Community Organizer jobs in Reading, PA

THE ROLE: 

NextGen America is seeking passionate and hardworking candidates to join our youth organizing program in Pennsylvania, working to engage young people in electoral politics by registering thousands of young people to vote across the state. NextGen is committed to engaging young people in Pennsylvania in the political process and increasing participation among 18-35 year olds. This role will be focused on organizing in one of several regions in Pennsylvania as part of this ambitious effort. 

The primary work location for this role will be Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. This is an in-person position and you will be required to work on your primary campus according to the schedule laid out below. 

In Pennsylvania, this effort will focus on organizing young people on campuses and the surrounding communities to bring progressive change to government through voting. Our work will engage young people in voter registration efforts, volunteer recruitment, and pledging young people to vote. Organizers need to be comfortable and confident in: mobilizing their own community, growing their network to include new volunteers to train, and motivating community leaders to help register and mobilize their own networks. Organizers are directly responsible for managing a team of volunteers in their region to hit weekly and phase metric goals. 

This role reports to the Regional Organizing Director. 

FLSA Classification: Non-Exempt

Remote Position: No

Union Position: Yes

Travel Requirements: 10% outside of assigned turf

Start Date: 08/01/2024 (Subject to Change)
End Date: 11/15/2024

WHAT YOU’LL ACHIEVE:

• Hit defined field goals, including voter registration, traditional grassroots voter contact, and event planning and turnout
• Meet all data and field reporting deadlines
• In-person organizing, including voter and community engagement at businesses, campuses and NextGen-sponsored events
• Work with college administrations to increase civic participation and voter registration within the campus community

• Recruit volunteers through phone banking and text banking to support field organizing work

• Develop NextGen student clubs on campuses and work with student leaders to run these clubs and host events on campus and online
• Develop relationships and partnerships with local community and student groups
• Plan and host events within the community, on campus, and virtually
• Recruit and train a local volunteer team that will organize their networks around voter registration drives and get out the vote efforts
• Perform other duties as assigned

REQUIRED SCHEDULE & AVAILABILITY:

This role has a structured schedule as defined in the collective bargaining agreement between represented field staff and NextGen. As with most jobs in field organizing, the schedule for this role will fluctuate based on the time of year. This position is a part time non-exempt position and the hours here are general expectations for what the time requirement will be to effectively complete your responsibilities. Applicants must have the willingness and ability to work the following schedule:

• A work schedule consisting of approximately 3-5 hours per day, 3 days per week
• General availability to work weekends
• A high capacity work schedule during designated events (For example: campus welcome weeks, the weeks leading up to voter registration deadlines) consisting of approximately 3-5 hours per day, 4 days per week

ABOUT YOU:

• Ability to work independently and remotely
• Effective communicator in 1:1, group, or public environments
• Driven by a strong work ethic
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Ability to adapt to evolving priorities and manage several tasks simultaneously
• Previous electoral organizing experience is a plus
• Bilingual candidates are a plus 

SALARY INFORMATION:

The salary for this position is $22.44/hour. This salary is non-negotiable per Campaign Workers Guild (Union) and NextGen America’s collective bargaining agreement. 

ABOUT NEXTGEN AMERICA:

NextGen America is the leading national organization for engaging young people through voter education, registration and mobilization. We invite 18-to-35 year olds — the largest and most diverse generation in American history — into our democracy to ensure our government works for them and to find new solutions to the dire challenges facing our society and the world. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered more than 1.4 million young voters and educated many millions more.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people of diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.  We value and are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as an organization--in theory and in practice, and our culture reflects that value and commitment.  We are committed to furthering issues like climate change, health care, and immigration from a progressive perspective, and we seek to engage the public in these areas as well as others. We also recognize the urgency of confronting institutional racism and inequity within our political system and strive to make positive changes within our system as a result.