Neighborhood Organizer

About OHI: The Open Hearts Initiative builds community support for housing and services for homeless New Yorkers by organizing housed community residents to advocate for housing justice in their own backyards. We connect communities, homeless New Yorkers, and service providers to create welcoming environments rooted in empathy, compassion, and respect in order to build strong and integrated neighborhoods.

OHI staff support a network of volunteers in neighborhood-based chapters across New York City, helping them mobilize community resources for neighbors experiencing homelessness, advocate for needed transitional and permanent housing in their communities, and build connections across housing status.

About the role: The Neighborhood Organizer will organize several Open Hearts volunteer chapters, helping them deepen and expand their work supporting neighbors experiencing homelessness and advocating for housing solutions in their communities. This position will report to our Deputy Executive Director and will work closely with the rest of our team. We’re ideally looking for someone who can start in April 2026, but we’re open to hiring someone who can start later in the spring if they’re the right fit.

Responsibilities:

Event and Volunteer Coordination

• Co-organize events with volunteers, providing support with project management, outreach and publicity, and event logistics
• Oversee recurring programs that volunteers lead at shelters and housing sites. Support these programs by checking in regularly with volunteers, managing supplies, troubleshooting issues, and periodically attending sessions.
• Build relationships with service providers, local elected officials, and other community groups
• Engage with neighbors experiencing homelessness to assist them in accessing OHI events, gather feedback, and build relationships

Volunteer and Chapter Capacity-Building

• Mentor volunteers to grow grassroots chapter leadership
• Bring in and onboard new chapter members to broaden our volunteer base
• Track volunteer participation, communicate with volunteers about interests and needs, and implement strategies to move volunteers up the “ladder of engagement”
• Help plan and execute cross-chapter activities, including trainings, discussion groups, and committee meetings
• Develop and execute strategies to meet our goals for each volunteer chapter

Advocacy

• Mobilize volunteers for neighborhood advocacy efforts such as speaking at Community Board meetings and writing op-eds
• Engage OHI members in policy advocacy campaigns

Intern Management

• Hire and manage 1-2 paid interns

Skills/Experience:

Key skills/experience:

• A passion for housing justice and welcoming homeless neighbors
• Experience or interest in community organizing work or managing volunteers
• Educational background can be a Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent years in work experience
• Excellent writer and communicator
• Comfortable interacting with a wide range of people, including neighbors experiencing homelessness
• Superb project management, time management, and organizational skills. You should be someone who’s able to juggle a lot of different projects and keep them moving forward.
• Proactive self-starter

Additional skills/experience that are nice to have but not required:

• Some knowledge of the NYC policy and political landscape
• Competency in a language other than English is a plus but not required

Hours: This is a full-time role. Some evening and weekend work is required for attending chapter meetings and events.

Work location: You will be working primarily out of our office in Upper Manhattan, with some work “in the field” staffing chapter events around NYC. There is occasional flexibility for some remote work (and the possibility of shifting to a permanently hybrid schedule in the future if desired).

Full benefits including medical, dental, and life insurance, and retirement matching program. An OMNY card will be provided for work-related travel.

Competency in a language other than English is a plus but not required