Documenters Network Coordinator

Are you a community-builder with strong project management and communication skills? We’re searching for our next Documenters Network Coordinator to grow and cultivate relationships with engaged community members to increase civic knowledge and participation.

Applications close April 21

About City Bureau

City Bureau is a journalism lab reimagining local media. We equip people with skills and resources, engage in critical public conversations and produce information that directly addresses people’s needs. Drawing from our work in Chicago, we aim to equip every community with the tools it needs to eliminate information inequity to further liberation, justice and self-determination.

About our Documenters Network

With local media in crisis in Chicago and across the country, the Documenters Network at City Bureau is at the forefront of a movement to reimagine journalism as a public good. In just a few years, our team has created a national people-powered reporting network built on our custom Documenters.org platform. We provide technological support, collective learning opportunities, and more to 18+ Documenters partners across the country. 

We also have strong support from national funders, including a five-year, $10 million Stronger Democracy Award that is enabling expansion of Documenters to more communities across the country. We have a strategic, ambitious, and values-driven plan for the growth of the Documenters program that would create impact in communities all across the country in the coming years, and we are building a team that is committed to that vision.

As we imagine new models for local journalism, we are inspired and made more resilient by the development of community-based solutions in other locations. As we say in our core values, “We want to build this movement together. We value collaboration, responsiveness and exchange. We know we are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, just as we will hoist others to stand on ours.” 

By developing process-driven resources, place-based models and participatory media technology—and working with others to develop their own—the Documenters Network is supporting local civic ecosystems across the United States.

About the role

The Network Coordinator will directly support local sites across the growing Documenters Network, which exists in 19 communities (with more launched soon) that pay and train residents to take notes on public meetings.

You’ll join a team of Network Coordinators and work 1:1 with local sites across the country to coordinate support and connect them with other sites for collective learning and action. You’ll work closely with passionate people working to keep their communities informed nationwide and ensure our team is responding to their needs. You’ll also develop accessible resources—templates, guides, and more—that help local sites replicate innovations across the network.

In your first year, we expect that you will:

• work closely with a group of sites in monthly check-ins
• develop case studies and guides that support sites with engaging Documenters, running special projects, or editing Documenters’ reporting
• visit multiple sites in-person for deep relationship-building and work sessions
• coordinate monthly events and workshops for site staff and Documenters
• help plan and host the annual Documenters Summit

We are looking for candidates who demonstrate deep understanding of our values and work; strong communication, relationship building, and writing; and high comfort with uncertainty and distributed work environments.

The Documenters Network Coordinator will report directly to the Network Manager and will be part of the Network Success team, a growing team that supports the network. This role will require close collaboration across City Bureau staff and local sites to build a connected, dynamic, and robust network throughout the United States.

You should consider applying if:

• You have a deep, demonstrated understanding of City Bureau’s values and work: creating a racially equitable movement for participatory local media.
• You’re a strong communicator, relationship builder, and facilitator.
• You’re a stellar, detail-oriented documenter of complex ideas in a way that’s easy to understand for others.
• In the face of uncertainty, you see opportunity, take initiative, and are solution-oriented.
• You are highly collaborative and excited about co-building in a distributed work environment to connect, support, and enable the success of our network while scaling a program nationwide.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate connections, learning, and support that contribute to the success of the Documenters Network
• Create and share resources (i.e., guides, templates, workflows, trainings, case studies) that support learning needs across the Documenters Network
• Coordinate working groups and peer-led spaces between Documenters site staff in order to encourage collective learning, relationship-building, and action
• Support our virtual platforms as robust and engaging places for the network
• Surface themes across the network and ideate resources that would support the network’s goals
• Help onboard new Documenters sites
• Help Documenters sites with projects and events that support network goals, innovation, and learning
• Coordinate support and connections for specific sites that you’ll be assigned to
• Coordinate support for individual sites virtually and through monthly check-ins, and elevate questions to other members of the team as needed
• Visit sites as needed
• Be a thought partner and helper for sites in Documenter training, engagement, and program goals
• Coordinate events for site staff and Documenters
• Help the Network Success team host monthly network calls and workshops
• Help collect and assess feedback from Documenters during and after Network-wide events and workshops 
• Help support, plan, and host the annual Documenters Summit

