Job Description

Organizational Background

Founded in 1999, Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY) is a statewide grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness to create healthy and just communities. We accomplish this through community organizing, leadership development, advocacy, direct services, participatory research and direct action.

At VOCAL-NY we fight for systemic change rooted in justice, compassion, and love. We approach this work with a firm belief in reducing harm and ending stigma, and the knowledge that the issues impacting our communities are driven by institutional oppression, not personal failings. Our campaigns and services have saved or improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the state.

Position Description

The Full-time Community Organizer will be responsible for supporting VOCAL-NY’s organizing work in Rochester with a focus on family justice and leadership development through She’s So VOCAL, our women-led initiative. This position will help build a base of directly impacted women and caregivers, and support organizing efforts to challenge the systems that surveil, punish, and separate families — including child welfare involvement, housing instability, and the criminalization of caregiving, drug use, and poverty.

While this role will focus primarily on family justice work in Rochester, the organizer will also collaborate with the broader VOCAL-NY team and support intersectional campaigns on housing, the drug war, and criminal justice reform as needed. The ideal candidate is a flexible team player, passionate about organizing, and deeply committed to uplifting the leadership of directly impacted people. VOCAL-NY is headquartered in NYC, but the successful candidate will work from the organization’s Rochester office.

Job Responsibilities

• Membership Recruitment: Conduct “base building” and achieve targeted recruitment goals through regular community outreach, this includes street-based outreach and outreach at transitional housing facilities, shelters, methadone and harm reduction programs, re-entry programs, HIV service providers and other venues as directed.
• Phone-banking and Membership Mobilization: Conduct regular “phone-banking” to engage and mobilize people to attend meetings, actions, and events.
• Data-entry: Record and input accurate & timely data into our community organizing database.
• Support meetings, events, and mobilizations: Support the logistical & programmatic needs of membership & leadership meetings, organizational events, actions, and mobilizations.
• Leadership Development: Conduct training & political education to build the knowledge and skills of VOCAL-NY’s membership base to participate in planning and policymaking that impacts their lives.
• Support Other VOCAL Campaigns and Coalition work: The position will be expected to periodically provide support for other community organizing and campaign work within VOCAL-NY. We have a highly collaborative office environment where staff members provide support for each other’s campaigns as needed.

Requirements / Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have:

• At least 1 year of community organizing, advocacy, or related work or volunteer experience.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, implement, and coordinate successful community outreach sessions.
• Experience facilitating meetings and trainings.
• A strong commitment to teamwork and to working with and promoting the leadership of people directly affected by the issues we work on.
• Willingness to work in a dynamic environment with sometimes unpredictable tasks and shifting assignments.
• Ability to take initiative and drive one’s own work is a must.
• Ability to receive, process, and incorporate constructive feedback with openness and professionalism.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• A deep commitment to VOCAL-NY's mission.
• Proficiency with common business software (e.g. MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Gmail).

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