Community Organizer jobs in Richmond, VA

Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities (RISC) is an interracial, interfaith, nonpartisan organization which brings congregations together to build the power to meet God’s call to “do justice.” The member congregations of RISC are building powerful justice ministries so that they can get beyond the symptoms and solve serious community problems. 

RISC is part of the Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART), one of the largest faith-based community organizing networks in the country. At DART, we believe that fighting for racial and economic justice is fundamental to our identity as people of faith, and we know that successfully fighting for justice requires having power in the public arena. We've been organizing interfaith coalitions to build power since 1982.  A few of our victories include:

• Hundreds of millions of dollars invested in affordable housing
• Implementation of fair discipline policies in hundreds of schools, breaking the school-to-prison pipeline
• $950 million invested in public transportation 
• Criminal justice reforms resulting in 50,000 fewer arrests of children

The Work

As an organizer in the DART network, you’ll spend most of your time in the community, developing relationships of trust with grassroots leaders. You’ll train them to engage their community in doing justice, and guide them in conducting research into community problems and creating winnable issue campaigns. You’ll also recruit new congregations, organize public direct action events, and coordinate an annual fundraising drive.

Who You Are

You have a passion for justice, and have acted on it.

You can build strong relationships with people from all walks of life. 

You may or may not be personally religious. Either way, you have a genuine respect for all faith traditions and are excited about uniting faith communities to live out their call to “do justice.”

DART organizations are diverse coalitions that include communities of color, low-to-moderate-income communities and immigrant communities. We strongly encourage people from these backgrounds, as well as fluent speakers of Spanish, to apply.

Other Requirements

• Ability to work some evenings and weekends to accommodate community members who work during the day.
• A valid driver’s license and access to a reliable car.
• No prior organizing experience is necessary, as we provide the training you’ll need to be successful.
• Ability to travel for training events throughout the year.

Compensation and Benefits

• Starting salary $49,000
• Generous annual employer retirement contribution of 13% beginning after one year of employment
• Health insurance reimbursement
• Flexible scheduling
• Parental leave
• Generous vacation leave
• Mileage reimbursement
• Comprehensive, on-the-job training through the DART Organizers Institute

Learn more

Visit www.thedartcenter.org to learn more about the work of DART and RISC.