Overview

Position Title: Appalachian People’s Union Distributed Organizer

Tier / Category: Tier 4 / Organizer IV

Reports to: Appalachian People’s Union Director

Employment Status: Full Time

FLSA: Exempt

Location: Kentucky

NLRA: Bargaining Unit Position

Drawing on the deep history of Appalchian freedom fighters, Appalachian People’s Union (APU) brings working white Appalachian people into local community campaigns fighting for justice in the Appalachian region of the South. It is a project of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national organization that brings white people into fights for racial and economic justice. We work to undermine the power of the Far Right and build a white flank of multiracial majorities fighting for the things all communities need. We organize white people by engaging their shared interest – what they stand to gain by joining alongside people of color. We do this through 150+ local chapters across the US and Canada, a National Membership base, and local base building projects in the South.

We ground our organizing in a framework of shared interest and have an inclusive, open-hearted approach to organizing – calling people into this work rather than creating barriers to participation – while maintaining a clear political line. We believe that together, as part of a powerful multi-racial, cross-class movement for collective liberation, we can force the systems of white supremacy and racialized capitalism to crumble.

Summary of Position:

SURJ is seeking an APU Distributed Organizer to create a distributed infrastructure to recruit and train a large base of members who can win campaigns in Kentucky and Appalachia. This will include developing a program to scale our Southern work through mass absorption, online to offline recruitment techniques, social media and cultural ways to bring people in. This work also includes using a set of skills, technology, mass trainings, and developing plans with local organizers to build a broader distributed organizing program. Specifically, the Distributed Organizer will grow and maintain infrastructure to cast a wide net and create the systems and infrastructure needed for organizers on the ground to absorb new people, while also creating new campaigns across the state by developing leaders to organize where they live. This includes creating online meeting spaces, managing data integration, and running phone and text banks with local organizers.

The APU Distributed Organizer will focus on building leaders in Kentucky, and later in Appalachia, who are interested in building local and statewide campaigns that are focused on improving material conditions for poor and working class people in rural areas. The issue work of APU currently focuses on the need for safe and affordable housing and strategic electoral campaigns. In addition, the APU Distributed Organizer will build infrastructure for regional phone banks to bring in people to our housing campaigns, electoral campaigns, cultural organizing campaigns, and other new campaigns that emerge.

The APU Distributed Organizer will collaborate deeply with Southern Crossroads, SURJ’s organizing project in Tennessee and Georgia, and its Distributed Organizer. This collaboration will involve developing shared systems and approaches to this work and collaborating on shared campaigns. The role will also coordinate closely with other Kentucky organizing groups as part of a statewide multiracial powerbuilding strategy.

To be successful in this role, a candidate will understand grassroots organizing and leadership development, and be able to create a distributed program in collaboration with other organizers to recruit and bring in new members to the organization.

Reports to: APU Director

This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific terms and conditions of employment are subject to negotiations for a Collective Bargaining Agreement.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES — Essential duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following:

Priority 1: Plan, establish, and maintain an Appalachian distributed infrastructure for SURJ (50%)

  • Under the supervision of the APU Director, develop a strategic plan to create a distributed infrastructure that is focused on recruiting and building a mass base of Appalacchian, poor and working class members to win campaigns.
  • Work with SURJ’s National Organizing Department and SCOPE’s Distributed Organizer to learn about the technical side of conducting phone banks and the cultural approach SURJ uses to welcome new people into our organization.
  • Ensure this approach is rooted in SURJ’s values, and is culturally responsive and engaging to folks in rural Appalachia.
  • Leading this key programmatic work requires making important decisions around program design, staff roles, member roles, and cross-team coordination

Priority 2: Execute organizing and leadership development (25%)

  • Develop and execute virtual strategies to mobilize and engage APU members toward campaign goals.
  • Manage distributed organizing tactics such as virtual phone banks, virtual one-on-ones, and webinar trainings, and create online communities for volunteers.
  • Develop a series of trainings, and/or use existing curricula, to lead a series of training sessions for existing members focusing on the skills of running and participating in phone and text banking with the goal of enabling members to identify and develop leaders in key areas.
  • Develop political education materials in collaboration with the APU Director, the SCOPE Distributed Organizer and SURJ’s National Organizing Department to be utilized in training members and supporting state lead organizers as they develop their base.
  • Support organizing in rapid response moments, and coordinate among other teams within the organization as needed.
  • Responsible for recruiting, training, and leading teams of volunteer leaders to support ongoing text, call, and canvassing efforts.
  • Build phone call, text, and canvassing campaigns, as assigned by the APU Director, in addition to drafting scripts and creating training materials.
  • Train and support members in-person, on the ground when possible and strategic as part of our online to offline organizing strategy
  • As the APU department grows, may need to serve as a Peer Leader for other positions. Holds “Peer Leader” designation at SURJ.

Priority 3: Tracking and Coordination (25%)

  • Oversee the integration of data from phone and text banks into APU’s Every Action account.
  • In coordination with the SURJ Data Director, follow data tracking systems that are integrated and coordinated with APU local projects and projects across SURJ.
  • Develop and maintain a high level of teamwork, collaboration, and mutual accountability within APU, the Grassroots Organizing Department of which they are a part, and with other departments across SURJ.
  • Support organizing staff’s ability to run distributed campaigns by developing trainings that help staff envision how they recruit and develop a member base.
  • Support and expand member-led volunteer teams to deepen our engagement with members who participate in virtual advocacy and electoral actions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Minimum of 5 years as a community organizer with distributed organizing experience.
  • Experience successfully managing staff.
  • Experience holding the big picture of an organizing campaign with very little external guidance.
  • SURJ policy requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to reasonable accommodation under federal, state, and local law. Accommodations may be not possible for positions that require in-person contact with other staff or members of the public.

KNOWLEDGE:

  • Experience running an integrated program that balances leadership development, campaign strategy, and winning change.
  • Experience with phone script development.
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate political analysis in program’s strategies and tactics.
  • Experience with data management and tools for campaigns including EveryAction or similar database preferred, VAN, and virtual phone bank systems and dialers.
  • Experience organizing volunteers and members on issues of racial justice.
  • Deep understanding of SURJ’s work and theory of change.
  • An understanding of the strategic importance of Appalachia and the South and power dynamics between the South and the rest of the U.S. that can influence organizing efforts here.
  • Commitment to racial, gender and economic justice and their intersections, both inside and outside organizations.

SKILLS:

  • Solid time management skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple projects at the same time.
  • Excellent relational and verbal communication skills.
  • Deep skills in leadership development, especially integrating political analysis and concrete organizing skills.
  • Demonstrated track record of organizing and leading in multiracial coalitions.

ABILITIES:

  • Ability to develop leaders and programs remotely.
  • Ability to direct the work of volunteers and members.
  • Ability to manage multiple projects.
  • Flexible: open to new ways of doing things and experimentation.
  • Reliable: follows through on what they said they are going to do.
  • Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
  • Ability to build trust and work with a wide range of individuals and personalities, and to establish and maintain effective working relationships.
  • Ability to work in a cross-class environment while also holding a strong class politics that centers poor and working people.
  • Ability to give and receive direct constructive feedback.
  • Commitment to SURJ’s strategy and approach to anti-racist work.
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