SONG is seeking a part-time field organizer for the state of North Carolina!  This position will be based out of North Carolina’s Triangle / Triad area.

Are you a visionary in North Carolina with organizing experience?  Are you passionate about grassroots organizing, base-buliding, and have a deep love for (and understanding of) oppressed and marginalized communities?  Are you interested in being part of building a regional campaign that will transform education, both inside and outside of the school system??

If you are interested in applying or learning more, please read the  job description + process below, answer the questions, and send your responses to caitlin@southernersonewground.org and mary@southernsonnewground.org.

Application Deadline: July 30th

Have questions or need help with your application? Email mary@southernersonnewground.org or call 404-307-0818 or office 404-549-8628

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What is Southerners On New Ground (SONG)’s Vision and Mission?

SONG is a home for LGBTQ liberation across all lines of race, class, abilities, age, culture, gender, and sexuality in the South. We build, sustain, and connect a southern regional membership base of LBGTQ people in order to transform the region through strategic projects and campaigns developed in response to the current conditions in our communities. We envision a world where the 3rd shift factory worker and the drag queen at the bar down the block see their lives as connected and working together for liberation. SONG builds this movement through leadership development, intersectional analysis, and organizing.

SONG is currently developing a regional direct action campaign in partnership with local organizations in 4 of our key organizing sites: AL; NC; SC; and VA. The goals of the campaign are to: 1) eliminate the hostile environment within the public education system and 2) transform how we educate ourselves inside and outside of the public education system. Working from a desire to inspire a paradigm shift that promotes BeLoved Community, we believe that public education as a primary front of struggle allows us to fight the multiple problems that impact our communities. We contend that public education intersects with multiple fronts of struggle—from poverty to privatization; the prison industrial complex to the military industrial complex; re-segregation to bullying. As an intersectional organization, we look for opportunities to work at the intersections of multiple fronts. In keeping with our Theory of Change, the campaign embraces 4 main principles: 1) That our organizing is rooted in participatory democracy; 2) that our organizing reflects a broad strategy of “build, dismantle, and change”; 3) that our organizing embraces a human rights framework of self-determination and sovereignty, and 4) that our organizing highlights local autonomy and collective accountability. The North Carolina organizer will have both general regional work responsibilities and campaign-specific responsibilities.

This position will be based in North Carolina’s Triangle/ Triad Area.

Job Responsibilities:

  • Working closely with the regional Campaign Coordination team to serve as a liaison between SONG’s staff; local organizing sites; allies; and stakeholders. Field Organizers are primarily responsible for the coordination and communication of SONG’s regional and local goals, opportunities, challenges, and victories.
  • Coordinating local and statewide organizing to “eliminate the hostile environment in the public education system and transform the ways in which we educate ourselves and each other.” Field Organizers primarily work with local organizing sites and SONG Member-Leaders to: build or participate in a local coalition for direct action organizing; recruit and sustain local and statewide SONG membership; strengthen local organizers’ knowledge and skills in social justice organizing; and coordinate and communicate opportunities for local impact
  • Field Organizers are expected to give feedback/direction to the regional campaign. Field Organizers primarily work with local and regional Work Groups to: Identify local problems/demands, objectives, and targets; facilitate local strategy, tactics, outreach & mobilization; participate in regional alliances and coalitions as appropriate; and facilitate logistics for meetings, actions, etc.

Who Are We Looking For?

We are looking for applicants who are visionaries and leaders and have some organizing experience (events, campaigns, community groups, etc.) We are seeking people who have a deep commitment to base building, grassroots organizing, and a deep love for (and understanding of) oppressed and marginalized communities. We are looking for folks that are transparent and honest; strong and pro-active in communication; organized; collectively oriented and minded; open to growth and feedback; flexible; has strong inter-personal skills (meaning: knows how to build relationships); friendly; and have good time-management skills.  We are also seeking people who self-initiate, and work well on their own, while also knowing how to become part of a team. This is especially important because our staff is across the South.

