Position Summary

The New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) seeks an experienced, talented, and motivated Organizing Director to lead, develop and build a growing organizing team and worker committees. The Organizing Director 1) Develops and manages the organizing team, 2) Creates structures for distributed leadership, 3) Manages NOWCRJ’s worker leadership development program, and 4) Co-designs NOWCRJ campaigns. The Organizing Director will report to the Deputy Director and work collaboratively with staff and members across the organization.

 

About the Organization:

The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) is a multi-racial membership-based organization dedicated to building the power and participation of poor people to expand democracy and transform the economy. We organize directly affected people and couple their courage and knowledge with strategic legal, policy, and communications work to build campaigns that advance racial justice, immigrant rights, and a fair economy. We are Louisiana workers, led by a united front of exploited black and immigrant workers, organizing and building the power to reclaim what is rightfully ours. Together, we are demanding dignified work, racial justice, the liberation that transcends borders, and our full participation in every decision that affects our lives. Since 2006, the Center’s organizing and policy victories have been highlighted in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and Newsweek. For more information, go to www.nowcrj.org.

 

About the Position

This position is based in New Orleans, LA. Exceptional candidates based in other parts of Louisiana will be considered.

 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the Organizing team:

• Manage and train on NOWCRJ’s organizing infrastructure, including but not limited to the leadership development arc, committee structure, and leadership school.

• Supervise organizers, providing support and ensuring accountability.

• Provide ongoing constructive feedback and evaluation to team members.

• Manage organizers’ success in meeting goals and deadlines.

• Work with organizers to create and meet goals in detailed work plans for themselves and their support teams.

• Craft and implement staff development plans for each organizer, ensuring they manage their worker committees’ development.  Development plans may include hands-on training in the field, in the office, and with external partners. 

• Ensure high performance and high production values of the organizing team.

 

Develop and execute an organizing strategy

• Develops the overall organizing strategy with feedback and input from colleagues and workers

• Identifies opportunities and works with the leadership team, staff and membership to develop escalating campaigns that engender material and transformational changes

• Supports organizers in building and running sharp campaign plans based on detailed and evidence-based power analysis and a robust theory of change

• Foments an organizing culture of constant learning, analysis, and progress

• Builds coherence across the campaigns and programs

• Provides strategic guidance to all departments on campaigns, programs, and more

• Ensures the quality and completeness of all membership data

• Identifies relevant research needs and works with organizers, policy team, and partners to gather necessary information

 

Provide Organizational Leadership

• Serves on the organization’s leadership team and contributes to organization-wide decisions

• Works with the Executive Director to drive forward organizational development goals and help align organizing work overall to achieve those goals

• Works with the leadership team to develop and refine organizational structures, groups, and processes

• Coordinates the organizing with legal, research, and communications staff and with broader movement allies, ensuring integration

 

Allies

• Maintains, manages, and develops NOWCRJ’s strategic partners and allies to ensure support for broad organizational and campaign goals and create the best possible space for workers to organize

• Delivers critical relationships with allies to the organizing and campaign work

• Coordinates allies to support campaign work as needed

 

Other duties as assigned

This is not a 9 to 5 job—long and varied hours, with early morning, evening, and weekend work required. This position will include significant travel.

 

 

Who You Are

You are a person who is dedicated to societal transformation through the leadership of directly affected people. You have faith in workers’ ability to lead. You can work well under pressure and value organization and planning as tools to reduce pressure. You love working with and developing teams. You are a strong educator and coach and know how to teach by example.

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Key qualifications:

The job requires a high degree of motivation and the ability to take the initiative.  A successful applicant will have the following qualities and experience:

• Highly organized

• Possesses the ability to synthesize goals, objectives, obstacles, and solutions

• Clear communicator (both verbally and in writing)

• Substantial experience leading grassroots campaigns in the workplace, pro-black movements, electoral campaigns, and immigrant rights movements

• Five years of experience in community, labor, or grassroots electoral organizing – including member recruitment, leadership development, and campaigns

• Minimum three years of experience supervising organizers

• Pedagogical skills, including popular education

• Bilingual applicants, mainly Spanish/English speakers, strongly preferred

• Strong writing skills, office skills, data management, and self-organization skills required

• Valid driver’s license, plus ability, willingness, and means to travel across the state required.

 

NOWCRJ is an equal-opportunity employer.  Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.

 

TO APPLY:

Applications will only be accepted electronically.  Please thoroughly answer the four (4) questions below and submit as an attachment, along with your resume as a separate document, in an email and send to careers@nowcrj.org. Type your first name, last name, and the position you are applying for in the subject line of your email. Please include a daytime phone number where we can contact you.  The application process will be open until the position is filled.

1.      What about NOWCRJ’s work most excites or interests you?

2.      Have you ever been involved in any of the organization's campaigns, events, or membership before? If so, please share when/how.

3.      What is the biggest strength you bring to a team setting?

4.      What does liberation look like for your community?