idealist.org

Book Fruits’ mission is to change lives through the written word.

We at Book Fruits have experienced the life-altering power of the written word. Having known ourselves its power to enrich our humanity and open doors, we believe that people in need deserve to own this power. Having seen first-hand that people in need know rock-bottom truths about their situations, we believe that the voices of these folks are ones we should heed. In a nutshell, we believe that people should be given the power of words, and that their words should be given to people in power.

In keeping with these two principles, Book Fruits harnesses the written word to improve communities bottom-up and top-down. On a grassroots level, we perform direct service in our writing workshops with underserved communities. On a policy level, we’re beginning to perform policy advocacy through a new website, TestimonySource.org, which will connect decision-makers with personal narratives from people affected by the toughest issues facing our society.

It is for this latter initiative that we are seeking a volunteer Online Advocacy Manager. TestimonySource.org will collect narratives of experience from survivors of social dysfunction. Through the site, these first-person narratives will be shared with any advocacy group. As it currently stands, many advocacy groups do not have access to front-line voices of experience. TestimonySource.org aims to change that.

The site will eventually encompass five to six topic areas. During this initial phase, however, we are focussing on two: group violence (gang violence, militia violence, religious violence) and child abuse.

In helping us create the site, the Online Advocacy Manager will have the following areas of responsibility:
• Act as an enforcer of the schedule of goals for this initiative, ensuring all deadlines are met;
• Assist in the collation of narratives, including transcribing from audio and creating an online filing system;
• Assist in the creation of a website to clearly and engagingly present narratives to end users.

The Online Advocacy Manager will have the following qualities and skills:
• A clear sense of the importance of goals and deadlines, and the ability to keep others on schedule;
• An ability to create and maintain organizing systems;
• Basic technical abilities;
• Dedication to the mission and objectives of this initiative.

The Online Advocacy Manager will contribute between five and ten hours weekly to this initiative. The contribution can be made from home, and the schedule is flexible.

To apply for this position, please send a resume and cover letter to recruit@bookfruits.org.

Questions are welcome at 202.338.1934. Applications are due by September 15.