Youth & Community Organizing Coordinator

Primary Job Responsibilities:

Through the implementation of FEEST’s strategic plan and a youth-led multigenerational organizing Framework, the YCOC will train, supervise, and co-lead students to organize and build power amongst themselves and their broader communities to win short and long term policy changes in their school district. The YCOC will manage youth-centered community base building, leadership development, and execution of powerful campaigns to win tangible improvements in South Seattle and South King County.

Key Responsibilities:

Basebuilding (20%) – Build a 10% student base and a 10% teacher base at their school to support campaign success.

• Create clear monthly recruitment goals and outreach systems to increase membership of youth and adults supportive of organizing and policy priorities.
• Train youth to recruit new members at their schools through 1:1s and a diverse, creative range of outreach activities that agitate the base and connect campaign goals with individual self-interest.
• Support, evaluate progress, and hold youth accountable for carrying out outreach plan(s).
• Plan and execute basebuilding events with Student Organizers
• Both virtual and in-person (safety permitting)
• Buying and coordinating supplies, volunteers, and food needed
• Cultivate deep relationships with students, community partners, and staff at each school to increase knowledge of the school and be responsive to youth and staff needs by attending school-based meetings and weaving FEEST into the infrastructure of each school.
• Steward school and district relationships. This includes prompt communication and relationship management with decision makers, school staff, allies, and community partners.
• Leverage allies to provide resources or remove barriers that prevent youth success.

Youth Leadership Development (30%) – Train student organizers to organize engaging and effective campaigns while building valuable life skills.

• Design and facilitate dynamic and energizing organizing programming and skill building with Student Organizers; plan youth skill building and development each quarter.
• Train youth to:
  • Engage in successful basebuilding.
  • Identify problems and solutions that are widely and deeply felt at their school and in their district.
  • Build engaging campaigns for tangible solutions in their school district; execute tactics that build the base or increase pressure on decision makers.
  • Facilitate and mobilize their peers in basebuilding events and onboarding new members.
  • Run meetings with decision makers.
  • Lead workshops and present externally about FEEST’s campaign goals.
• Coordinate and facilitate 1-4 student organizer meetings a week in person and online:
  • Collaboratively create each week’s meeting agendas and curriculum plan.
  • Adapt curriculum to meet the needs of your team and school’s political landscape.
• Create a leadership development plan for each student organizer with clear goals and leadership roles; support growth through regular check ins.
• Co-design and facilitate a youth organizing summer camp for incoming youth leaders.
• Use trauma-informed care practices to support students in their learning and decision making. Create and uphold healthy boundaries and structure to ensure the FEEST meetings are welcoming, accessible, and safe for students.

Executing Campaigns for Systemic Change (25%) – Collaborate with student organizers and other FEEST staff to co-run campaigns with clear solutions directed at decision makers.

• Support youth campaign research by running engaging strategies to collect community feedback.
• Support student organizers in developing comprehensive organizing strategy, powermapping, and executing tactics to put pressure on decision makers.
• Adapt strategy and tactics to decision makers and youth in your team and district.
• Consistently evaluate goals, give feedback, and ensure success of campaign in your district.

Building the Organization and Movement (10%) – Contribute to the overall effectiveness of the organization and our place in the wider organizing landscape.

• Engage in collective visioning with staff and youth to refine and implement FEEST’s organizing strategy.
• Participate in assessments regarding the overall health of our organization and member participation.
• In partnership with Student Organizers and the FEEST Organizing team:
  • Regularly assess the political landscape to explore new relationships to build our power and organizing skills.
  • Create resources and tools for organizing that center youth voice and power.
  • Build trust and solidarity with other organizations doing similar organizing work locally and nationally. Explore strategic risks for building greater power.

Admin & Operations (15%) – Campaign planning is efficient, all team events are supported with a collaborative spirit.

• Create efficient and proactive work plans to execute strategic program outcome goals.
• Meticulously track Student Organizer attendance, surveys, paperwork, and program budgeting.
• Coordinate annual outreach and hiring of new Student Organizers.
• Participate in team-wide fundraising activities including phone-banking, donor and funder meetings, and fundraising and community engagement events.
• Work with the Admin Team to ensure consistent data entry of all youth related information (e.g. attendance).
• Participate in all-staff meetings, team-building, trainings, and events.
• Timely email, voicemail, and project management.
• Practice rest and self-care by using paid time off and taking breaks.

Required Qualifications:

• Unapologetically rooted in social justice, equity, and committed to apply anti-oppression lenses in both personal and workplace context.
• Commitment to building youth power, leadership, creativity, and joy.
• Lived experience or demonstrated professional skills working with racially and economically diverse individuals and communities, including working class, immigrant/refugees, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ populations.
• Ability to build strong interpersonal relationships.
• Strong critical thinking skills, creative problem solver, adaptable and flexible.
• Effective writing, attention to detail.
• Ability to take initiative and be assertive, strong time management skills.
• Integrates and offers feedback in a growth-oriented way; willingness to practice principled struggle.
• Sense of humor and playfulness.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working with youth, in school systems, or in South Seattle/South King County.
• Connection to the South King County community.
• Experience working with youth-led groups or organizations and/or taking leadership from youth.
• Training and/or experience in trauma-informed care.

Additional Information

• This is currently a hybrid work position. Candidates should be prepared to work in the FEEST office in White Center and on campus at Franklin, Chief Sealth, Rainier Beach, Tyee, and Evergreen High Schools. FEEST is unable to provide relocation assistance.
• Access to a vehicle is highly recommended. Our program sites are far-reaching across White Center, South Seattle, Rainier Beach and Sea-Tac and our office is not very accessible by transit.
• We value collective and self care, and require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 upon hire, or a medical exemption.

Stipends: health bank and work from home stipends currently total an additional $2,900 to support staff wellbeing.

A generous package of benefits for full-time employees, currently valued at more than $20,000. This includes full medical, dental and vision insurance, generous paid time off, retirement matching, and access to professional development each year.

English fluency required; bilingual or multilingual preferred, especially in Spanish, Vietnamese, Khmer/Cambodian, Tigrinya, Amharic, Arabic, Somali, or Samoan.