Primary Purpose: The main responsibilities of the incumbent will be to: 1) facilitate grassroots activities advocating for immigration reform; 2) maintain records of all grassroots activities and relationships with local advocates; and 3) reach out to local congregations, affiliates, and other faith-based organizations to provide small-scale funding and staff time for immigration advocacy events. The Community Organizers will function as part of the Advocacy team and as such will participate in strategic planning and program meetings, collaborate with CWS/IRP affiliates and denominations on behalf of the IRP team, and maintain frequent communication with other CWS partners and constituents. All Community Organizers will serve as leaders in a bottom-up grassroots effort to provide capacity to and empower people of faith to advocate for immigration reform. Essential Duties: Event Planning and Network building: (Approximately 60%) Analyze grassroots capacity and strategy of relevant congressional districts to plan outreach and most effective types of advocacy activities Work with regional community organizers, congregations, affiliates, and other faith-based organizations to plan events, connect with legislators, and earn local and national media attention on immigration advocacy activities of the faith community Connect faith groups in key congressional districts and states that enable them to continue immigration advocacy on their own Provide helpful web-based resources for immigration advocacy and community education events Conduct regional advocacy trainings to increase capacity for immigration advocacy
Advocacy: (Approximately 20%) Collect information on grassroots events to share electronically and in-person with key members of the House and Senate in target states Work with the Coordinator for Immigration Reform to ensure strategies are informed and collaborative Conduct advocacy trainings for constituents preparing for in-district visits Respond to local immigration situations with a call for humane and equitable solutions and national immigration reform
Data and Relationship Management: (Approximately 10%) Track all events to evaluate effectiveness and inform future events and advocacy Track all relationships to follow up and enhance commitments to mobilizing for immigration reform
Other: (Approximately 10%) Attend outside meetings/trainings when requested by the supervisor; Organize meetings, conferences and events on grassroots immigration advocacy
Qualifications: Education: Bachelors degree or higher in related field and/or equivalent work experiences. Experience: A minimum of three years experience in faith-based, grassroots mobilizing. Extensive knowledge of immigration policy and principles of reform. Must have experience in conducting trainings and planning events. Well organized, with excellent writing and speaking skills. Ability to travel domestically and authorized to work in the United States. Must have strong communication skills and superb command of non-for-profit methods of work. Able to work flexible hours, some evening or weekend and off-site work may be required. Competencies: Communications: Excellent writing and verbal skills. Command of brief, precise, catchy explanations and motivating descriptions of events. Familiar with web-based social networking as well as low-tech means of communicating and ensuring turnout to events. Constituent Relationships: Manage relationships with stakeholders and work within their structure to identify programmatic linkages and drive such relationships toward advocacy success. Identify potential constituents with whom to build relationships within the context of the mission of immigration reform. Resolve issues of concern to maintain effective constituent relationships. Motivate relationships to produce additional advocacy events, turnout, and reach. Job Knowledge: Has a strengthened understanding of the faith-based and interfaith, collaborative nature of immigration advocacy, and is able to articulate that nature to varied audiences. Applies a depth of knowledge of immigration policies to implement assigned activities. Uses technology in varied, creative ways to support individual and program performance. Identify learning opportunities for self and take/ recommend action. Keep up to date with best practices and recommend procedures that enhance the effectiveness of advocacy. Model creative and effective use of technology. Leadership: Energetically take initiative to produce advocacy results and educate potential advocates. Problem Solving: Identify problems that undermine the effectiveness of a program and identify and recommend workable solutions for program-wide problems, considering the costs, benefits and potential consequences. Enable others to learn from the problem-solving experience by involving them in examining and resolving problems, ensuring solutions are appropriate to the scope of the problem. Transform problems into creative solutions that produce advocacy results. Program Planning and Management: Implement and evaluate grant proposal activities and processes, establishing implementation steps and time frames. Strategize regarding congressional and grassroots action as related to achieving immigration reform. Contribute to the development of standards and expectations for performing activities and assure the quality of work produced by self and community organizers. Participate in gathering and analyzing information from internal and external stakeholders. Make time-sensitive, independent decisions affecting outcomes of advocacy activities. Build consensus with colleagues, stakeholders and management in support of new initiatives. Successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously. Resource Building and Stewardship: Participate in planning budget needed for program activities. Manage relationships with partners to assure continued support. Develop opportunities to build support for immigration reform among new partners. Manage staff of community organizers, volunteers and systems to make sure resources are used effectively. Teamwork: Promote effective interactions among team members and facilitate group discussion to improve quality of advocacy initiatives. Establish clear expectations regarding team work assignments and assist staff in balancing priorities. Network with other teams to discuss activities and participate in making decisions on goals and activities that may intersect and access best practices examples. Evaluate results, identifying opportunities for improvement or enhancing team performance. Produce reports detailing results achieved. Provide critical insight and feedback to teams to enhance performance and results. Other Skills: Computer literacy in word processing, spreadsheet and database applications. Valid drivers license and dependable vehicle in order to travel to convene or attend meetings.
