Central Texas Interfaith – Job Description - Organizer
Central Texas Interfaith (CTI) seeks candidates for Organizer positions to cover different parts of its 10-county region. Primary responsibilities will be to work with existing member institutions and to recruit new member institutions (religious congregations, schools, social service organizations, workers’ organizations) within the region to organize around a broad set of issues impacting families. The organizing work itself will be to identify, train, and develop leaders from among ordinary individuals within these institutions to conduct small group listening campaigns, research actions on issues identified, local actions on issues, and non-partisan Get Out The Vote campaigns within these communities. Central Texas Interfaith is a network of over 50 congregations, schools, social service organizations, and labor locals in Travis, Bastrop, Williamson, Hays, Comal, Caldwell, Bell, Coryell, McLennan, and Brazos Counties. Bell and McLennan. We are seeking candidates from all backgrounds, including individuals from colleges, graduate programs, seminaries, business and law schools, the military, political campaigns, other backgrounds and professions who are interested in exploring careers in organizing. CTI is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the nation’s largest and longest-standing network of faith and community-based organizations, including 9 affiliates in Texas.
Qualities of a Successful Organizer:
- NATIVE INTELLIGENCE – not necessarily degrees, but the ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge the conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility.
- ANGER AND EDGE – not temper, not ideological fervor, not an abstract commitment to “the people,” but a clear sense of what’s wrong, impatience in the face of that wrong, and a drive to address it.
- A WILLINGNESS TO CROSS LINES OF DIFFERENCE– to be willing to work with people unlike oneself, people of other races, classes, orientations, and faiths.
- A TRACK RECORD – some evidence, in high school, college, the local community, the workplace of attempting to relate to people and to respond to situations that seemed to demand responses; and some success in whatever field or career or endeavor has occupied the individual’s time.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Conduct 20-25 one-on-one relational meetings per week with individuals in these communities to identify and develop potential leaders and work with already identified leaders of current member institutions.
- Cultivate relationships with clergy, principals, heads of social service and labor organizations to explore their institutions participation in the organizing project.
- Build and train “Organizing Teams” at participating institutions, including conducting trainings on the fundamentals of organizing (Power, Self-Interest, Individual and Small Group House Meetings, Problems vs. Issues, Action).
- Train and coach leaders to conduct research actions, issue actions, and meetings with political and business leaders to advance the agenda of issues identified.
- Train leaders at participating institutions to conduct non-partisan Get Out The Vote Campaigns and candidate “Accountability Sessions” during election season to advance the issue agenda.
- Invest in your own development through reading, reflection, report writing, and participation in IAF seminars and trainings, and Central Texas Interfaith staff development activities.
If you are interested in exploring this position, please send a cover letter and resume to [email protected]. Candidates can live in any of the counties that these positions cover, but must have a car and be willing/able to travel to their assigned counties on a regular basis.
For more information about Austin/Central Texas Interfaith see our website at www.centraltexasinterfaith.org