Director and with other members of the Policy Team and other Initiative staff to ensure the quality of policy projects at each stage of every project. The Policy Associate will work with the Policy Director and external stakeholders to develop the Initiative’s policy agenda. As needed, the Policy Associate will provide support to the Policy Director in identifying funding opportunities for policy projects and in helping to draft funding proposals to support the Initiative’s policy work. Applicants should have strong organizational and communication skills, experience working in a collaborative environment, and a commitment to improving policy outcomes related to real property issues that impact poor and disadvantaged communities. This is a hybrid position with a minimum of two days per week in the Initiative’s office and availability for meetings in the Boston area. There will be some travel, primarily in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region, though there also may be travel required to other parts of the United States. **Duties include:** Policy Work Responsibilities (40%) + Monitor local, state, and federal housing and other real property policies and identify opportunities for the Initiative’s engagement. + Conduct independent research on relevant topics, potential legal reform and policy projects, and on relevant stakeholders, including but not limited to civic leaders and policymakers, nonprofit organizations, academics, and private sector leaders. Such research will enable the leadership team to decide whether to pursue certain potential legal reform and policy projects, and it also will enable the Initiative to provide thought leadership on various housing, land, and other real property policy matters. + Under the direction of the Policy Director and in partnership with other Initiative staff, draft and publish policy scans and analyses of critical land and housing issues impacting disadvantaged communities, especially with respect to issues that have been insufficiently analyzed to date. Such policy scans and analyses will be published in the form of papers, briefs, blog posts, etc. + Under the direction of the Policy Director and in partnership with other members of the Policy Team, develop a manageable set of legal reform and policy proposals that can be implemented at the local, state, and/or federal level and help support other organizations’ legal reform and policy proposals. + Participate in the creation of policy reports and presentations. Strategy & Planning (30%) + Help refine and implement a 3-year policy program agenda which includes a mix of legal reform and policy work at the local, state, and federal level. + Help identify and cultivate partnerships with other organizations that work on legal reform and policy work on housing, land, and community development matters. Administrative Responsibilities (30%) + Assist in securing financial resources to support the policy program and in reporting progress of the policy program to existing funders. + Help coordinate Policy Team projects, including those that involve close collaboration with the Research Team. + Participate in and manage coalition(s) as the policy program works with a complex and diverse group of stakeholders in developing legal reform and policy proposals. + Assist with policy program convenings, including content and agenda setting, logistics, and coordination. Full-Time Equivalent Hiring Range: $60,700 to $75,850; salary commensurate with relevant experience. **Requirements** Education: + A Law Degree (J.D.), master's degree, or another relevant graduate or advanced professional degree Basic qualifications and skills: + Strong interpersonal, communications, writing, and public speaking skills. + Critical thinking and problem-solving skills. + Ability to manage multiple simultaneous projects and deadlines. + Academic or work experience in the areas of rural or urban policy, affordable housing, heirs’ property, land use, land conservation and stewardship, economic justice, civil rights, or another related area. Preferred qualifications: + Experience with information collection, analysis, and dissemination, including written and oral presentation of complex legal reform and policy matters to diverse audiences. + Experience working with or on behalf of disadvantaged communities or individuals or relevant lived experience. + Experience with the legislative process or other policy making processes at the local, state, and/or federal level. + Project management and coordination experience. **Closing Statement** Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility: + Tuition remission for Employees + Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements + Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance + Low-Cost Life Insurance + Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans + Paid Holidays Annually + Generous Sick and Vacation Pay + Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process. Boston College is an equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/diversity . Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination .