Volunteer Engagement Program Assistant

About the Opportunity

826 Boston seeks a creative team member with strong organizational skills to serve as the Volunteer Engagement Program Assistant. We are seeking a candidate with a strong command of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles and approaches, who can build on the current strengths of the Volunteer Management Team, including robust training and support that center DEI, collaborative partnerships with universities, and a culture of learning and appreciation.

The Volunteer Engagement Program Assistant will also support the Volunteer Management Team in cultivating and stewarding the individual volunteers that foster learning spaces that are student-centered, strengths-based, and promote inclusivity for the identities, experiences, and voices of LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and neurodiverse students. 

Mission: 

826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life.

Responsibilities: 

Volunteer and Community Engagement

• Support the Volunteer Management Team in cultivating and stewarding a volunteer corps of 750+ individuals on an annual basis
• Assist in building, cultivating, and supporting strong relationships to maintain pipelines with corporate groups and community organizations that fuel community volunteerism 
• Collaborate with Volunteer Management Team members to assist in the planning and support of community-based recruitment events
• Support volunteer onboarding for all individuals, including leading one to two volunteer training sessions a month and coordinating pre- and post-training communication
• Support the recruitment of individuals to attend training sessions via online postings
• Assist in the implementation of volunteer appreciation 
• Support outreach efforts including but not limited to corporate partner visits, community fairs, and local tabling events

Systems Coordination and Data Collection

• Assist in the management of volunteer communications systems, including email, volunteer opportunity calendar, and sign up tools
• Assist in the maintenance of volunteer records, tracking participation, inputting volunteer shift data, and producing reports in our Volunteer Database, SalesForce
• Collaborate with Senior Manager of Volunteer & Community Engagement, to track progress toward annual programming goals and report to the team on a biannual basis
• Support in conducting bi-monthly check-ins with program teams to identify and address volunteer needs within 826 Boston programming

Additional responsibilities

• Support organization-wide summer programming
• Provide occasional support to programming as a tutor or staff coverage

Qualifications: 

The ideal candidate is a team player with a steadfast commitment to improving the quality of K-12 education, including adopting antiracist/anti-oppressive approaches, with a desire to work in a collaborative and inclusive culture and a passion for youth empowerment through writing and publishing.

826 Boston recognizes that impostor syndrome and the confidence gap might prevent some applicants from applying. Few candidates will have all of the relevant experience listed below, but 826 Boston is committed to assessing candidates with transferable skills and a willingness to be trained for this role.

Skills and experiences: 

• 2+ years of experience working in a K-12 school, education, or youth development nonprofit
• Experience with volunteer management and/or with direct volunteering preferred but not required
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering community, building a strong sense of team, and embracing values of diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Ability to give and receive feedback with humility, regulation, and tact
• Knowledge of and fluency with social and racial justice, intersectionality, BIPoC and LGBTQIA+ history, and historic/current systems of oppression
• Ability to incorporate anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices into analysis, planning, and programming
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Apps preferred but not required
• Proficiency in Spanish, Cape Verdean or Haitian Creole, or Somali preferred but not required
• Experience with SalesForce or comparable database preferred but not required 

Compensation

The salary for this full time position is $38,000 a year. Benefits include generous paid time off (including vacation, sick leave, holidays, and a two-week winter break); flexible schedule, including the option to work remotely 2-3 days a week; health and dental insurance (826 Boston covers 80% of premiums); parental leave; and more.

This is an exempt, full-time, position that reports to the Senior Manager of Volunteer & Community Engagement. The ideal start date for this position is early August. 

826 Boston Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement 

At 826 Boston, we honor and actively work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across our organization. We are committed to centering the voices of the students who we serve, to creating inclusive spaces, and to incorporating feedback from our community into our decision-making processes. Our DEI lens is always evolving through the courageous conversations in which we participate and the relationships that we build through our work and service. We strengthen our cultural competency through experience, training, and feedback, which informs the development of all new organizational practices and goals and the evaluation of all existing procedures.

826 Boston is dedicated to providing a platform for student advocacy through writing and publishing opportunities. In our work and mission, we are committed to dismantling white supremacy culture by recognizing that we are complicit in systems of racism and oppression. We will work to hold ourselves accountable in addressing these harmful structures and behaviors. To learn more about our DEI Action Plans across the organization, please click here. 

About Us

826 Boston is part of a national network of youth writing centers, co-founded by the award-winning author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari, that were named in GOOD Magazine’s “30 Places We Want to Work.” Since opening in 2007, 826 Boston has delivered its free youth writing and tutoring programs to more than 29,000 students and has been recognized by The Boston Globe as one of the best places in the city to volunteer. 826 Boston’s youth writers have published their work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and in numerous award-winning 826 Boston books, including A Place for Me in the World, which was hailed as a “triumph of middle school education” by The Boston Globe. In 2013, the 826 National network garnered the prestigious American Literacy Prize awarded by the Library of Congress.

Accommodations

826 Boston provides reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities at every stage of the application process. Disclosing a disability or requesting a need for accommodations is a separate process from admissions and will have absolutely no bearing on a candidate’s application status. 826 Boston will make every effort to meet your request, but specific requests are not guaranteed. If you need to request an accommodation, please contact Catherine Gomez at catherine@826boston.org.

How to Apply

Please include why you are interested in 826 Boston and how your experience has prepared you for this position in your cover letter. The priority application deadline for this position is May 27th. After that date, applications will be considered on a rolling basis. It is in your best interest to apply as soon as possible.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Benefits include generous paid time off (including vacation, sick leave, holidays, and a two-week winter break); flexible schedule, including the option to work remotely 2-3 days a week; health and dental insurance (826 Boston covers 80% of premiums); parental leave; and more.

Please include why you are interested in 826 Boston and how your experience has prepared you for this position in your cover letter. The priority application deadline for this position is May 27th. After that date, applications will be considered on a rolling basis. It is in your best interest to apply as soon as possible.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.