A big part of SONG’s vision is the idea that people must speak for themselves. We strive to make our hires a reflection of this: in order to be accountable to those we work with, the leaders we support must be a part of the communities we are based in.  Therefore, Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Same Gender Loving, Two Spirit, Gender Non-conforming, Working class, People Of Color, Rural, and Immigrant people are all strongly encouraged to apply. Also, people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply, and we are very open to talking about co-developing an accessibility plan and work to accommodate it (based on capacity) with any applicant and potential hire with any form of disability in order to promote a positive work environment that progressively eliminates barriers to access for people with disabilities.

This position will be based in North Carolina’s Triangle/ Triad Area.

Useful Skills of Applicants:

  • Skills in Community Organizing, training and facilitation
  • Skills in outreach, base-building, and fundraising (especially grassroots / community-based fundraising)
  • Skills (and experience in) working in small towns and rural communities around the South (we are particularly open to applicants who may have grown up in small Southern communities)
  • Skills in cultural work, healing work, and art-making as connected to social change
  • Multi-lingual (more than one language) skills in interpretation and facilitation, especially Spanish to English

Our Commitment to, and Expectations of, New Hires:

SONG’s commitment to the new hire is, at its core, a political commitment.  We believe that in order to support broad–based social justice movements for the long haul, we must continually develop new leaders and build SONG to get the work completed. Intentional and hands-on work with staff, fellows and interns is one way we work towards these political goals. We are committed to a working exchange between SONG and new hires that are useful for both parties.  We have staff teams where each person working in one of our 4 target states have a direct coordinator (a SONG Co-Director), intense leadership development as an organizer, and on-going support. We see this as a key opportunity of this job: the opportunity for folks who might be relatively new to organizing (if that is the case for some applicants) to be mentored, and for more experienced organizers to get strong support and opportunities to use their creativity and experience in a working atmosphere that encourages and engages new ideas and approaches.

Compensation:

SONG is hiring a North Carolina-based half time (20 hours a week) organizer. The pay is $20,000 a year with a monthly health benefit package. This is a permanent position, however the starting contract agreement is for the first six months to ensure the hire is a good fit for SONG and the person hired. Some travel will be expected by the hire (though the schedule can be flexible based on other work responsibilities the hire might have), and meals & travel will be covered for the person while on the road. SONG provides laptops and cell phone stipends as needed for staff.

Applications due: July 30, 2013

Application Process

If you are interested in applying for this position, please send a letter of interest including the following information to Caitlin@southernersonnewground.org and also cc Mary@southernersonnewground.org:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Email
  • Phone Number
  1. Why are you interested in working with SONG and what do you feel you can learn from working with SONG?
  2. What are your specific community organizing interests and why?
  3. What community-based work have you done, and/or what community-based organizations have you been involved with?
  4. What is a story you want to share about how you came to be in the pursuit of justice and liberation?
  5. What do you feel you can bring to the work in this state and why?
  6. Please look at the ‘Who Are We Looking For’ section. How do you feel you meet this criteria and what specific skills can you offer?
  7. Please give 3 concrete examples of your approach/philosophy/belief about how to go about working with\/in-oppressed communities.
  8. If hired, would you be able to commit to working with SONG for at least 1 year (if applicable)?
  9. Do you have your own car and driver’s license? (This is not a determining factor)
  10. Do you have any specific needs around accessibility that you want us to know about?

*PLEASE also include a resume, even if brief

Please include 3 references of people you have worked with closely

If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to…

  • Read SONG’s website thoroughly (www.southernersonnewground.org)
  • Contact the staff to gain more information about any of our work and so we can answer your questions (Mary@southernersonnewground.org)

We will need your application as quickly as possible. Please note that we cannot process applications until they are complete.  If you have any questions about the application process, please call us 404-549-8628.

We can help you with your application. Please email your letter of interest (with subject title-‘JOB APPLICATION’) and resume, including three references to:

Caitlin@Southernersonnewground.org and Mary@southernersonnewground.org