Director of Strategy and Planning

Director of Strategy and Planning

About the Position:

Exciting opportunity to work as a Community Organizer in Westchester County doing movement building and campaign organizing work. This is a unique position at first to focus on winning a source-of-income legislation on a County-wide level, then grow to broader issues: housing, immigration, jobs and education across Westchester County.
The organizer will be expected to bring new ideas, thoughtful political and power analysis, along with your personal ethics to our planning and projects. The Director of Strategy and Planning will be ready to engage highly diverse communities from across Westchester County and involve them in organizing activities. Should be ready to participate in envisioning, designing and implementing programs that fulfill stated campaign and movement-building goals. Ideal person will be expected to lead visioning and planning exercises, and oversee innovative campaigns in conjunction with social justice groups, constituency groups, traditional non-profits, neighborhood organizations, allies and more.
Specific Roles:

• Consistent engagement of EWC members on each other’s work in different areas (immigration, housing, education, women’s rights, racial justice, etc)
• Serve as a movement-building resource to unify organizers and groups across Westchester County.
• Identify areas of the County where there are unique organizing opportunities.
• Ability to develop relationships within the County and community between potential allies who have yet to come together. (Will need a keen ability to bring people together to work on shared goals, and avoid competition.)
• Conduct public policy advocacy activities regarding housing, immigration, jobs and education.
• Oversee an educational campaign, including written materials, training sessions and media outreach to raise public awareness about housing, immigration, jobs and education.
• The organizer (coordinator or director) will be expected to build new leadership capacity.
• It is important this organizer is prioritizing distributing leadership among campaign members.
• Candidates must understand the bigger picture and have the ability to see larger goals around issue areas in Westchester Co. and the way different social justice issues are linked.

General Responsibilities:

• Manage volunteers and interns.
• Must work well in a collaborative team setting.
• Mobilize for actions and event planning.
• Be proactive with troubleshooting and finding solutions. Candidates must have the ability to adapt in a rapidly changing campaign atmosphere.
• Participate in communication with our constituency via social media, blogs, letters, written notes, and phone calls.
• Perform extensive outreach to organizations, community leaders and contacts in underrepresented and highly impacted communities
• Recruiting, supporting and mentoring people of all ages in EWC programs.
• Identifying opportunities for constituency growth and partnerships.
• Excellent communication skills for public speaking, group facilitation, and sharing complex ideas.
• Comfortable conducting outreach to communities with a variety of languages.

What else?: This position is unique because you will not be working for a traditional 501(c) organization, but rather a coalition of organizations and individuals from across Westchester County who are committed to advancing a broad social justice agenda across the County.
Qualifications and Skills:

• 1-3 years of grassroots, political, or community organizing experience required.
• Commitment to social justice, civil & human rights, and movement building required.
• Spanish speaking, or other language skills, are preferred.
• Ability to formulate and implement organizing campaigns, conduct scan and analysis of organizations and community leaders who can potentially be mobilized, establish relationships, and form partnerships with community residents and neighborhood institutions.

• An understanding of public/civic institutions, general policymaking processes and the role that community residents can play in these.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Timeliness, dependability, accountability, and overall strong teamwork habits essential.

• Experience working with and managing volunteers, and a desire to serve as a role model, be creative, and learn new skills desired.

• Ability to engage and inspire people regardless of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, language, class, ability and/or experiences is required.

• Experience with member and leadership development and outreach

• Must be flexible and willing to work early morning, evening, and weekend hours
• Be familiar with using social media to advance social justice campaigns, (including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, blogs, Instagram, Flickr, etc.)
• Should have a reliable car and valid driver’s license.
• Familiarity with Westchester County and the unique challenges/opportunities that come from organizing here is a plus!
• Should be willing and able to use all forms of transportation including bus, train, plane, and hired car.
• Have a cell phone and laptop or other readily accessible device to support social media and e-mail. Reimbursement is not provided for these devices or service charges associated with them.

Reporting Structure: The Director of Strategy and Strategy will be hired by the Envisioning Westchester Collective, and report to the EWC Organizing Strategy Committee, which will help develop and implement the work program.

Salary range:
Salary is commensurate with experience and reimbursement for driving expenses is offered.
Health benefits offered after 90 days.
Send cover letter and resume by August 30, 2013 to:
Envisioning Westchester Collective
c/o Lutonya Russell-Humes

About Envisioning Westchester Collective (EWC): Envisioning Westchester Collective is a coalition of progressive activist leaders from across Westchester County who have been convening for over four years. The EWC is committed to building the power of disenfranchised people in Westchester County to improve their own lives. EWC addresses the roots of inequality in Westchester with candor and depth. The group endeavors to develop plans of action to address identified issues, and is committed to collaboration and sharing ideas, effective models, experiences and data. Represented organizations and groups who are part of EWC include: Mount Vernon United Tenants, Westchester Children’s Association, Westchester-Putnam Working Families Party, WESPAC Foundation, Community Voices Heard, Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, Groundwork Hudson Valley, Elias Foundation, Yonkers Community Governance and Development Council, local labor activists, local educators, advocates for youth, ‘Just Change Westchester’ members and others.