OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon seeks a dedicated and passionate individual to join our powerful team of grassroots organizers and community advocates. OPAL’s mission is to build power for Environmental Justice and Civil Rights in our communities. We organize low income people and people of color to achieve a safe and healthy environment in the places we live, work, learn, pray, and play. We strive to create meaningful opportunities for our communities to impact decision-making. The Community Organizer position is a member of the organizing team, reporting to the Organizing Director, working towards OPAL’s mission by overseeing OPAL’s youth engagement initiatives, including the Youth Environmental Justice Alliance (YEJA) and Serve The People (STP) summer program.
Duties & Responsibilities:
I. BASE-BUILDING AND ORGANIZING: (25%) - Develop base building goals and recruitment plan - Conduct outreach, check-in’s, and meetings at target schools - Cultivate relationships with high schools, community partners teachers, and administrators - Document and track participation of members; conduct necessary reporting - Train members on needed skills (i.e. public speaking, grassroots fundraising, facilitation, campaign strategy, phonebank, action planning) - Supervise members during YEJA meetings/events; coordinate logistics for various member activities
II. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICAL EDUCATION (25%) - Supervision of 6-7 person YEJA High School Intern team - Creation and development of popular education workshops and curriculum - Development of Serve the People Summer program including logistics, outreach and recruitment. -Work with members to deepen political consciousness through community solidarity events and workshops
II. ORGANIZATIONAL CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT & ALLIANCE BUILDING (25 %) - Support members to participate in and lead campaign strategy & implementation - Help conduct research to develop and advance strategic campaigns - Craft youth-informed campaigns, including developing political strategy and building strategic alliances - Work with YEJA and OPAL members to identify demands that challenge power - Build relationships, alliances and coalitions to move campaigns - Support YEJA members’ participation in strategic OPAL alliances (Youth Equity Collaborative, Oregon Just Transition Alliance, etc.)
III. ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT (15%) - Engage in overall organizational integration and planning processes, including yearly goals & strategic planning - Develop work plans that align with organization-wide mission and activities - Support and implement organizational decision-making processes, especially in regards to member participation -Contribute to developing organizing systems and methods, as well as maintenance of administrative systems - Support online communications and use of social media tools to publicize and promote the work (campaign updates, email, blog posts, instagram, twitter)
IV. GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING & GRANT MANAGEMENT (10%) -Identify and apply for small grants to support youth organizing work & projects -Manage grant deliverables and supervise grant projects; incorporate grant goals into YEJA work plan -Participate in and support OPAL grassroots fundraising efforts To apply, please send resume and cover letter to jobs@opalpdx.org and reference “Community Organizer” in the subject line.