Director of Civics Education

Greetings. OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION is a 501c3, nonpartisan media outlet largely run by student interns (mostly college; some high school; some grad school). Our goal is to reduce toxic partisanship and get America talking again, with a focus on solutions, not finger-pointing.

Our students write articles, host podcasts and produce social media posts. We're about to launch an e-newsletter. You can find us at OurNationalConversation.org.

A big part of our mission is to train America's future leaders by given them hands-on experience that far surpasses that gained in a typical internship. We give our students meaningful assignments and expect them to produce. But students aren't perfect; they are busy with school, jobs and their personal lives. They definitely need guidance and supervision from older, more experienced mentors.

As part of our journey, we have come up with some ideas for providing Gen Z with training this generation doesn't seem to get at home or at school; we also have some very interesting civics education projects in the works.

These ideas hold terrific potential but, as a student-powered endeavor, we struggle with turnover. We have 65-75 interns each semester, working on our various teams, and at the end of each semester, we lose a third of our students, who are quickly replaced with a new batch. Our typical intern lasts two semesters. With all the coming-and-going, it's hard to mount a sustained effort that produces timely results.

We want to create an education division, separate from our media venture, that can grab hold of this and make good things happen. We seek a respected educational leader who understands curriculum development, leadership, selling to school systems and more. We don't really know what we don't know, and will rely on you to figure out how to get us to the promised land.

Soon enough, we want to bring all our great ideas to market and monetize them. Maybe we'll raise money in order to get some of these efforts kick-started. You can help with that. Or maybe we just bootstrap this until we have something that can actually be sold. With sales, we can hire people, market ourselves, etc. We can pay YOU, even. But right now, this is a pure startup -- long on ideas, potential and intern help, but short on cash or meaningful credentials when it comes to the business of education. Working with school systems, publishers or strategic partners already in the civic ed space is all new to us.

We think we have great ideas, which we'll share on a confidential basis. We think there's a great need for what we want to supply. We can assign a team of student interns to you and they can provide much of the legwork. This will get you started. But then, it will be up to you.

A huge leap of faith is required, that's understood. There is no pay to start. We either need to raise money or sell a lot of product before that can happen. On the other hand, without risk, there is no reward. This could be huge for someone who knows how to build companies -- or who is at least willing to try. With startups, attitude is often more important than experience -- or equally important, anyway.

If you are already working for someone in the educational space and want to talk partnership, we're open to that. We are very practical and want to go with what works. Monies generated by these educational side ventures will go toward funding our main mission -- our nonpartisan media outlet.

Thank you for reading. If interested, please send a short cover letter saying why this appeals. Include a resume, too, please.