Senior Community Organizer/Community Organizer

The Opportunity

Essie Justice Group (Essie) is building grassroots power to dismantle the US incarceration system, the most egregious creator of racial and gender injustice of our time. We are a loving and powerful community of women with incarcerated loved ones. Our community includes cisgender women, transgender women, formerly incarcerated women, gender nonconforming (GNC) people, elders, and young people. 

After ten years of building an active membership across California and beyond, Essie is deepening its base-building and leadership development strategies with the 1 in 4 women with incarcerated loved ones to propel bold decarceration agendas across the nation. We seek to transform the criminal legal system and create a Black feminist future rooted in care, equity, community safety, and liberation. Essie is waging ever more ambitious campaigns to divest from state-sponsored punitive control and invest in structures that support the self-determination, freedom, and dignity of Black women and gender nonconforming people. We are seeking a people-oriented, adaptable, and highly motivated Community Organizer to join us in building and implementing campaigns to upend systems of control and confinement. 

Core Responsibilities

Member Recruitment and Retention: Recruit women with incarcerated loved ones to join our membership and use effective techniques in relational organizing to continuously engage and create a political home for our members. 

• Recruit new members and steward participation of existing members in Essie programming and campaign tactics, including monitoring progress toward turnout goals. 
• Track and proactively respond to trends in member retention. 
• Plan and track member leadership development via committee participation.
• Get to know members’ strengths, stories, passions, and interests in order to support them in assuming more leadership in relevant program/campaign related activities (e.g. committee leadership, spokesperson training, etc.).   
• Actively problem-solve and support with logistics to reduce barriers to member participation.
• Work alongside members to facilitate member meetings and gatherings in an engaging and values-aligned way. 

Member Activation & Engagement in Campaign Tactics: Carry out activations, mobilizations, and other tactics to achieve advocacy objectives. 

• Implement campaign tactics (direct actions, press conferences, rallies, meeting with electeds, etc.) in a way that is aligned with the overall campaign strategy. 
• Engage members meaningfully in the planning for and execution of campaign tactics. 
• Prep members to speak at public hearings, actions, or with electeds. 
• Lead and train members in canvassing and door-knocking efforts to engage with the community around issues and grow our membership.
• Create member- and partner-facing written materials. 
• Support in holding relationships with select partners. 

Who We’re Looking For 

Ideal Qualifications

• 2-4+ years experience in organizing (community-based, issue-based, electoral, and/or labor); previous experience in decarceration advocacy a strong plus.
• Commitment to supporting the leadership of women and gender nonconforming people with incarcerated loved ones and our families. 
• Excellent time-management, organizational, and event-planning skills.
• Effective writing, editing, and verbal communication skills.
• Track record as a collaborative team player who excels in managing multiple projects and is comfortable working in a fast-paced and non-traditional work environment. 
• Adept with Mac operating systems, Google Suite, and MS Office Suite (especially Excel, PowerPoint, and Word)
• Commitment to the beliefs and values of Essie with a demonstrated passion for progressive politics, specifically in gender justice, race justice, and ending mass incarceration.

Qualities

• Connecting with others is your superpower. You find tremendous joy in building relationships and supporting the leadership development of others. 
• A determined, methodical executor. You are extremely organized and coordinate meetings and events with skill and grace, especially in a fast-paced, focused environment. You relish strong work plans and time management tools to support your and the project’s success. You anticipate needs and take initiative to address them. “I persist despite obstacles” is one of your mottos.
• Discernment and honesty we can trust. You are a thoughtful team member who acts in alignment with your integrity and are unfailingly trustworthy. 
• Committed to evolution. You are committed to continuously deepening and evolving your own understanding of systems of oppression through study, openness, and humility. And you easily recognize your own relationship to privilege and power, examining and shifting your behaviors as appropriate.
• Uplifting and additive. You see mistakes as opportunities for growth; problems as catalysts for solutions, and inspire others along the journey. You carry a positive approach, can-do attitude, a sense of humor, and authentic kindness wherever you go.