Qualifications

• Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to City Bureau’s core values, mission, and vision
• Strong communication, emotional intelligence, and relationship building skills. You have experience in having tough conversations, and you consistently make time to proactively communicate with multiple stakeholders, even during busy times.
• Detail-oriented writing and content production skills. You have experience in breaking down complex ideas into accessible language, and you can synthesize, uplift, and respect a variety of approaches and perspectives.
• Comfortable in a start-up environment and the dexterity to manage multiple tasks effectively with frequent interruptions, and to work productively in a fast paced, rapidly growing organization.
• Impeccable organizational skills and an ability to move projects forward independently. You can coordinate projects across many diverse stakeholders.
• Must be a team player with a low-ego approach to collaboration with both internal and external colleagues
• Ability to quickly learn about complex issues and prioritize information in a team environment 
• Solution-oriented self-starter: You can push through roadblocks or inertia to figure out what solution (guide, template, etc.) will fill gaps.
• Growth-oriented with a low ego; demonstrated ability to learn from past actions, individually and collectively, and apply insights to help our teams be successful in the future.
• Computer competency with Google Suite products (docs, sheets, slides, etc.), Airtable, Slack, Asana
• Experience within the Documenters Network is a plus.
• Understanding journalism, government, civic sectors, or non-profit sectors is a plus
• Distributed team experience is a plus.
• Spanish language fluency is a plus.
• Experience with data analysis, evaluation, and surveying is a plus

We expect that the strongest candidates will have the above skills and areas of expertise in varying degrees. If you don’t have every qualification, please consider applying, and use your application to tell us about the skills you bring that would help us build this team.

Compensation, benefits and support

• $57,500; City Bureau uses a fixed compensation structure that includes planned annual raises
• Full time with benefits package including health care, dental, vision, life insurance
• This is a remote-first role and there is a central office in Chicago that is available for staff use
• Employer sponsored 401k plans, with 100% employer match up to 4% of salary
• $1,000 annual technology and work tools allowance
• $1,000 professional development allowance
• 15 days paid vacation, not including health days
• 11 company holidays each year, which may be exchanged for employees who celebrate other holidays
• Flexible work schedule—some night/weekend hours may be required
• A 4.5 day week. From July through September, City Bureau operates on a 4 day work week.
• Some travel to Chicago and partner sites will be required
• A culture of intentional professional development and organizational learning; City Bureau staff hold regular share outs to learn from one another and hold regular community check-ins to connect and surface feedback on policies and practices.

Our anticipated timeline

We’re projecting the following timeline for this hiring process. We will notify candidates of any shifts as we move through the process.

• Application closes Apr 21, 2024
• Within two weeks of closing applications, you will know if you’ve moved onto the interview stage
• Within two weeks of your interview, you’ll know if you moved onto the case exercise stage
• Within two weeks of your case exercise completion, you’ll know if you moved onto the final interview
• We expect to make a final offer by the end of May.

City Bureau is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Compensation, benefits and support

• $57,500; City Bureau uses a fixed compensation structure that includes planned annual raises
• Full time with benefits package including health care, dental, vision, life insurance
• This is a remote-first role and there is a central office in Chicago that is available for staff use
• Employer sponsored 401k plans, with 100% employer match up to 4% of salary
• $1,000 annual technology and work tools allowance
• $1,000 professional development allowance
• 15 days paid vacation, not including health days
• 11 company holidays each year, which may be exchanged for employees who celebrate other holidays
• Flexible work schedule—some night/weekend hours may be required
• A 4.5 day week. From July through September, City Bureau operates on a 4 day work week.
• Some travel to Chicago and partner sites will be required
• A culture of intentional professional development and organizational learning; City Bureau staff hold regular share outs to learn from one another and hold regular community check-ins to connect and surface feedback on policies and practices.