Communications and Media Relations Associate

Communications and Media Relations Associate

Location: Washington, DC

Full-time, Start Date: January 2026

The National Homelessness Law Center (Law Center) seeks a strategic, collaborative, and mission-driven Communications and Media Relations Associate. The Law Center serves as the legal arm of the national movement to solve homelessness and is seeking a Communications and Media Relations Associate committed to building power and changing the narrative about homelessness to ensure that everyone has a safe place to live.

About The Law Center

Founded in 1989, the National Homelessness Law Center is a team of attorneys and advocates dedicated to advancing federal, state and local policies to prevent and end homelessness while fiercely defending the rights of all unhoused persons. Our work, in collaboration with national, state, and local partners, has overturned laws that criminalize homelessness, protected access to affordable housing, helped unhoused children return to school, and shifted public narratives about homelessness towards greater empathy.

Our core conviction is that everyone should have the housing and supportive services they need to thrive, and that no one should be punished for being unable to afford rent. We view homelessness through a structural and anti-racist lens, acknowledging that Black individuals, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled individuals, and individuals experiencing interpersonal violence are disproportionately impacted. We understand that effectively addressing homelessness requires confronting the structural racism and intersecting inequities at its roots. We are immensely proud of our skilled 16-person team and our extensive network of volunteer attorneys. The Law Center's budget for 2025 is $2.3 million. The Law Center is financially sound and maintains a reserve. For more information on our work, explore our website: www.homelesslaw.org.

Background and Overview of Position

The Communications and Media Relations Associate will join a small but mighty team leveraging communications, narrative change, and power building to solve homelessness. Building relationships with local, state, and national partners is key to this work. The Communications and Media Relations Associate will work with an interdisciplinary team of internal and external stakeholders to blend legal, organizing, advocacy, and communications strategies to further our shared goal of ensuring that everybody has a safe place to live. This position will work closely with a wide range of partners in different fields to elevate causes and solutions to homelessness, support ongoing communications and narrative change work to change public opinion and build political will for housing, not handcuffs. This position will utilize a wide array of tools, particularly press, email, and partner outreach, to expose and defeat the growing billionaire-backed movement to arrest and ticket people for experiencing homelessness. This fast-paced work differs day to day and requires someone who takes initiative, is self-motivated, and excels at working independently and on a team.

This is a full-time, non-exempt role that is part of the Law Center’s Bargaining Unit, reporting to the Communications and Campaign Director and working closely with internal teams and external partners.

Candidates must live within 1 hour of commuting distance of Washington, DC and be able to work out of our DC office 1-2 days per week.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Support the communications team through materials creation, media tracking and outreach, and list and database management
• Assist in the creation and distribution of internal and external communications materials, such as mass emails, media pitches, one-pagers, website content, graphic design, OpEds, and toolkits
• Provide administrative support to the Campaign and Communications Director and the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign, including managing calendars, preparing agendas, and notetaking
• Build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders to grow the movement to solve homelessness
• Assist in planning and attending direct actions, media events, and other community gatherings to promote Housing Not Handcuffs and support partner organizations, including with media and material development
• Collaborate with the Communications Team around communications requests
• Additional duties as needed

Required Qualifications

• 1-3 years of experience in media relations, communications and narrative change
• Familiarity with community organizing and advocacy methods to inform a power building approach to communications
• Experience writing across digital platforms for diverse audiences, including emails, talking points, and advocacy materials
• Strong relationship-based competencies (verbal and written communication, empathy, conflict resolution, collaboration, trust building)
• Experience with media monitoring and outreach
• Familiarity with Customer Relationship Manager tools and other database platforms such as Voter Voice, Fiscal Note, and AgilityPR or similar tools
• Strong administrative skills (scheduling, file management, managing email lists and groups, logistics, notetaking, organization)
• Strong editing and proofreading skills with an eye for detail
• Demonstrated commitment to/background working with homelessness, social justice, and/or poverty related programs strongly preferred
• Ability and willingness to perform occasional evening and weekend work
• Capable of occasional (a few times a year) travel to different states for events such as conferences, rallies, and retreats required

Preferred Qualifications (the ideal candidate may have at least 3 but not all of these skills)

• Rapid response and crisis communications
• Canva or other basic graphic design knowledge
• Basic understanding of web development
• Public speaking to various audiences
• Facilitation and popular education techniques
• Familiarity with Office 365, Sharepoint, Zoom and other remote work technologies

Who You Are

• You excel at building relationships and coalitions with diverse stakeholders
• You place a high value on internal and external collaboration
• You excel at managing multiple priorities, attention to detail, and staying organized to meet tight deadlines
• You can act quickly and effectively in rapid response environments
• You exercise good judgement and sound decision making
• You take initiative and think quickly on your feet
• You support unions/unionized workplaces
• You have a justice-oriented understanding of how race and power impact relationships, organizational culture and partnerships. You are committed to personal and professional practice around deepening this understanding, through continuous learning, reflection, and growth
• You have a strong commitment to social justice and the values and mission of the Law Center, viewing homelessness through a structural and anti-racist lens. The Law Center strongly encourages those who have experienced homelessness or housing instability to apply.

Salary, Benefits, and Location:

Salary: To ensure equitable compensation, the Law Center uses labor market benchmarking as the basis for establishing the salaries of employees across all roles at the organization. Aligned with this practice and in support of upholding internal equity, we do not negotiate salaries above the range for this position. The salary range for this position is $61,000 - $65,000.

Benefits: Health, dental, vision, life, short and long-term disability insurance, all fully employer paid and a 403(b)-retirement plan with supplemental salary contribution. The Law Center has a 35-hour work week and provides vacation leave (20 days per year), sick leave (10 days per year), personal leave (5 days per year), all Federal holidays, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. In addition, the Law Center closes two weeks per year and has flexible work schedule options. A work laptop is provided.

Location: The Law Center’s headquarters is in Washington, DC. Candidates for this position must live within 1 hour of commuting distance from Washington, DC and be able to work out of the DC office 1-2 days per week.

Application Procedure:

The Law Center is most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come from a less traditional background. We encourage all who feel capable of performing the necessary duties of the role to apply, even if you are unsure your experience exactly matches the criteria of the job description. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to HR@homelesslaw.org with “Communications and Media Relations Associate, Last Name, First Name” in the subject line. No phone calls, please.

The Law Center is an equal opportunity employer. The Law Center values an inclusive, diverse workplace and does not unlawfully discriminate on any basis prohibited by law. The Law Center encourages applications from all interested persons of any race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, personal appearance, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, genetic information, union activities, or any other legally protected status.

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled with priority given to applications received by October 28, 2025.

Health, dental, vision, life, short and long-term disability insurance, all fully employer paid and a 403(b)-retirement plan with supplemental salary contribution. The Law Center has a 35-hour work week and provides vacation leave (20 days per year), sick leave (10 days per year), personal leave (5 days per year), all Federal holidays, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. In addition, the Law Center closes two weeks per year and has flexible work schedule options. A work laptop is provided.