Location: Remote (Virginia, Mississippi, or the Midwest preferred)
Start Date: Mid-March 2023
Reports to: Director of Youth Programs
This is a full-time role.
Essential Functions: Common Cause Education Fund is seeking a Youth Engagement Organizer for the Common Cause Alliance of Emerging Power (AEP), Common Cause’s youth program.
We are looking for a highly organized and strategic leader with a passion for creating issue-based campaigns, doing research to benefit youth organizing and the youth civic engagement network, and developing new skills.
The Youth Engagement Organizer will work closely with Common Cause campus outreach staff throughout our state offices, the Director of Youth Programs, and the national Campaigns and Digital team.
Responsibilities:
The Youth Engagement Organizer will lead campaigns in alignment with Common Cause policy team goals, to help new audiences understand the importance of our issue areas, and to broaden our base to include more youth who are willing to take action with us:
- Draft campaign plans, including doing relevant research, setting goals, and implementing the campaign plan for the Alliance of Emerging Power;
- Create informative written and on-brand visual content for a youth audience
- Complete research to develop campaign plans and educational materials;
- Develop work plans and evaluation tools to measure and track goals and benchmarks;
- Build strategic relationships and partnerships with campuses and organizations;
- Increase online engagement for the Alliance for Emerging Power by creating engaging content for our social media accounts and email lists.
The Youth Engagement Organizer will also create a positive and inclusive environment for all participants of Common Cause youth programs that allows participants to grow as civic leaders and develop skills needed to continue up the ladder of engagement.
- Develop and implement national trainings and programming to engage youth on Common Cause program areas;
- Create and add content to Common Cause youth programs’ social media pages and website;
- Support fellows’ civic engagement plans, and implementation for Get Out The Vote (GOTV), voter registration and trainings;
- Oversee training and capacity-building activities related to grassroots organizing and advocacy campaigns that will help youth members’ create social change in their local and campus communities;
- Find ways to engage with youth and building meaningful relationships that can help grow the Common Cause youth base.
Required qualifications:
- Organizing experience
- 1-2 years’ organizing experience from a volunteer role, internship role, or any other professional experience;
- Basic understanding of campus civic engagement, youth organizing, and/or policy research;
- Knowledge of youth, non-profit, and non-partisan issue-based organizing with specific skills including organizational development, grassroots activism, and education and leadership development;
- Familiarity with political advocacy and the legislative process, and can communicate about it with clarity and passion;
- Curiosity around new ways of organizing, using data, and building infrastructure for a long-term movement;
- Strong communication skills
- Ability to lead an engaging training on a Zoom webinar, or jump in front of a crowd of activists;
- Ability to write compelling emails that move activists to take action;
- Successful experience recruiting new members to an organization;
- Able to work well with diverse groups of stakeholders
- Experience working with diverse groups; ability to reach across racial, ethnic, generational, political identity, and socioeconomic lines;
- Ability to work in teams and participate in cross-departmental planning;
- Strong conflict resolution and problem-solving skills;
- Able to work effectively independently
- Strong attention to detail, self-motivated, and able to perform tasks accurately
- Can handle multiple priority projects and meet established timelines and reporting requirements;
- Ability to think of creative solutions and strategies
- Strong commitment to meeting deadlines and showing progress towards goals
- Flexibility and travel:
- The person filling this role must have flexibility to work some nights and weekends
- As conditions allow, some travel to program states may be necessary during the academic year.
Preferred qualifications:
- With our ongoing engagement with 16 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), it is our preference that the individual has an understanding of HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).
Salary range: $50,000 – $65,000, plus generous benefits package.
Classification: This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit and specific employment terms and conditions are subject to collective bargaining negotiations.
To Apply: Please submit resume and cover letter to hr@commoncause.org and include Youth Engagement Organizer in the subject line. No phone calls please. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
Covid-19 vaccines are required, except where prohibited by law. Reasonable accommodations will be provided when required by law.
Equity & Inclusion: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status. Common Cause is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the organization and believes strongly in the increased effectiveness that comes from a diverse workforce.
About Common Cause: Founded with 4,000 core members in 1970 to serve as a people’s lobby, Common Cause has grown into a nationwide network of more than 1 million members and supporters, with a presence in 30 states and Washington, D.C.
We know the ultimate power in a democracy is the people. To be truly of, by, and for the people, government must reflect everyone it serves. We’re all better off when people from all walks of life participate in self-governance. Every American wants and deserves a voice in shaping the future for our families and communities. We believe democracy is how a free society resolves its differences. And in order to do that well, we must all agree the process is fair, produces equitable outcomes, and reflects our communities, our values, and our priorities. Nobody wins all the time, but if the process is fair, at least we can trust it.
We side with no one but the people. Working together, we are building a democracy that works for all of us. Every aspect of our elections and representative self-government must be fair, open, accessible, and set-up so we all have faith in the integrity of election outcomes and the people we elect to serve us.
We are solutions-oriented. Our network of democracy experts, working at the state and local level across the country, are winning pragmatic, common sense solutions and building a national movement that will make sure our generation secures and strengthens democracy for the next. We work to ensure that every vote counts, that every eligible voter has an equal say, that our elections represent the will of the people, and that our government is of, by, and for the people.
Common Cause is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applicants of any race, creed, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, income class, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status, as well as applicants who have been previously incarcerated.