OOC seeks a Climate Justice Organizer

Ohio Organizing Collaborative The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) is an innovative statewide organization that unites community, faith, and student organizing groups with labor unions and policy institutes across Ohio. It is our mission to organize everyday Ohioans, building transformative power for racial, social, and economic justice in our state. For more information, please visit www.ohorganizing.org. 

Climate Justice Organizer (CJO)

The OOC seeks a community organizer to build a grassroots base fighting for climate justice in central Ohio. This position will be part of coalition efforts focused on mitigating climate change, reducing carbon emissions, and advancing racial, social, and economic justice.

The CJO will focus on recruiting community members in central Ohio in communities hit hardest by climate change factors such as heat islands, high cost of heating and cooling and will work on a range of issues connected to transitioning our public schools and other public buildings to green energy and building community power. A strong candidate will have recent personal experience with the public school system or professional experience working with public schools. Preferred candidates will have some experience in the climate justice movement or knowledge of green energy policy but this background is not required. Candidates must be committed to building community power through grassroots organizing, movement building, and civic engagement.

Required Skills & Abilities

The CJO is a self-motivated and detail-oriented critical thinker with a strong track record of successfully and concurrently managing a variety of initiatives. They are committed to the principles of social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion, have a leadership background, and know how to manage a large volume of relationships and solve problems quickly and efficiently. The CJO possesses strong planning and organizational skills, strong time management skills, strong relational and interpersonal skills, and strong written and oral communication skills. Ideally, they have related experience and a strong skill base in office and database software, and social media platforms.

Job Responsibilities

● Able to work effectively with diverse staff, leaders, partners, and the general public.

● Works closely with the team and supervisor to develop and implement campaign and work plans, and has a yearly professional development plan.

● Able to work with leaders across race, class, and gender to align different interests toward the common goal of building community power to win progressive reforms.

● Identifies and develops community power-building relationships with a broad leadership base of grassroots parent groups, local elected leaders, key stakeholders in the climate justice space, faith-based institutions, labor unions and social/economic justice advocates.

● Organize parents into volunteer teams to educate and motivate people to take action on climate solutions.

● Convene stakeholder meetings, build coalitions, identify issues and work with teams to strategize and implement short- and long-term campaigns.

● Align online and offline organizing to build a complementary campaign that utilizes both in-person and digital strategies to produce organizing wins.

● Train grassroots leaders and groups to identify issues with attainable goals through engaging leadership base in participatory research and political education.

Organizes [a] outreach activities with volunteers including canvassing, phone/texting banking, and tabling, [b] leadership development and organizing activities such as trainings, leadership and committee meetings, and [c] large-scale public events including community conversations, town halls, public meetings, and demonstrations.

● Recruit community members to share stories and prepare them to give testimony at regulatory and legislative advocacy opportunities.

● Integrates community organizing with long-term, community-driven policy change efforts.

● Participates in campaign framing and messaging, including collaborating on talking points, press releases, reports, social media, and other communications materials as necessary.

● Participates in developing campaign communications and organizing materials including trainings, handouts, simple digital graphics and email communications.

● Attend and actively participate in team and statewide meetings, meet regularly with supervisor, submit all reports in a timely manner, and attend professional organizer training as required.

● Has some understanding of the intersection between race, class, and gender’s effect on socioeconomic policy and believes in progressive values.

Please note: This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities are based on campaign needs and may change.

Position Details

The CJO is a full-time salaried position. A Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience is preferred but persons meeting the skills listed above should still apply. Benefits include health/dental insurance, vacation, and retirement match. The organizer must possess a cell phone, an Ohio driver’s license and have access to a reliable automobile. In-state and national travel is required. Some weekend and evening hours will be required. Work-related expenses are reimbursed according to policy. Physical requirements include frequent standing, walking, ability to sit in meetings and lift moderate weight for supplies. Columbus-based candidates are preferred but not required.

Classification

Ohio Organizing Collaborative recognizes a staff bargaining unit with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative Staff Union / Chicago Midwest Regional Joint Board Workers United. This position is included in the Ohio Organizing Collaborative’s bargaining unit and covered under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

Experience and Salary Range

Previous experience is preferred but not required. Entry-level organizer salaries start at $47,250 and can be increased commensurate with experience. People with more organizing experience should still apply and can be considered for Lead Organizer. Lead Organizer positions begin at $63,000.

EEO/AAP Policy Statement

The Ohio Organizing Collaborative provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, criminal history, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Application Instructions

Priority deadline ends May 10th but applications will be accepted until the position is filled. To apply, please submit a brief cover letter explaining why you are interested in the position, your resume and professional references to ooc_hr@ohorganizing.org.