Community Organizer - Internal, Part time

January 7 2021 - See below

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Community Organizer - Full time

January 2021 - See below

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Internal Organizer Apprentice Job Announcement

 

About VOLAR:

 

Mission

 

Village of Love and Resistance (“VOLAR”) is a black and brown-led collective with more than 100 years of experience of living, working, worshiping, studying and playing, and praying in East Baltimore. The majority of our care-taking council (CTC) including (Darnell Ingram, Dominic Moulden, Kenneth Clemons,

Katherine Williams, Lenora Knowles, Marisela Gomez, Pamela Jordan, and Sabriya Linton) live and or work in East Baltimore. Our council members have researched, organized, designed, litigated, and written about equitable, healthy, and sustainable development. VOLAR plans to renovate and transform a facility into a community and wellness center as well as rebuild and reinvest into the surrounding area through engagement of the people and implementing neighborhood development projects. We will use a community investment trust fund model to assure investment by legacy residents within several zip codes of our community center. This project is an effort for local residents to co-own and co-lead the redevelopment of their majority black and low income neighborhood(s). This community engaged business model is based on the Market Creek Plaza in San Diego and Mercy Corps Northwest in Portland Oregon, which were designed, built and eventually [to be] owned by neighborhood residents in order to remove barriers to financial inclusion and provide low-dollar investment opportunities in commercial and/or residential properties to local residents.

 

Apprentice Internal Organizer Job Description (part-time)

 

The Apprentice Administrative Organizer will help manage our day to day operations and provide general office support. (During the pandemic this will mostly occur remotely)

The Apprentice Internal Organizer must be committed to VOLAR’s  political and economic vision and agenda and be comfortable working in a democratic and accountable manner with the Care Taking Council and Lucille Gorham Fellow. They must also have excellent written and verbal skills to communicate internally with colleagues and oversight committees.

 

This is a part-time position for 15 to 20 hours per week.

 

Responsibilities Include:

 

Community Organizing

• Support current organizing work for VOLAR (via doorknocking, meetings, flyers, email blasts, FB)

 

Organizational Organizing Support

• Attend & participate in CTC meeting

• Create and print CTC meeting agenda

• Collaborate with organizing members to address day-to-day administrative needs

• Check email account and forward/respond to emails as appropriate

• Answer phone, check and relay messages

• Plan intern/CTC lunches and wellness days

• Data entry as needed

• Archive organizational documents and photos to Dropbox

 

General Office Support (as possible during pandemic period)

• Check mailbox, open and sort mail into staff boxes

• Bring outgoing mail to post office

• Ship mail and packages as needed

• Purchase stamps

 

IT Support

• Once per month, run updates on all computers and check in with CTC about their computer functioning. Report issues to Care Taking Council

 

Requirements:

• Experienced community organizer, worked on issues of racial and housing justice.

• Self-motivated and skilled at working as part of a team.

• Willingness to engage in honest, constructive, mindful, and compassionate reciprocal critique of self and work of team members with teams and other VOLAR CTC/Fellows.

• Knowledge of Baltimore communities, history, issues and organizations. Baltimore residents are strongly encouraged to apply and given strong preference.

• Must be willing to commit to at least a 2-year involvement in VOLAR

• Willingness to learn about and commit to VOLAR’s organizing model.

• Ability to build unity and motivate others to action.

• Willingness and ability to work with diverse community residents, particularly low-income residents, to overcome barriers to developing their strength as a community; as well as practice and develop resident-led leadership.

• Strong computer, internet, social media skills; including data entry and some analysis.

 

Desired Skills:

• Bilingual speakers are welcome, especially Spanish language proficiency.

• Good public and interpersonal communication skills, written, verbal.

• Ability to see the broad picture and have an eye for detail.

• Creativity and sense of humor.

 

 

VOLAR is strongly committed to staff development and training. This is an opportunity for an individual to build meaningful relationships with grassroots communities and to be a part of real, concrete social change. People of color, women, LGBTQ and bilingual applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.

 

To Apply:

 

Please submit resume and cover letter (including salary expectations) electronically . Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Community Organizer - Internal, Part time

January 7 2021

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Community Organizer - Full time

January 2021

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Community Organizer Job Description

A community organizer is needed for a two-year project led by the Village of Love Resistance (VOLAR) and Baltimore Black Worker Center (BBWC).

The goals of the project will be to:

 

(1) engage 30 East Baltimore residents in three separate Financial Political Popular Education Trainings,

(2) qualify participants to become investors in a community investment trust fund (CITF)
in East Baltimore, and

(3) increase membership in the Village of Love and Resistance and Baltimore Black Worker Center. The project will also evaluate whether and how participation in the FPPET increases participants’ perceived health and wellbeing and access to social capital.

The Community Organizer will be supervised by a member of the BBWC and
VOLAR partnership, and will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Engaging community members over the course of the project:
  a. Building and supporting relationships with a range of community groups to ensure
       broad community engagement
  b. Coordinating and supporting the Community Advisory Board activities (e.g.,
       scheduling and coordinating meetings, liaising and maintaining communicating with
       board members)

2. Recruiting participants for the three-part series of Financial Political Popular Education
Training (FPPET) trainings
  a. Design, plan and implement a recruitment strategy to reach target numbers
  b. Design, plan and implement a retention strategy. Build rapport and trust, maintain
       relationships and active communication with each of the three cohorts of 30 FPPET
       participants
  c. Establish plan for transportation and managing other logistics for participants (e.g.,
      childcare and other needs) that will encourage participation

3. Assisting with data collection activities
  a. Administer open-ended qualitative in-depth interviews and structured surveys that
       collect self-reported information including demographics, health, and social                  support and participation in community programs
  b. Assist with iterative revision of surveys and data collection procedures

4. Coordinating data entry and cleaning
  a. Supporting analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data
  b. Develop and implement strategy for sharing preliminary findings with Community
       Advisory Board and training participants
  c. Elicit feedback from Community Advisory Board and training participants on initial
       results

5. Supporting Project team in developing and implementing dissemination strategies, including but not limited to written reports and presentations for funders/local stakeholders and training participants, newsletters, social media

 

Expected hours are 40 hrs a week. Competitive salary with benefits package.

Required skills and training:
  ● Self-motivated
  ● Skilled in working as part of a team
  ● Experience in community organizing in low-income communities of color
  ● Experience in basic data collection, input and analysis
  ● Strong computer, internet, social media skills
  ● Willingness to engage in honest, constructive, mindful, and compassionate reciprocal  critique of self and work of team members with teams and other staff.
  ● Knowledge of Baltimore communities, history, issues and organizations. Baltimore         residents are strongly encouraged to apply and given strong preference.]
  ● Must be willing to commit to at least a 2-year involvement in VOLAR/BBWC    Organizing and Curriculum development project
  ● Ability to build unity and motivate others to action.
  ● Willingness and ability to work with diverse community residents, particularly low-income residents, to overcome barriers to developing their strength as community leaders and decision-makers

Preferred skills and training:
  ● Experience working with low-income workers
  ● Good public and interpersonal communication skills, written, verbal
  ● Ability to see the broad picture and have an eye for detail
  ● Creativity and sense of humor
  ● Working knowledge of critical race theory/intersectionality as it pertains to diversity,    racial, class, and gender equity and inclusion principles and skilled at facilitating conversations
  ● Experience in anti-racism/anti-oppression trainings
  ● Experience/knowledge in public health and social determinants of health

Please send a Cover letter with potential start date and Resume to: