Field Organizer

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Florida seeks a Field Organizer that works within the Field Department to achieve the organization’s goal of protecting the liberties that define our democracy. This position will be hybrid (remote and in-person in - community), will be located in the Tampa-Bay area of Florida and includes travel. This is a 2- year grant-funded position, with any extension contingent on additional funding and affiliate needs.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida (ACLU of Florida or ACLU-FL) is an affiliate of the national ACLU, a national public interest organization devoted to the defense of the Bill of Rights. For over 100 years, the ACLU has served as the nation’s primary protector of the liberties that define our democracy. The organization implements its vital civil liberties mission in all 50 states in large part through affiliate entities such as the ACLU of Florida.

The ACLU of Florida, the state’s largest civil rights and civil liberties organization, employs litigation, public policy advocacy & organizing, and public education to protect and promote a broad range of constitutional values and individual rights, such as freedom of speech, racial justice, right to privacy, religious liberty, criminal justice reform, voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, disability rights, and immigrants’ rights. The ACLU of Florida litigates a broad range of complex constitutional cases in federal and state courts through direct representation, filing amicus briefs, and submitting administrative complaints to state and federal agencies.

ORGANIZING APPROACH

The ACLU of Florida has adopted a “campaign” approach for its work. Work is focused on pursuing specific integrated advocacy issue area campaigns to achieve measurable goals that will expand civil liberties and civil rights, while building the long-term power of the ACLU and the civil liberties movement.

At the moment, the ACLU of Florida is focused on: reproductive justice, voting rights, free speech and immigrants’ rights. The campaigns in which the organization engages are about integrated advocacy, and include advocacy, communications, and litigation in addition to organizing.

As a result of this campaign approach, the ACLU of Florida’s organizing model focuses on developing volunteer leaders for the civil liberties movement, mobilizing grassroots support for campaign objectives, and educating Florida residents about campaign objectives through person-to-person field contact. The ACLU of Florida organizing is intended to engage both existing ACLU members/supporters/volunteers in the movement, as well as to reach new constituencies. Organizing at the ACLU of Florida centers the experiences and leadership of directly impacted people and engages directly impacted people in the work, while also ensuring that non-impacted allies engage in effective and substantive action.

The Field team works with Florida residents to influence decision-makers, via direct contact with decision-makers by residents and by holding events/actions. The Field Department focuses on identifying and supporting volunteer leaders willing to work to mobilize contacts with their own networks, in order to expand the size, reach, and power of the movement.

Organizing at the ACLU of Florida is intended to complement the approaches used by some other groups—especially those that connect individuals to resources, build community/social capital, primarily react to unanticipated or emerging community concerns, or educate the public about important issues—but not to replicate those approaches. Organizing at the ACLU of Florida is instead oriented towards systemic change and policy action—moving people to take strategic actions that lead to decision-makers making different decisions, ones that result in the advancement of specific campaign objectives. These strategic actions can take place in the electoral, legislative, legal, and community education contexts. Organizing at the ACLU of Florida is also designed to build long-term political and community power for the civil liberties movement, so that civil liberties and civil rights are better protected and strengthened.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Under the direction and supervision of the ACLU-FL Field Director and in collaboration with the ACLU-FL organizing team, the Field Organizer will mobilize ACLU of FL supporters, volunteers, and voters to build power in the state. The goal is for Floridians to understand, be prepared to advocate and vote, to expand state policies which support priority issues in Florida. This will include organizing volunteer-led teams, hosting Know Your Rights trainings,leading advocacy and skills trainings , hosting phone banks and canvassing events, putting together community events, supporting rallies, and providing voter education to turn out voters to the polls during elections.

While this position is primarily based in the Tampa-Bay area, travel to surrounding counties including Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, and Pasco is anticipated. Although our organizers will focus on all our priority issue areas, we expect this position to have a strong focus on our Free Speech and Immigrant Justice issue areas.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Recruit and mobilize ACLU of Florida volunteers, to engage and educate voters in Florida.
• Develop volunteer leaders and teams to grow the campaign in different areas of the state.
• Develop and maintain relationships with ACLU-FL supporters, community groups, and grassroots organizations.
• In collaboration with the Field Director and the Database Manager, develop strategy and field organizing activities for the campaign
• Assist the Communications Strategist and Policy Strategist in developing advocacy materials including fact sheets, toolkits, action alerts, blog posts, and social media content.
• Center the voices and leadership of directly impacted people in all organizing programs.
• Work with NGPVAN, Scale to Win, Google Suite, Asana, Slack and the suite of ACLU of Florida tools including e-mail, text, and phone calls to increase engagement.
• Organize and conduct volunteer trainings.
• Commitment to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and/or conflict.
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion within the workplace; using a personal approach that values all individuals and respects differences in regards to race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstance.
• Work closely with staff across different departments with an integrated advocacy approach.
• Work with the field team to track progress to goals, produce reports and highlights, and adjust field plans as necessary.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

While no one person will have all the qualities enumerated below, the successful candidate will bring many of the following qualifications and attributes:

• Understands the current political landscape.
• Experience in community/field organizing and base building that uses a “snowflake” organizing model preferred.
• A history of working collaboratively and successfully with people and organizations from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and a broad range of ideological positions and religious views.
• A flexible team player who works collaboratively and shares responsibility and credit.
• Excellent communication skills. A willingness and ability to speak in public and to facilitate meetings and trainings.
• Commitment to meeting a high bar with a history of getting things done even in the face of obstacles.
• Ability to work on fast-paced campaigns with many moving pieces and ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Experience managing multiple projects and the ability to oversee volunteers and leaders.
• Initiative to think through challenging scenarios creatively.
• Able to self-motivate, create a daily schedule, and an annual workplan.
• Has a valid driver’s license and can drive outside of the county, as necessary, and work evenings and weekends when needed.
• Unwavering commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU, including a demonstrated commitment to racial justice and civil rights issues.
• Fluency in another language is a plus but not required.