Immigrant Youth Organizer, End SIJS Backlog Coalition

The End SIJS Backlog Coalition, a project of the National Immigration Project, is a national group of impacted youth and over 100 allied advocacy organizations working together to end the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) backlog and to protect the rights of SIJS youth to remain safely in the United States. Through multi-faceted advocacy, coordinating and training attorneys, and youth organizing, our coalition provides resources and support to attorneys in defending SIJS youth from detention and deportation, uplifts the stories and voices of SIJS youth, and educates members of Congress about the harmful impacts of visa caps on immigrant youth. The Coalition’s ultimate goal is to achieve permanent legal protection in the United States for immigrant youth who have survived abuse, abandonment, and neglect. The Coalition seeks to hire a Youth Organizer (YO) with an entrepreneurial spirit to grow our youth organizing as a key strategy and core value of our work.

Supervised by the Director of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition, and in coordination with the Coalition’s Youth Organizing Working Group and Youth Leadership Council, the YO will lead the Coalition’s youth organizing work. At a time when SIJS youth are under attack, the YO’s role is critical in supporting SIJS youth across the country to know their rights, find community, build youth power, and advocate for their own permanent protection. The Coalition has dedicated the last two years to building a base of SIJS youth leaders. Through relationship building, storytelling, leadership development, advocacy training, and community-building, the YO will continue to build our base of activated SIJS youth leaders, including undocumented and foster youth, across the country. The YO will also focus on deepening and activating the leadership of our already engaged SIJS youth leaders, while continuing to develop and implement a cohesive organizing strategy to position youth leadership at the forefront of our Coalition’s strategy and advocacy work.

Primary Duties:

• Develop and implement a cohesive youth organizing and leadership development strategy for the Coalition, in partnership with impacted youth, and the Coalition’s leadership core;
• Spearhead the Coalition’s Youth Organizing Working Group;
• Run the Coalition’s Youth Leadership Council, SIJS Know Your Rights Training Program, Cafecito Chats, and other youth programming;
• Grow and sustain our nationwide base of engaged, impacted-youth leaders interested in learning, taking action, and advocating for their own protection and an end to the SIJS backlog;
• Stay up to date on changes in the immigration system impacting immigrant youth;
• Communicate updates, opportunities, and events regularly to impacted youth;
• Prepare, coordinate, and facilitate both in-person and virtual meetings/events with impacted youth (e.g., one-on-ones, info-sessions, team building, action planning, direct action, advocacy training, community spaces, etc.);
• Participate in Steering Committee and broader Coalition meetings to represent the voices and goals of the Coalition’s impacted-youth membership;
• Build and maintain relationships with organizational members of the Coalition (legal services providers, child welfare agencies, academics, etc.);
• Educate policymakers and the public about issues impacting SIJS youth;
• Build the Coalition’s social media presence and virtual community-building spaces for impacted youth;
• Build relationships and collaborate with other groups working to organize immigrant youth;
• Represent the Coalition and youth membership in the media;
• Maintain membership databases and careful written records of stakeholder and impacted youth engagement;
• Other duties as required to support the broader work of the Coalition.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Personal lived experience with the SIJS backlog or other experience within the U.S. immigration system;
• At least 2-5 years of comparable youth or community organizing experience;
• Experience communicating with different audiences, including policymakers, impacted youth, and legal or advocacy organizations;
• Experience organizing and facilitating group meetings, trainings, and community building events;
• Interest in exploring a variety of creative methodologies to engage and elevate youth voice, including the arts, music, etc.
• Experience working with youth who have experienced trauma.

Required Qualifications:

• Bilingual (English and Spanish);
• Ability to travel 1-2x/month for multiple consecutive days;
• Ability to attend and facilitate meetings outside of traditional working hours;
• High degree of comfort with technology, including Microsoft Office, Zoom, Google Suite, Instagram, TikTok and databases;
• Excellent event planning and execution skills;
• Understanding of and commitment to advancing the mission of the Coalition and alignment with the mission of the National Immigration Project;
• Strong interpersonal skills: active listening, conversation, empathy, etc.;
• Creative self-starter who can work without too much structure and who has a proven ability to work with a diverse team of volunteers, staff, lawyers, advocates and other stakeholders.

Compensation & Location: Salary in $64,087-$71,666 range, commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits, including medical, dental, retirement, and generous vacation and leave time. This is a full-time limited term exempt union position. All National Immigration Project union staff are represented by the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), UAW Local 2320, AFL-CIO. We are headquartered in Washington, DC but most of our staff work remotely. This is a fully remote position.

Bilingual (English and Spanish)