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Hawaiʻi Appleseed Executive Director

The Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice is seeking an Executive Director with a passion for justice, a commitment to equity, and a deep, abiding love for Hawai‘i and its people. The new Executive Director will lead the organization in its mission of advocating for economic justice for and with Hawai‘i’s people, helping support a thriving Hawai‘i that reflects Hawai‘i’s deep cultural values of social responsibility and care for community, people and place.   


ABOUT HAWAI‘I APPLESEED
Hawai‘i Appleseed (HA) is committed to a more socially and economically just Hawai‘i, where everyone has enough to live happy, healthy and creative lives. We change systems to address inequity and foster greater opportunity by conducting data analysis and research to address income inequality, educating policymakers and the public, engaging in collaborative problem solving and coalition building, and advocating for policy and systems change.

The work of Hawai‘i Appleseed is in service to Hawai‘i and its people. The issues we work on—housing, food, wages, transportation, state budget and taxation, and racial and indigenous equity—are important because they ensure people have access to shelter, sustenance, and the means to survive and thrive individually and collectively.

Working alongside our partners, we’ve helped secure meaningful change for our community:

  • Minimum wage increases that will lift incomes by $1 billion annually

  • Tax credits for low-income families exceeding $80 million annually

  • Hundreds of millions in increased funding for development and improvements of affordable housing

  • Millions of dollars in increases for food subsidies for Hawai‘i keiki


We are striving to align our work with Hawai‘i’s deep cultural values of social responsibility and care for community, people and place. We believe our efforts toward positive change require the knowledge and expertise of the people that have first-hand experience and live with the adverse consequences of our flawed systems. Hawai‘i Appleseed is focused on doing more to integrate into our organization and our work the people affected by the issues we work on. We are searching for an Executive Director who can lead HA and its 12 staff to be the change we seek, both in the way we behave as an organization, and in our advocacy for societal change in Hawai‘i.


CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
The primary responsibilities of the Executive Director are:

  • Building relationships with funders, community leaders, partners, and decision makers that will help HA to advance its mission;

  • Leading the evolution and top-level implementation of HA’s strategic plan;

  • Building a healthy, effective, and pono culture at Hawai‘i Appleseed;

  • Ensuring HA’s financial stability, working closely with HA’s Development Director on development and fundraising;

  • Provide supervision and oversight of HA personnel, staff, consultants and key vendors;

  • Serving as a spokesperson for the organization with the press and the public.



POSITION QUALIFICATIONS
The right candidate will have the following strengths and qualifications:

  • A passion for justice, a commitment to equity, and a deep, abiding love for Hawai‘i and its people;

  • A clear vision for a thriving Hawai‘i that reflects Hawai‘i’s deep cultural values of social responsibility and care for community, people and place; 

  • Excellence in leadership and management, with a demonstrated ability to effectively guide; teams toward achieving organizational goals and upholding and promoting HA’s core values;

  • Terrific interpersonal skills and a strong desire to connect and build relationships with all kinds of people;

  • Excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing;

  • An understanding of Hawai‘i’s unique social, political, cultural, and systemic issues that affect policy and the well-being of marginalized communities.



COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience, within the range of $130,000 to $160,000. The position also provides comprehensive benefits including health care, paid holidays and personal leave and a 401(k) plan.


HOW TO APPLY
Please submit the following, addressed to Hawaii Appleseed Search Committee, c/o Inkinen Executive Search, via email to executives@inkinen.com by December 16, 2024 (subject to change):

  • Cover Letter expressing the reason for your interest in Hawaii Appleseed and how your skills and experiences match the Executive Director role.

  • Resume or CV

Fellowships ↓

Hawaiʻi Appleseed has hosted post-graduate legal fellowships in the past and may continue to do so through Lawyers for Equal Justice. In addition, fellowship opportunities on policy work may be available as well.

Please contact jobs@hiappleseed.org for more information.

Internships ↓

Each summer, Hawaiʻi Appleseed hosts three to six undergraduate, graduate, or law students to conduct research on policy matters or investigate potential impact litigation relating to issues affecting low-income residents of Hawaiʻi. Students are typically given a single project to focus on during a 10-week internship at Hawaiʻi Appleseed.

By the end of the summer, students will usually have developed an extensive memo detailing their findings and making recommendations on potential reforms and how they might best be pursued. Often, this work will inform Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s future policy advocacy.

Students are given a high degree of responsibility and Appleseed staff rely heavily on the students’ work to develop new projects. For example, in one summer, students at Hawaiʻi Appleseed were responsible for researching:

  1. Solutions for Hawaiʻi’s affordable housing crisis;
  2. Inequities in Hawaiʻi’s tax system;
  3. Language accessibility of the Hawaiʻi driver’s examination; and
  4. Issues in Hawaiʻi’s foster care system.

Each of these projects resulted in meaningful improvements to systems affecting people in poverty in Hawai‘i.

  • The student working on the affordable housing crisis research developed a policy brief describing how jurisdictions across the country were using Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to create more affordable housing without the use of scarce government subsidies. The brief was shared with the Honolulu City Council and ultimately resulted in the passage of a bill allowing ADU development. (ADUs are separate units built on a homeowner’s property that are often rented at rates below what is typically available on the rental market.)

  • The students working on the tax system project developed a policy brief that identified ways that Hawaiʻi can improve its regressive tax system, which taxes people in poverty at the second highest rate in the nation. Their work laid the foundation for passage of a state Earned Income Tax Credit that is providing $135 million in tax relief to low-income families over a period of five years.

  • The student conducting the driver’s license examination work built a case that resulted in a settlement which required the state of Hawaiʻi to reinstitute the use of translated driver’s exams so that limited English proficient speakers could obtain a license that would allow them to get to work and care for their families. The translated exams had previously been discontinued when a single question on the exam changed and the state refused to get the question translated.

  • The student examining the state’s foster care system uncovered a long-standing issue of the state failing to adjust for inflation the amount foster families were provided for the care of foster children. The student’s work resulted in a class action settlement that increased the resources provided for the care of foster children by $8 million per year.

To apply, please submit a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to Executive Director Gavin Thornton at jobs@hiappleseed.org.

Externships ↓

Hawai‘i Appleseed will host law students in their second or third year of law school, graduate students, and undergraduate students as an extern/intern earning academic credit. Under the direct supervision of one of our attorneys, students will conduct research on issues affecting the low-income population of Hawai‘i, help prepare potential litigation as well as participate in pending cases. Assignments may include drafting policy briefs, legal manuals, litigation memos and pleadings. Students may also be assigned projects that involve discovery and trial preparation.

Interested law students, graduate students, and undergraduate students should contact us to express interest in working with us for a time frame adequate for projects to be developed and required paperwork from academic institutions completed.

Candidates should send an email to jobs@hiappleseed.org expressing your interest in a volunteer position. Please include in your email a current resume and letter of interest.