The Rural Organizing Project’s network of local, autonomous groups organizing for human dignity is growing and we are excited to expand our staff team of organizers to meet this moment! Hundreds of leaders across Oregon are bringing their neighbors into the movement for human dignity. ROP’s work supporting ordinary Oregonians organizing for the soul of their communities in the midst of state and vigilante violence is gaining national recognition. We are hiring an organizer to increase our capacity to support rural and small town Oregonians who are already organizing for justice, and to build groups that are taking on bold and innovative organizing where there isn’t already movement infrastructure. Please help us in our search by sharing this announcement!
Do any of these questions describe you or someone you know?
- Do you have a deep love for small town and rural community building?
- Are racial justice and human dignity central to your organizing practice?
- Are you patient and persistent? Are you an excellent listener? Does your style demonstrate courage, humility, compassion, and kindness?
- Are you an enthusiastic organizer who is ready to take the next step in developing your craft?
Please review the job announcement and the application below, and consider applying! We invite you to contact us with questions by emailing our Co-Director, Jess Campbell, at jess@rop.org. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their application, cover letter, and resume by March 5, 2018.
Rural Organizing Project
ORGANIZER JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
We are the Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and we are seeking a full-time statewide organizer to join our team.
What We Do
ROP, our ever-evolving network of over 70 autonomous groups across the state, and hundreds of leaders have hope and an unbreakable resolve that together we can build beloved community through the rural traditions of community organizing, political education, storytelling, finding common ground, breaking bread, and celebration. ROP is dedicated to creating communities accountable to a standard of human dignity: the belief in the equal worth of all people and the need for equal access to justice. Created by and for rural and small town Oregonians in 1992, ROP remains driven by and accountable to rural leadership to meet the political moment, opportunity, and crisis in communities across Oregon.
A national struggle is underway for the hearts and minds of folks who live in rural communities and small towns, and Oregon is on the frontlines. Massive cuts to community infrastructure, generational poverty and stagnant economies reliant on natural resource extraction, surging state violence as Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramps up across Oregon, and chart-topping levels of vigilante violence have left communities feeling more vulnerable and insecure than ever. This insecurity coupled with unjust policies and rhetoric at the federal level have created an opening for the far right to build their base by offering all too convenient narratives about who is to blame for our economic woes that scapegoat us and our neighbors, further polarizing and dividing our communities.
ROP has been on the cutting edge of supporting rural community leaders and organizers develop visionary campaigns while countering far right movements for over 25 years. The core of our work has always been supporting our network of autonomous, all-volunteer human dignity groups to build community rooted in the values of self-determination, human dignity, and racial, economic, social, and climate justice. Our member groups are courageously countering the politics of fear, isolation, and rejection with another vision of vibrant, healthy communities where everyone can live their lives fully with safety and dignity. ROP staff organizers support these groups to do bold and innovative organizing for the long haul, strategically talking about and taking aim at the root causes of injustices, while embracing the agility this moment requires to respond quickly to opportunities and crises.
Who We Are Looking For
We are seeking a full-time organizer who will work remotely to build and strengthen the movement for justice in small towns and rural communities across Oregon.
We are looking for organizers with a demonstrated ability to support individual leadership development and use grassroots organizing to build community and contest for power, and who have experience organizing with leaders who are most impacted by inequity. Candidates must have excellent communication skills, which are necessary to maintain relationships with leaders across the state from a distance. We are looking for folks who are emotionally mature with a sense of humor and the sensitivity to work in a complex, high-stakes political context with many leaders who are experts in their communities.
ROP organizers travel frequently and stay overnight in leaders’ homes as part of our process for developing deep relationships for the long haul. Because many of our leaders are poor and working class, much of ROP organizers’ work happens outside of the 9-5 hours. Most travel is planned several weeks in advance and ROP has policies in place to ensure that staff are working sustainable hours.
Because of ROP’s unique organizing practices, we support new staff organizers with a workplan that prioritizes orientation and skill-building, and we seek candidates who have the humility to make the most of that investment through listening effectively, seeking and implementing feedback, and recognizing the importance of stretching oneself, learning, and growing. We seek candidates who enthusiastically embrace work that pushes boundaries (including their own!), enjoy experimentation, learn from and take accountability for mistakes, and keep moving forward. Staff rely on each other, peers, and mentors in the movement when developing strategic and innovative organizing, and organizers who thrive at ROP proactively seek help and apply their organizing skills to overcome obstacles.
We are looking for proactive communicators who thrive in a work environment where colleagues tag-team and collaborate daily. We are seeking people who self-initiate, are personally organized, and work well on their own remotely. Preference will be given to applicants living in and with experience working with rural communities. We know that rural organizing is desperately under resourced and that the most powerful organizing being done in rural communities is all volunteer, which is why we include no formal requirements around years of “professional” experience in this job announcement. If this job announcement is calling to you, we encourage you to apply!
The Work
Job responsibilities include:
- Relationship Building and Capacity Building: foster relationships with rural leaders and offer support that builds the capacity of each group. We define capacity as the ability for a human dignity group to create impact through base-building and grassroots organizing. Key support from ROP includes assistance building and troubleshooting the core structures needed for a strong group, including a named leadership team, a growing base of supporters, communications systems to communicate with supporters, and an action plan.
- Organizing: work closely with the entire staff team to develop, communicate, and support local groups to identify local campaign opportunities, objectives, and targets. Facilitate developing local strategy, tactics, outreach, and mobilization as directed by communities. Coordinate the logistics, outreach, and program for meetings, actions, and strategic gatherings.
We are a small but mighty team of dedicated organizers working remotely from different communities around the state. Staff work closely together as a team and are accountable to each other, to ROP’s grassroots Board of Directors, and our member human dignity groups. Staff work together to implement statewide programs, develop resources for human dignity groups and rural community leaders, coordinate strategic convenings, respond to major opportunities or crises, and develop political analysis and opportunities for collective action for our network.
This position includes significant and frequent travel to work with local human dignity groups, to participate in regular staff retreats, and to work occasionally out of ROP’s offices in Cottage Grove, Scappoose, Grants Pass, or Corvallis. Each team member is expected to be able to work remotely when not on the road and to be on the phone and computer for extended periods of time. Organizers must be able to drive.
Compensation starts at $36,000-$40,000, commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits including health and dental care, paid sick leave, vacation, and sabbatical. Staff have access to a pool of ROP vehicles, are reimbursed for mileage traveled in personal vehicles, and are provided the technology needed to perform their job duties, including cell phone and laptop. If high-speed internet isn’t accessible where staff live, ROP will support identifying and resourcing solutions. ROP is currently developing a caregiver travel policy for staff who are primary caregivers.
People living in rural or small town communities, people who come from poor or working class backgrounds, people of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ folks are strongly encouraged to apply. All applicants are encouraged to review our website at www.rop.org before applying. Questions may be directed to jess@rop.org.
Apply
This is a rolling hire with interested applicants encouraged to submit their applications by March 5, 2018. To apply, please email a letter of interest, resume, three references and the following application to jess@rop.org:
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Why are you interested in working with ROP? What do you feel you can learn from working with ROP?
- What community-based rural organizing have you done? What community-based organizations have you been involved with?
- What is a story you want to share about how you came to be in the pursuit of justice and liberation?
- What do you feel you can bring to the work in rural Oregon and why?
- Please look at the “Who We Are Looking For” section. How do you feel you meet these criteria, and what specific skills and qualities can you offer?
- Please give two concrete examples from your organizing experience that demonstrate your approach, philosophy, or beliefs about organizing with communities facing violence or inequity.
- If hired, would you be able to commit to working with ROP for at least two years?