Apprentice Community Organizer

Job Summary:

The Apprentice Community Organizer is a member of the Organizing team, building Katal’s base and developing the leadership of our members. Apprentices will learn and practice core skills in community organizing, including outreach, engagement, recruitment, member development, meeting facilitation, and, of course, actions. This position is designed to train people for a full-fledged Community Organizer role. The right candidate may have zero organizing experience, or they may have ample experience and are now seeking to learn organizing as a core methodology of social change. Apprentices who complete the year-long training program may be offered a position as a full-time Community Organizer with Katal.

Responsibilities/Essential Functions:

• • Conducting outreach and one-on-ones
  • Building a strong member base of people impacted by the issues Katal is working on
  • Developing members into leaders that play prominent roles in campaign planning.
  • Preparing members and leaders for public speaking and media interviews
  • Facilitating members to plan, organize, and lead meetings.
  • Mobilizing members, supporters, and volunteers for actions, including supporting the work of partner organizations
  • Utilizing the database to track outreach and engagement.
  • Developing materials -- including flyers, signs, materials, social media posts, emails, and more -- for virtual and in-person outreach, education, lobby days, and actions
  • Engaging in legislative advocacy and participation in public forums, coalition meetings, conferences, and virtual lobby days
  • Participating in coalitions
  • Building relationships with new organizations
  • Coordinating with Katal organizers in Connecticut and New York
  • Taking notes, tracking, and reporting on activities – written and verbal
  • Sharing infrastructure/administrative responsibilities with other staff
  • Work on some evenings and weekends required.

Experience, Education and Skills:

• An interest in community organizing.
• Basic knowledge of Google office products.
• Comfortable using social media applications.
• Seek out opportunities to learn and grow.
• Passionate about Katal’s goals and mission.
• Enjoy working as part of a team.
• A problem solver, hungry to dive into new challenges.
• Excellent communicator and great listener.
• Must feel comfortable in using technology in their organizing or be quickly adaptable to learning.
• Motivated and driven.
• Attentive to details.

Core Competencies:

• Adaptability: Adjusts effectively as work dynamics change; Maintains effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or the work environment.
• Contributing to Team Success: Actively participates as a member of a team to move the team toward achieving its vision and completion of goals.
• Initiative: Taking prompt action to accomplish objectives; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required; being proactive.
• Maintaining Situational and Information Awareness: Tracks and digests new information related to the organization’s work and issues areas and shares insights and questions with the team.
• Tenacity: Staying with a position or plan of action until the desired objective is obtained or is no longer reasonably attainable.
• Work Standards: Setting high standards of performance for self and others; assuming responsibility and accountability for successfully completing assignments or tasks; self-imposing standards of excellence rather than having standards imposed.
• Building Positive Working Relationships (Teamwork/Collaboration): Developing and using collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals.
• Continuous Learning: Actively identifying new areas for learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learning through their application.
• Communication: Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message.
• Gaining Commitment: Using appropriate interpersonal styles and techniques to gain acceptance of ideas or plans: modifying one’s own behavior to accommodate tasks, situations, and individuals involved.
• Meeting Leadership: Ensuring that meetings serve the business objectives while using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods considering the needs and potential contributions of others.
• Team Strength: Appreciating and leveraging the capabilities, insights, and ideas of all individuals, working effectively with allies and unlikely allied styles, experiences, abilities.

Physical Factors:

• Ability to stand, walk, lift, or carry up to 10 lbs. while outdoors.
• Ability to sit in front of a computer for extended periods of time.

Working Requirements (Travel Requirements, Overtime, Shifts, On-Call, etc.):

• Must attend meetings within the community and with other organizations/community partners.
• Some travel required from time to time between Brooklyn and Hartford offices, and throughout the states of Connecticut and New York.
• Flexible to working requirements. Some evenings and weekends required to attend events, meetings, or protests within the community.