Job Overview

The Community Organizer has the responsibility for cultivating relationships with members of diverse faith congregations across the city, teaching them community-organizing skills and supporting them to conduct successful issue campaigns on the local, state and potentially national levels.

Specifically, the Community Organizer will be responsible for maximizing the involvement of members of a set of congregations that belong to POWER through ongoing relationship building, leadership training, coaching and mobilization for meetings, events and actions. The Community Organizer will – at the direction of the Director of Organizing and Lead Organizer– work towards specific goals for getting their assigned congregations to play active roles in POWER’s main campaigns: school funding equity, living wage/minimum wage increase, criminal justice reform, voter turnout – as well as other potential or related campaigns that POWER is involved with.

POWER has a strong learning culture and places a high priority on personal learning, racial awareness and analysis, and relationship building. The ideal candidate would have a passion for justice, strong relational skills, a strong sense of their own faith values, a capacity to build bridges across multiple cultures, awareness of personal and societal racism, and demonstrable experience in bringing people together to win campaign victories. Strong written and verbal skills are required; fluency in Spanish is a plus.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Conduct 15-20 one-on-one meetings each week with new or established POWER leaders, clergy, and influential external leaders on a consistent and regular basis
• Prepare written weekly reports on progress and outcomes of her/his work.
• Develop Local Organizing Committees within congregations
• Use Databases to record work with Congregations/Allies/LOC’s
• Provide regular organizing training for POWER leaders and community members in the principles and strategies of congregation-based community organizing
• Support POWER congregational teams in outreach, research, and strategic planning leading to large community action meetings that impact systemic change
• Provide support and strategic guidance to Strategy Teams (groups of POWER members that lead each issue campaign) through use of research meetings, etc.
• Attend professional development sessions
• Meet on a regular basis with the Director of Organizing to shadow, plan and evaluate work progress

Qualifications and Skills:  

• Relevant previous organizing experience (Community, Labor, Voter) a plus
• Experience working with low-income and/or immigrant communities of color
• Possess excellent written and oral communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate in a professional manner with community contacts
• Ability to work well independently, and within a team
• Commitment to cultural sensitivity and respect for differences
• Commitment to the continuous improvement of service quality and the organization’s mission
• Cultural competence to work in a multicultural, multi-faith environment
• Draw on an intersectional analysis of racialization and other forms of oppression
• Coach people of diverse backgrounds
• Collaborate with staff on new ideas, directions, and tools for communications and online organizing tools
• Ability and experience working cross-culturally
• Solid understanding of one's own faith journey
• Strong relational skills and ability to connect, engage, and inspire community members across multiple cultures including: religion, race, gender, age, language, class and experiences
• Capacity to think strategically and analytically about social, economic, cultural, and political issues affecting a community.
• Desire to learn and openness to challenge
• Ability to work as part of a strong staff team as well as independently
• Demonstrable experience working with faith communities and/or in a faith-based environment required
• Ability to design and implement trainings, using popular education and other teaching methods.
• Highly organized, ability to handle multiple tasks, manage a busy schedule of many face to face meetings and document both progress and outcomes.

Compensation and Benefits:

• A Full Time position with significant evening and weekend work.
• Starting salary is competitive, depending on experience;
• Benefits include Life and Health care plan for employee including dental and vision.
• Retirement plan (matching plan by employer) after one year of employment.

Application Procedure:

All applicants must apply for this position online via organizingcareers.org. Please have the following documents ready to upload to your online application:

1. An electronic file of your resume (preferably in PDF format) including three professional references
2. A cover letter (2 pages MAX) describing your background, interest in, and qualifications for this position
3. List of three professional references

If you need assistance or experience any technical difficulties with your online application, please contact careers@faithinaction.org. Resumes will not be accepted via this email address.