Middle TN Community Organizer

Middle Tennessee Community Organizer

JOB TYPE: Full-time (40 hrs/wk)
DIRECT SUPERVISOR: Reports to the Executive Director
LOCATION: Middle TN (Columbia, Murfreesboro or surrounding area)
KEYWORDS: Base-building; community organizing; public education; affordable housing; environmental

ABOUT SOCM:
SOCM is a 50-year-old, member-driven organization that utilizes civic involvement and collective action to empower rural and urban Tennesseans to have a greater voice in determining their future. We believe that extraordinary change is rooted in the power of ordinary people. Together, our members work towards a Tennessee where all people are treated with dignity, where our environment is preserved and protected, and where corporations and public officials are held accountable to the needs of the people. We believe in an approach to organizing grounded in listening to our neighbors, identifying deeply and widely felt issues, developing an analysis of power, and creating campaigns to address issues together. SOCM’s staff team works with grassroots members and leaders to implement organizational goals and priorities, as well as local chapter campaigns. Visit www.socm.org for more.
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WHAT YOU’LL DO:
SOCM Organizers are the primary support for our member-led chapters and/or campaign committees. Organizers work with members to help set strategy, build leadership, carry out work plans, communicate chapter goals back to our director and board, and help ensure that members are moving their campaigns forward. Current efforts include campaigns around public education, affordable housing, and clean water and air. A large part of your role will be supporting member recruitment and development in our existing Middle & West TN chapters (Maury, Rutherford, and Madison counties) and identifying potential areas for new chapter development in Middle TN.

SOCM is committed to an approach to organizing that builds local leadership and greater solidarity across lines of race, sexual orientation, gender and class. While we are looking for someone with fairly extensive organizing experience, we also do not expect applicants to be proficient in every aspect of this work. We expect the vast majority of an organizer’s time to be spent engaging directly with members (preparing agendas for event or meetings, 1:1 conversations, reminders, leadership development etc). Specific functions of this job include:

-Assist members in developing and implementing plans for strengthening the chapter, including membership recruitment, grassroots fundraising and publicity;
-Conduct consistent 1:1 outreach to new and prospective members
Identify opportunities for building new member chapters in Middle TN
-Engage Middle TN members in our statewide issue campaigns
-Support training of members in essential organizing skills, including: issue identification, public-speaking, working with the media, campaign planning and development; planning direct actions, lobbying; and running good meetings
-Engage the chapter in consistent planning and evaluation;
-Ensure the chapter provides content (articles, photos, and/or graphics) for the SOCM Sentinel, E-news and other SOCM publications
-Work with director, board and fellow staff to plan and implement cross-chapter trainings, annual meetings, fundraising and other events
-Encourage the development of strategic relationships among SOCM members and key external organizations
-Provide reports to director and board about chapter progress
-Participate fully and constructively in staff meetings
-Contribute to a culture of mutual respect, kindness, support, accountability, appreciation and learning, based on good working relationships and communication with other staff.
-Other duties as negotiated and assigned.

QUALITIES OF AN IDEAL CANDIDATE
-Commitment to social, economic, and environmental justice through a base-building, community organizing framework;
-Must place a high value on kindness, compassion, curiosity, honesty and empathy
-Ability to schedule and prioritize tasks within multiple projects
-Enjoys talking with and learning from people of diverse backgrounds (including race, gender, income-level, age, ability & political background)
-Ability to engage with people who may have very different social/political values from your own
-Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
-Devoted to personal growth and self-development
-Good communication skills including listening, asking challenging questions, and writing;
-Experience as a volunteer member or leader in a member-led grassroots organizing group
-Experience as a facilitator, trainer and designer of participatory workshops with adults
-Understanding of how to work effectively in and with diverse communities
-Creative, self-starting, and able to prioritize work effectively
-Punctuality
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QUALIFICATIONS:
-A minimum of 2-years community or labor organizing experience and/or 2 years as an active leader in a member-based grassroots organization
-Ability work evening events/meetings as needed and 1-2 weekends per month
-Broadly familiar with the political & economic landscape of Tennessee
-Competency with digital tools including Google suite, Microsoft Office suite and Canva
-Has access to reliable transportation and ability to travel to different parts of state and region on a frequent basis
-Experience with grassroots fundraising preferred

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:
Salary is negotiable based upon relevant experience. Salary range for this position is $42k-$51k. SOCM provides full gold-plan family health insurance for all employees that includes vision and dental coverage. We also offer flexible hours, a generous vacation package, family and medical leave, mileage reimbursement, and a generous pension plan with contributions added after two years of employment.

HOURS AND SCHEDULE:
While hours and schedule are flexible, this position requires a high degree of self-organization. Our organizing staff attend weekly all-staff meetings online, monthly in-person staff meetings and weekly online 1:1 workplan check-ins with the ED. The ED and organizing staff work together to develop long range goals and weekly work plans, but staff are responsible for follow-through on tasks and are expected to ask for support as needed.

We strongly encourage staff to work no more than 40 hours in a week. However, occasionally, we have to work extra hours. When this occurs, staff accrue comp time which can be used in subsequent weeks.

TO APPLY:
Send an email with your resume, a cover letter and three references to austin@socm.org
Include subject line “ATTN: SOCM Organizer Application [Your Name]”

*Women and persons of color are encouraged to apply.