BLACK BASE BUILDING CONSULTANT (short-term 6-month contract)

THE CHISHOLM LEGACY PROJECT SUMMARY:

The mission of the Chisholm Legacy Project is rooted in the Just Transition Framework. The project serves as a vehicle to connect Black communities on the frontlines of climate justice with resources to traverse the path from vision to strategy to action plan to implementation to transformation. In support of frontline leadership, the project seeks to link movements and mainstream entities with the tools necessary to advance systems change centered in equity and justice. With Black women on the frontlines of advancing systems change, this project ensures that these leaders have the support they need as they transform society from extractivism to a living economy that cares for sacred relationships between people and with Mother Earth, through regenerative, cooperative, democratic systems.

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION:

TCLP seeks to strengthen the Black Base in the US by supporting our partnered Black Base-Building organizations in membership growth, capacity building, and leadership development rooted in climate justice, just transition, and liberation. The Black Base Building initiative supports national and regional-focused organizations that serve frontline communities. The core work of these organizations — housing justice, immigration advocacy, mutual aid, political education, etc. — address community challenges and burdens that stem from the same extractive systems that fuel our climate crisis. Building on and expanding this cadre of entities, the work of this initiative includes:

• Growing the regional networks by expanding engagement to include more mainstream Black Base Building groups who have not worked on climate justice previously.
• Supporting each organization in the network through the development and implementation of curated resource plans, specific to the organization’s needs, including accessing planning support, technical assistance, funding, and trainings focused on building capacity to engage on climate justice.
• Facilitating the sharing and communication of resources and opportunities amongst the network by, minimally, hosting monthly virtual meetings and maintaining an internal newsletter/virtual bulletin board.
• Strengthening the relationships and shared strategy within the network by hosting regional, in-person convenings.
• Using the Just Transition framework to explicitly connect the missions of these organizations with climate justice.

To advance this work, TCLP intends to retain coordination and other services from the contractor to support Black-led organizations to clarify vision, develop actionable plans, and identify resources needed to implement them, in support of the initiative’s goals to engage Black organizations at scale, strengthen their capacity, expand their membership, and ensure their strategies are grounded in just transition, climate justice, and liberation values.

This person should possess the ability to absorb and embrace the overall vision of TCLP’s strategy and portfolio, which are rooted in Black Liberation and Just Transition, and should be able to effectively convey the purpose and benefit of the BBB initiative to prospective partners. A successful candidate should be able to effectively draw connections between partners’ individual missions and climate justice, and support partners in operationalizing those connections where the partner sees it as beneficial and aligned.

The contractor will focus primarily on supporting the Midwest and Northeast regional networks, with some later inclusion of national base-building organizations, and preference will be given to candidates located in either of these regions, and who are able to travel within these regions as

needed.

Contractor MUST be available to fully attend, in-person, two regional convenings in August 2026 – one in Boston, MA, and another in the Midwest (final location TBD).

This is a short-term contract position. Total compensation with fulfillment of all deliverables is $50,000.

Core Tasks of the Contractor Include:

Relationship-Building:

• Identify and engage at least forty (40) new Black-led organizations focused on membership growth and mass base-building (e.g., civic groups, faith institutions, sororities/fraternities, grassroots organizations).
• Strengthen relationships with existing BBB partners through consistent communication, including travel upon request to priority regions for in-person engagement.
• Provide support to organizational leaders in integrating just transition and climate justice into their core priorities.

Visioning & Action Planning:

• Facilitate visioning sessions with each Organization, to help Organizations articulate their role in advancing just transition and climate justice.
• Collaborate with Organizations to design tailored action plans aligned with their membership and community context.
• Provide guidance on resourcing strategies, including funding opportunities, technical assistance, and partnerships.

Resource Support:

• Share access to TCLP’s tools, training, and initiatives with Organizations.
• Develop and disseminate resource guides to Organizations, highlighting opportunities for base-building, climate justice integration, and funding.
• Establish and manage a process for responding to organizational resource requests and follow-up.

Convening & Communications:

• Support in the planning and hosting of two regional convenings in August 2026 with participating Organizations to share lessons learned and strengthen collective strategy.
• Host monthly calls with Organizations to track progress, share resources, and deepen alignment.
• Conduct at least two (2) post-Convening, in-person visits to regional hubs, bringing together 3–5 Organizations
• Maintain consistent communications to foster accountability and momentum.
• Launch outreach and organizing efforts with national organizations (both existing and new) following the August convenings, building toward a national convening (date tbd).

Qualifications:

The successful candidate will have:

• A commitment to Black Liberation, Climate Justice, and Just Transition.
• A deep understanding of principles related to Black Liberation, Climate Justice, and Just Transition,
• Ability to articulate the real-world intersections and applications of Black Liberation, Climate Justice, and Just Transition to a variety of audiences
• Experience in organizing, growing, coordinating, and maintaining coalitions, collaboratives, and/or networks of aligned movement organizations.
• Experience working with base-building and membership-based organizations
• Experience in facilitating vision and action planning sessions with both groups of varying sizes
• Ability to commit the time necessary to accomplish the stated tasks and deliverables.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Benefits

This is a short-term contract position with no benefits.

This is a contract position that offers no benefits