Immigrant Justice Organizer

ONE Northside is seeking an Immigrant Justice Organizer to lead community-powered work dedicated to building ONE Northside’s base of directly impacted people – immigrants and children of immigrants – and allies in solidarity with the fight for immigrant justice, and drive strategy for this new area of our work. This individual will develop grassroots leadership, coordinate rapid response during periods of heightened immigration enforcement, and serve as a key organizer in city and statewide coalitions advancing immigrant rights. Working closely with our partners – including the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Protect Rogers Park, and Chicago Teachers' Union — the Immigrant Justice Organizer will strengthen ONE Northside’s community defense and mutual aid infrastructure. This is an opportunity to build lasting community power with and for immigrant communities on Chicago’s North Side and to connect immigrant justice work to long-term campaigns for structural change in housing, climate, and beyond.

POSITION STRATEGY

This is a new position at ONE Northside, geared for an experienced organizer who will build ONE Northside’s base of directly impacted immigrants and their families, develop a new immigrant justice campaign, and hold critical infrastructure during periods of rapid response. Central to this role is building the cross-racial, multi-ethnic solidarity necessary to move our work forward – including doing the political education work to help community members understand the connections between immigration, housing, climate, and economic justice. The Immigrant Justice Organizer will develop leaders who can drive campaigns, tell their own stories publicly, and sustain this work over time. They will work closely with the organizing team, ONE People's Campaign (OPC), and a robust ecosystem of local, statewide, and national partners.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Organizing

• Build a base of people and institutions directly affected by immigration enforcement and immigrant justice issues, including immigrants, children of immigrants, mixed-status families, young people, and people of color. This will include independent canvassing and other outreach efforts. Mobilize base members to participate in immigrant justice campaigns and other organizational activities such as trainings, direct actions, large public meetings, and canvassing.
• Drive the strategy for this new area of our work by developing and leading a new campaign. This includes building a base, developing an issue cut, creating a power analysis, driving campaign strategies forward, cultivating leadership development, and growing the organization's power through these campaigns. Current areas of exploration include immigrant healthcare and immigrant housing.
• Develop and convene ONE Northside’s immigrant justice issue team — a standing body of directly impacted community members who set direction for ONE Northside’s immigrant justice campaigns and strategy, and who can serve as spokespeople and leaders across this work.
• Cultivate the leadership of community members to tell their own stories, build their own bases, and develop and execute strategies to win campaigns in our immigrant justice work. This will include using tactics such as meeting with elected officials, public education, direct action, strategic communications, and more.
• Do the political education work needed to build multiracial solidarity — helping community members understand the connections between immigration enforcement, housing displacement, climate crisis, and economic precarity — and to identify and cultivate people who want to move from rapid response into long-term issue organizing.
• Organize and facilitate trainings to develop grassroots leadership, including Know Your Rights/Migra Watch trainings, Mutual Aid Nuts & Bolts trainings, and Non-Violent Direct Action trainings, in partnership with allied organizations.
• Meet with grassroots and grasstops community members to understand their interests and move them to action with ONE Northside. Organizers are expected to conduct at least 5 one-on-one meetings per week.
• Work with grassroots leaders to participate in city and statewide coalitions that advance our immigrant justice campaigns.
• Plan events and meetings from start to finish, including preparing the agenda, securing logistics, ensuring radical hospitality, and generating turnout. Support events and meetings planned by other team members.
• Organize community listening sessions and other opportunities to identify community priorities around immigration enforcement, policy, and related issues.
• Support the activities of ONE People's Campaign, our 501(c)(4) sister organization through ONE Northside’s Cost Share agreement with ONE People’s Campaign.

Community Defense & Neighbor to Neighbor

• Co-lead the Uptown/Edgewater Rapid Response Network as part of the broader Northside Lakefront rapid response coordination with AAAJ-Chicago and JCUA. Share tip monitoring and responder coordination responsibilities, support network committees, and work to integrate network volunteers more deeply into ONE Northside.
• Run the Neighbor to Neighbor program: manage volunteer teams focused on vetting/onboarding and matching/dispatch. Ensure partner participation through regular check-ins and timely follow-through on requests. Track all requests and iterate the system based on data and feedback.
• Coordinate with ONE Northside’s housing organizing team to connect immigrant community members activated through rapid response and canvassing into tenant solidarity efforts, and to ensure that the Northside Lakefront rapid response network and Neighbor to Neighbor are integrated with building- and block-level organizing infrastructure.
• Hold strategic direction for ONE Northside's rapid response work during ICE surges and other enforcement escalations, coordinating with staff and leaders to respond

Administration & Fundraising

• Prepare weekly written reports updating progress toward goals and regularly update data in Powerbase (our CRM).
• Generate meeting summaries, a monthly newsletter, press releases, fliers and other related materials to keep community members informed.
• Participate in weekly staff meetings, bi-monthly joint housing organizer meetings, quarterly staff retreats, quarterly Membership Council meetings
• Participate in quarterly grassroots fundraising tactics and support grant fundraising by identifying and drafting grant proposals and reports, participating in and preparing leaders for site visits.
• Develop and maintain relationships with leaders in our institutional members, engage them in our quarterly membership meetings, and help recruit new institutional and individual members.
• Assist the management team with other tasks, as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

An ideal candidate is someone with a deep hunger to build power with immigrant communities and who is rooted in a commitment to immigrant rights and racial justice. A successful candidate is deeply relational, detail-oriented, able to juggle multiple projects, and dedicated to winning concrete changes through organizing. They should have a strong interest in working with a diverse group of people and will thrive within an organizational culture that emphasizes creativity, accountability, growth, and community.

Required

• 4+ years of community organizing experience and familiarity with a diverse range of organizing tactics and strategies, especially rapid response, issue campaigning, base building and leadership development
• Experience working directly with immigrants, mixed-status families, or communities navigating immigration enforcement, either through organizing or programmatic engagement focused on leadership development
• Bilingual in English and Spanish (required)
• Proven ability to work with a diverse constituency, across lines of race, class, nationality, immigration status, gender identity, age, religion, and other differences
• Serious appetite and excitement to go door-to-door, make calls, meet new community members, and bring them into the work
• Commitment to racial equity and overcoming white supremacy; you recognize the role of race, income, age, immigration status, and other identities in shaping disparities, and you consistently amplify community voices to advocate for more equitable solutions
• Deep interest in building multiracial solidarity and doing the political education work necessary to connect immigration enforcement to housing, economic, and climate justice
• Willing to use confrontation as a tactic for winning justice
• Comfortable with Google Workspace and adaptable to new technology and digital security practices
• Detail-oriented with a proven track record of building successful and adaptable systems
• Must be a motivated self-starter who can juggle many moving pieces
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Effective communication skills
• Effective and creative problem solver
• Innovative, creative, mature thinking and reasoning
• Demonstrated commitment to (or interest in) the profession of community organizing

Preferred

• Experience working in coalitions at the city and state level
• Commitment to training and agitation methodology as a tool for growth and accountability
• BA degree or equivalent life experience
• Having a car is preferred

This is a community organizing job and will require attendance at night and weekend meetings. ONE Northside is an equal opportunity employer.

We would like this position to begin August 1, 2026, but will consider an earlier start date for the right candidate.

• Comprehensive benefits package includes employer-paid medical and dental insurance. Employer contribution of 4.5% of salary into a retirement plan. 13 paid vacation and personal days the first year, 12 wellness days, and 18 paid holidays.

Bilingual in English and Spanish (required)