Organizing Director : Louisiana

New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

Organizing Director

Based in New Orleans, LA
 

About the Organization:
The New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice is a multi-racial membership based organization dedicated to building the power and participation of poor people in order to expand democracy and transform the economy. We organize directly affected people, and couple their courage with strategic legal, policy, and communications work to build campaigns that advance racial justice, immigrant rights, and a fair economy. Our members are African American and immigrant workers and families in New Orleans and rural Louisiana. The Workers’ Center anchors three grassroots membership organizations: the Congress of Day Laborers, Stand With Dignity, and the Seafood Workers Alliance, as well as a strategic legal department that innovates law and policy strategies that build grassroots power. Over the last more then ten years, 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.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead the Organizing team:

• Supervise the lead organizers by providing support and accountability
• Provide on going constructive feedback and evaluation to team members
• Manage lead organizers’ success in meeting goals and deadlines
• Work with lead organizers to create and meet goals in detailed work plans for themselves and the teams they supervise
• Craft and run staff development plans for each lead organizer and assure they do the same for field staff, this should include hands on training in the field, in the office and with external partners. 
• Responsible for high performance and high production values of the organizing team

Support development and execution of organizing strategy

• Co-develops with leads the overall organizing strategy with strategic direction from membership bases and inputs from organizers, legal and other departments
• Support organizers in building and running sharp campaign plans based on detailed power analysis and a strong theory of change
• Builds coherence across the campaigns and programs
• Finds opportunities for campaigns to connect and add up
• Provides strategic guidance to leads on campaigns, programs etc.

Cross base alliance and organizational cohesion

• Seek out and create opportunities for the organizing work to connect, build power, alliance and solidarity toward shared vision and politics
• Coordinate and integrate the organizing with legal, research and communication staff and with the broader movement allies
• Work with the Executive Director to drive forward organizational development goals and help align organizing work overall to achieve those goals

Allies

• Maintain, manage and develop NOWCRJ’s strategic partners and allies to support broad organizational and campaign goals and create the best possible space for workers to organize
• Delivers key relationships with allies to the organizing and campaigns
• Coordinate 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, weekend work is required.

Who You Are
Key qualifications:

• The job requires a high degree of motivation and the ability to take initiative.  A successful applicant will have the following qualities:
  • Deep dedication to the leadership of directly affected people 
  • Faith in poor peoples’ ability to lead 
  • Patience and stamina 
  • The ability to work well under pressure 
  • Love of teamwork and a good team player.
• Substantial experience leading grassroots campaigns in the workplaces, pro-black movements or immigrant rights movements
• Five years’ experience in community, labor, or grassroots electoral organizing – including member recruitment, leadership development, and campaigns required
• Minimum three years experience supervising organizers
• Spanish fluency strongly preferred
• Must have strong writing skills, office skills, and self-organization skills
• Must have valid driver’s license

To Apply
Applications will only be accepted electronically.  Please email a cover letter and résumé to careers@nowcrj.org and mention job title ‘Organizing Director’ in the subject line of your email.   Please include a daytime phone number where we can contact you.  Application process will be open until position is filled.

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