Associate Community Organizer

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Sierra Club

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San Diego, CA, United States

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Job Title: Associate Community Organizer
Department: San Diego Chapter
Location: Chapter office, San Diego, CA. Travel within San Diego County will be necessary.
Reports To: Chapter Director
Supervises: n/a

Context: At the Sierra Club, we believe in the power of togetherness. Together, we remain committed to the fight for a healthy climate built on a foundation of environmental, racial, economic, and gender justice – a future where all people benefit from a healthy, thriving planet and a direct connection to nature. As the climate crisis and deeply entrenched systemic racism all fuel inequity, we will continue to fight for a bold, transformational agenda that recognizes the interconnectedness between our planet, our humanity, and our democracy. By recognizing that our destinies are tied, we continue to name that all things are fundamentally connected, and the overlap between ecology, race, gender, and representative government will move to either advance our collective humanity or to oppress it.

Sierra Club is comprised of staff across the country and a network of volunteer leaders and local chapters that support our grassroots engagement. We are also proud to be a unionized employer, with two labor unions representing more than half of our employees.

Scope: The Associate Community Organizer leads the implementation of organizing and educational strategies and outdoor activities for local Sierra Club campaigns focusing on land use, parks and open space preservation primarily in San Diego County. Working with community members, volunteers, staff, and officials in the San Diego Chapter area, the Associate Community Organizer builds grassroots power and supports leadership development to achieve Sierra Club’s goals in the areas of conservation and environmental justice.

This position is NOT a virtual job. The successful applicant will be required to meet community members, volunteers, staff and officials in person and will work out of the Chapter offices. Many of the areas identified as park and nature deficient are near and/or within communities of color where English is a second language.

Job activities include but are not limited to:

  • Identifies, develops, and supports volunteer leaders and strengthens strategic partnerships to build grassroots power. Works to ensure that volunteers assume meaningful roles in campaign work. Recruits, engages, trains, and motivates people to influence decision makers and help achieve campaign victories.
  • Identifies and is responsible for developing strong relationships with key people of influence including community leaders, especially from frontline communities, and public officials to positively influence campaign or program outcomes.
  • Works with appropriate local Chapter staff, volunteer entities, and partners to plan and implement educational, visibility, media, and community outreach efforts in order to generate public support with relevant decision makers and in the media. Represents the Sierra Club to the public and in the media. Writes newsletter articles, op-eds, and alerts.
  • Plans and develops outdoors activities to engage communities and provide education to promote campaigns focusing on land use, parks and open space preservation.
  • Provides information, research, and other assistance to Sierra Club leaders, the public, and others about the campaign or program and priority issues.
  • Supports frontline communities and volunteers who will build grassroots power and networks. Helps leaders in these communities succeed by providing and supporting training and coaching.
  • Measures and evaluates the success of activities with manager to ensure progress towards the campaign or program’s mission and goals.
  • Attends various issue committees and local, state or regional conservation meetings as needed.
  • Performs administrative, clerical, and other miscellaneous duties as assigned by supervisor.

Seasonal Activities: Heavier seasonal workloads may occur because of project deadlines, staff absences and vacancies, and during peak activity periods. Weekend and/or evening work may be required.

The successful candidate must demonstrate the following skills, experience and competencies:

  • Campaign Experience. Track record of planning and implementing advocacy campaigns, strategic initiatives, or similar efforts with clearly defined goals, which includes strategy, organizing, media relations and contacts with political and business leaders.
  • Able to effectively organize around a campaign, including outdoor activities and knowledge of how to work effectively with volunteers and ally organizations.
  • Understanding of Intersectional Social Justice Issues. Basic knowledge of environmental justice, including current environmental issues affecting California and the San Diego region. Understanding of just transitions and movement-building. Able to coordinate across a variety of social justice issues. Committed to prioritizing working alongside underserved or historically underrepresented groups.
  • Communication. Excellent verbal communication skills and demonstrated ability to easily strike up conversation with diverse groups of people. Strong and persuasive writer. Able to clearly articulate ideas in either format. Ability to work cooperatively, and effectively with public, staff, and volunteers. Strong ability to network, build trust, and build working relationships.
  • Equity Analysis. You are aware of your group identities and how they have shaped your life and experiences at work. You have an analysis of how racism and other forms of oppression in society impact relationships, systems and culture. You bring experience and skills for working effectively with colleagues across group identities and position/role.

The strongest candidates will also demonstrate the following skills, experience and competencies:

  • Experience working closely with organizers, as an organizer, or working with volunteers.
  • Is fully bilingual (English/Spanish, read/write) with a track record of working with Spanish speaking volunteers and residents.
  • Hands on experience working with social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to achieve goals, influence outcomes and educate key constituencies.
  • Experience effectively navigating complex organizational systems, structures, and dynamics.
  • Experience building relationships and influencing decision makers through lobbying or similar advocacy.
  • Proficient knowledge of land use issues, land preservation, and/or the research skills to serve as a subject matter expert providing technical, policy, and strategic vision and guidance to staff, volunteers, and partner organizations.
  • Love for the outdoors, experience in developing, organizing, and leading outdoors activities.
  • Current contacts or the ability to develop contacts with environmental coalition partners in the San Diego area.

Compensation and Benefits

The starting salary for this position is $65,000 - $70,000.

This position is represented by a collective bargaining unit and is subject to the terms and conditions of the contract between Sierra Club and Progressive Workers Union.

The Sierra Club offers a competitive salary package commensurate with skills and experience plus excellent benefits that include medical, dental, and vision coverage (employer paid), 13 paid Holidays and Fall Break (Dec 24 - Dec 31), paid vacation (3-5 weeks), and a retirement savings 401(k) plan.

This is a category 5 non-exempt, represented position.

Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. Sierra Club employees are not eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

Sierra Club values the expertise and talents of foreign nationals. Sierra Club sponsors both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas when certain criteria are met, based on immigration laws and organizational needs. Such sponsorship is at the discretion of the Department Head and Sierra Club Human Resources in consultation with the employee’s manager. The Sierra Club cannot guarantee the approval of a visa petition. The Sierra Club is an equal opportunity employer committed to workforce diversity.

To Apply

This position does not have an undergraduate education requirement. If you choose to include your education history, please remove your schools from your resume. You may leave your degree (e.g., “B.A. Philosophy”), but please remove any undergraduate and graduate school names.

This anonymous process is aimed at opening this opportunity to more candidates, reviewing applicants on performance assessments and mitigating bias in the decision-making process.

Lastly, we are intentionally not asking for a cover letter, so please do not send one in with your application.

We are accepting applications until the position is filled. Target start date 7/3/2023.


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