Researcher (1099 Contractor) - New America

Primary Function:  New America Chicago seeks a focused, self-starting contractor to support our policy research in improving access to the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC/EIC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) for low-income families, in addition to other research topics. This role will provide an opportunity to be on the ground-floor of an exciting new initiative. The contract researcher will provide essential research support to the team. This role will include working collaboratively with other teams and programs. Depending on program need, the contractor may have the opportunity to work on other projects for other teams following the completion of this project. The contractor will be asked to attend occasional in-person meetings. We are looking for someone who knows the Chicago area well.

• This contractor will play a vital role in supporting CivicSpace research activities.
• All projects will be related to our economic equity research.
• Hours will vary depending on the stage of the project with the most hours occurring between October 2024 and June 2025. Hours vary between 10 and 40 hours per month. Hourly rate is $25 per hour.
• Additional work on other projects may also be available over time.
• As this is a contractor role, benefits are not included.
• Graduate students are welcome to apply.

Responsibilities:

Based on background and expertise, the research contractor’s work may include:

• Reviewing literature on topics including, but not limited to, access to the EITC and portable benefits, and producing succinct memos and/or literature reviews.
• Creating research instruments including interview protocols, focus group guides, surveys, etc.
• Supporting research interviews and focus groups, including leading questions, taking detailed notes.
• Review laws, regulations, or summaries of the same and summarize key elements and suggest potential improvements.
• Planning for and gathering public and original data, including pulling from publicly available data sets, interviewing individuals or helping to facilitate community design sessions or focus groups.
• Organizing and cleaning data from interviews, surveys or other sources.
• Reviewing documents and notes and pulling data elements, including crosswalking data types from different sources.
• Reviewing hundreds of pages of interview notes and open-ended survey questions, and coding each time a specific idea or topic is mentioned.
• Finding common themes across multiple sources of data including interview notes, survey results, and public data.
• Conducting data analysis and creating visual presentations of data and research findings for publications.
• Preparing policy briefs, articles, and/or blog posts on the topic of policy solutions, with team members and alone.
• Collaborating with the team to identify common themes in community members’ experiences.

Qualification, Skills and Abilities

• Completed some graduate level coursework or extensive experience in social science research, public policy, market research, finance, economics, human centered design, or other related field.
• Reliable, well-organized and detail-oriented. Helps keep data and files organized and secure.
• Able to see patterns in qualitative and quantitative data.
• Strong writing skills.

• Efficient and independent work style.
• Past experience desired: policy analysis, qualitative or quantitative research, including managing multiple research projects at once. Some experience or training in human centered design or user research is ideal.
• Ideally, comfort level with statistics, data science, or data visualization.
• Demonstrates a collaborative spirit and friendly approach in working with team members.
• Comfortable working with and respectful of community members from different backgrounds.

Other skill sets include:

Commitment to the issue areas

• An ability to quickly adapt to New America and The Chicago Community Trust’s cultures and approaches, including the content areas of their various programs.
• Interest and/or expertise on issues related to economic equity, such as family tax credits, portable worker benefits, affordable housing, and consumer financial products.

Strong work ethic

• Quick learner with a strong work ethic, ready to contribute effectively and diligently to complete detail-oriented policy analysis projects.
• Attention to detail.
• Willingness to engage in administrative tasks to advance team progress on projects.

Innovation & Ideation

• Capacity to connect and listen to underrepresented communities, and apply their lived experience to public policy.
• Creative and adaptable problem solver and connector.

Openness to learning

• An interest in new ways of solving public problems.
• Open and responsive to guidance and constructive criticism.

Location: Chicago, IL

Project Duration: October 2024 - June 2025

Compensation:

• Rate: Compensation for this contract role will be $25.00 per hour

• This position is a contract, fixed-term role and is not subject to benefits.

Application Process:

Please submit your resume, brief cover letter explaining your interest in the contract and preferred number of hours per week or month, and (optional) a writing sample or sample of quantitative analysis on the New America website https://www.newamerica.org/jobs/. Applications will be viewed on a rolling basis.

Please no emails and phone calls

Originality and Transparency:

At New America, we value authentic voices and intellectual property rights. All application materials, including, cover letters, writing samples, and any other submissions, must be solely your own original work. The use of AI text generation tools like ChatGPT, language models, or other artificial intelligence writing assistants is strictly prohibited for any part of your job application. Submissions found to contain AI-generated content will be immediately disqualified from consideration. Applicants have a responsibility to be fully transparent about authorship and any tools or resources utilized. We celebrate human ingenuity and want to hear your genuine thoughts and experiences.

New America is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels of the organization thereby creating a culture that allows us to better serve our mission, our employees, and our communities. We value and encourage the contributions of our employees and strive to create an environment where everyone can reach their full potential and drive outstanding results. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law. This policy applies with regard to all aspects of one’s employment, including hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation, eligibility for benefits, and termination.

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