Regional Organizer (college students welcome)

Regional Organizer Application: Apply by 12pm ET, Thursday May 30

Highlights:

• $25 per hour, ~5 hours per week
• Virtual work, with 1-2 in-person retreats
• Our first retreat is June 27-30, 2024
• Contracts run from July 1, 2024 - May 2, 2025

This Role: We are excited to hire Regional Organizers (ROs) who lead our work, refine our model, and build highly impactful Chapters of the Civic Service Fellowship. We are looking for organizers with organizing, leadership, and civic engagement experiences. Specifically, we want to hire Organizers in the following states: WA, FL, NC, IL, TX, CA, MA, NY, NJ, OK, CO, DC, VA, GA, PA.

ROs will join a growing organization that supports thousands of Fellows, registers tens of thousands of students to vote, invites Fellows to build community empowerment events around the ideas they’re most passionate about, and creates generative, student-led spaces in high schools across the U.S.. Regional Organizers will support a team of 3-4 Community Organizers (COs), who will recruit, onboard, and support high school Civic Service Fellows who build community, receive weekly training, and lead civic actions in their local areas. Regional Organizers will work virtually, and can be located anywhere across the U.S..

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is committed to power sharing, all Regional Organizers receive voting rights in Rhizome. This includes the ability to discuss and vote on goals, vision, and changes to our work environment. ROs also vote to approve any nominees to our Board of Directors, and to decide any unified actions we take in future years. Time spent in strategic conversations will be compensated fully, as ROs receive hands-on insight around nonprofit leadership, build leadership experience, and learn how democratic decision-making works. Each team of Organizers will determine most of their specific work hours as they see fit. 

Rhizome Overview: We are a nonpartisan nonprofit launched by 90 Co-Founders in August 2021. The key challenge we address is that young people hold untapped collective power to create the safer, happier, and healthier world they want to live in. We provide structures that unify young people to shape change and lead meaningful lives. There are emerging leaders in nearly every high school who want to organize and boost civic engagement, so our role is to bring youth leaders together around a shared purpose. More information can be found on our instagram and website, and we are committed to nonpartisanship and youth organizing.

Rhizome’s Mission and Vision: Our mission and vision were drafted, iterated, and voted on by the youth Organizers who lead our system. Our mission is to activate young peoples’ identities into action and help youth treat civic service as the work of a lifetime. We envision a world where all young people can look towards a hopeful future carved from the tools of determination and civic engagement, where communities come together to celebrate their differences, and where the youth of today can feel inspired in a productive and safe space. 

What We Mean by “Student-Led”: We believe that youth civics spaces should be led by young people who are most proximate to gaps in power, while also forging intergenerational relationships that offer support from experienced elders. We are deepening our commitment to power-sharing this year, and here is the current breakdown of our power-sharing system:

• Teams of Fellows: Fellows receive support to lead civic actions: nonpartisan election work and capacity-building in the fall, building community empowerment events for the ideas they’re passionate about in the winter, and voter education in the spring.
• Fellowship Chapters: Organizers lead Chapters of the Civic Service Fellowship. This includes onboarding Fellows, hosting weekly trainings, and supporting Fellows to lead actions in their community year-round. Most Chapters include 10+ teams of Fellows. 
• Organizers Nationally: Organizers vote to shape our vision, goals, and changes to our work environment. Organizers also vote to approve nominees to the Board, and on the unified national actions we take. These processes limit movement capture. 
• Mentors: Full-time staff who align our decisions to our overall strategy, design and develop communication channels, and facilitate decision-making systems with our Organizers. This includes responsibility for personnel, accountability, org structure.
• Board: Rhizome’s Board is responsible for executive, legal, and financial oversight. 

Qualifications: We’re looking for those who are eager to learn, who believe that organizing spaces must be more healthy, and who want to build a system that grows while centering students. We have a preference for candidates who bring experience in organizing, service leadership, and civic life. Successful candidates will:

• Have demonstrated passion for uplifting and empowering other young people
• Show a clear commitment to power-sharing and civic engagement practices
• Display emotional maturity and have the ability to build bridges with others
• Bring previous organizing experiences that can be applied within Rhizome

Key Responsibilities: Regional Organizers report to the Director of Systems Design and Partnerships and the Director of Training and Belonging. ROs attend weekly All-Organizers meetings, manage COs who support Fellows, and co-facilitate weekly, virtual meetings with local Chapters of the Civic Service Fellowship. The duties of Regional Organizers include:

• Understanding, supporting, and managing 3-4 Community Organizers (COs are typically 17-22 years old)
• Conducting outreach to potential Fellows for an average of 90 minutes every week
• Expressing support needs as they arise, and providing feedback to improve systems
• Provide strategic insight for national-level priorities and decision-making in Rhizome
• Co-facilitating virtual chapter meetings for 45-60 minutes each week, in which you and your team of Community Organizers will build community, support Fellows to understand our systems, and guide Fellows to lead actions in their communities. 

Essential Functions of this Position:

• This position may be regularly talking, hearing, looking at a computer screen, and/or using their hands to operate a computer and cell phone
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision due to computer work
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• There are no in person requirements, however in-person opportunities will be available and those may include events that require sitting, standing, walking, and interacting with others

Application Process: Review this timeline carefully & plan accordingly. Dates may change slightly. Rhizome is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages all interested applicants who are values-aligned to apply. Youth of color, LGBTQIA youth, working class youth, and those with lived experiences of hardship are encouraged to apply. 

Organizers will take 6-7 week mental health breaks in November-December and May-June.

Stage 1: Initial Application

Due Date - 12 PM ET, Thursday, May 31: the application is designed to take less than 30 minutes, and is designed to gauge your belief in the kind of work we do.

Stage 2: Phone Screener

Applicants Contacted: Monday, June 3 - Friday June 7

Stage 3: Interview and Reference Checks

Interviews and Reference Checks: Monday, June 10 - Friday,  June 14

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Final Decisions Released — Friday, June 14. Regional Organizers will begin on July 1, 2024 and will be invited to our in-person retreat in Asheville, NC June 27-30. All retreat expenses will be covered, and each RO in attendance will receive a stipend.