Climate Bank Environmental Justice Organizer

ONE Northside is seeking a Climate Bank Campaign Organizer to lead a community-powered team dedicated to building ONE Northside’s base of poor and working class people, especially in communities of color, and serving as an organizer in a campaign to win investments that both decrease our state’s climate impact and improve people’s lives by reducing their utility bills, improving the conditions of their housing or other buildings they frequent, creating good jobs, and more broadly directing federal resources towards community priorities. This individual will organize with our existing leaders in our Environmental Justice team as well as recruit new community leaders and partners into the campaign. This staff member will have the opportunity to work with community members and partners across Chicago and the state to create and strengthen a new statewide campaign that will work to ensure that the newly created state of Illinois Climate Bank actively integrates specific, new place-based green projects and policies in our poor, working-class and Black and Brown communities across Illinois.

POSITION SUMMARY

This is a new position at ONE Northside and geared for an organizer who will focus on building ONE Northside’s base of poor and working-class people and the institutions they participate in. They will serve as a campaign organizer to win investments that decrease our state’s climate impact and improve people’s lives by reducing their utility bills, improving the conditions of their housing or other buildings they frequent, creating good jobs, and more broadly directing federal resources towards our communities’ priorities. This will involve coalition work and organizing marginalized populations in our North Side neighborhoods. This organizer will have the opportunity to work with our statewide partners: The People’s Lobby, Illinois People’s Action, and United Congregations of Metro-East (UCM).

RESPONSIBILITIES

Organizing

• Build a base of people and institutions directly affected by climate injustice, including young people, low-income people, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. This will include independent canvassing and other outreach efforts. Mobilize base members to participate in climate bank campaigns and other organizational activities such as trainings, direct actions, large public meetings, and canvassing.
• Drive the strategy for this new area of our work by developing and leading a new campaign. This includes building a base, developing an issue cut, creating a power analysis, driving campaign strategies forward, cultivating leadership development, and growing the organization’s power through these campaigns.
• Cultivate the leadership of community members to tell their own stories, build their own bases, and develop and execute strategies to win campaigns in our environmental justice work. This will include using tactics such as meeting with elected officials, public education, direct action, strategic communications, and more.
• Work with allies and the the Climate Bank campaign team to ensure community input is part of our statewide campaign
• Meet with grassroots and grasstops community members to understand their interests and move them to action with ONE Northside. Organizers are expected to do at least 5 one-on-one meetings per week.
• Work with grassroots leaders to participate in city, statewide, and national coalitions that advance our campaigns.
• Organize popular education sessions to share the opportunities provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and the Illinois Climate Bank. Create and lead skill-building trainings to develop the leadership of grassroots members.
• Organize community listening sessions and other opportunities to identify community priorities for local implementation of those programs and resources.
• Coordinate with the Environmental Justice Team to coordinate on broader environmental justice issues as needed.
• Plan events and meetings from start to finish including preparing the agenda, securing the logistics, ensuring radical hospitality, and generating the turnout. Support on meeting and events planned by other team members.
• Support the activities of ONE People’s Campaign, our 501c4 sister organization

Administration/Fundraising

• Prepare weekly written reports updating progress toward goals and regularly update data in Powerbase (our CRM).
• Generate meeting summaries, a monthly newsletter, press releases, fliers and other related materials to keep community members informed.
• Participate in weekly staff meetings, bi-monthly joint housing organizer meetings, quarterly staff retreats, quarterly Membership Council meetings
• Participate in quarterly grassroots fundraising tactics and support grant fundraising by identifying and drafting grant proposals and reports, participating in and preparing leaders for site visits.
• Develop and maintain relationships with leaders in our institutional members, engage them in our quarterly membership meetings, and help recruit new institutional and individual members.
• Assist the management team with other tasks, as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

An ideal candidate is someone with a deep hunger to build power to win organizing campaigns and who is rooted in a commitment to environmental and social justice. A successful candidate for this position is a deeply relational individual who is detail-oriented, able to juggle multiple projects, eager to engage with the community and is dedicated to winning concrete changes through organizing. They should have a strong interest in working with a diverse group of people and will thrive within an organizational culture that emphasizes creativity, accountability, growth, and community.

Required

• 4+ years of community organizing experience and familiarity with a diverse range of organizing tactics and strategies
• Experience working with people living on the front lines of the crises we face either through organizing or in a programmatic capacity, focused on engagement and leadership development.
• Proven ability to work with a diverse constituency, across lines of race, class, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion and other differences
• Serious appetite and excitement to go door-to-door, make calls, meet new community members and bring them into the work
• Ability to work with institutional staff (eg. executive directors, clergy, service agency staff) and the people they serve (eg. congregants and clients)
• Commitment to racial equity and overcoming white supremacy, you recognize the role of race, income, age, immigration status, and other identities in shaping disparities among communities and you consistently amplify community voices to advocate for more equitable solutions. You recognize how your own identities show up in the work, and welcome, reflect on, and act on feedback with an eye toward continuous learning about race, ability, and other lines of difference.
• Deep self-interest in building relationships with people who interact with the environmental justice movement
• Willing to use confrontation as a tactic for winning justice
• Proficient with Google Suite and other basic computer skills
• Must be a motivated self-starter who can juggle many moving pieces
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Effective communication skills
• Effective and creative problem solver
• Innovative, creative, mature thinking and reasoning
• Demonstrated commitment to (or interest in) the profession of community organizing

Preferred

• Fluency in a second language is a plus
• Experience working in coalitions
• Commitment to training and agitation methodology as a tool for growth and accountability
• BA degree or equivalent life experience
• Having a car is preferred

This is a community organizing job and will require attendance at night and weekend meetings. ONE Northside is an equal opportunity employer.

About the Illinois Climate Bank Campaign:

Founded in 2024, the Illinois Climate Bank Campaign works to win investments that both decrease our state’s climate impact and improve people’s lives by building or repairing affordable housing, creating good jobs, and directing federal resources towards our communities’ priorities. This campaign will work to ensure that the newly created State of Illinois Climate Bank actively integrates specific, new place-based green projects and policies in our poor, working-class and Black and Brown communities across Illinois. The Illinois Climate Bank Campaign is powered and convened by four distinct organizations: ONE Northside, Illinois People's Action, The People’s Lobby and United Congregations of Metro East.