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Joining Forces for Affordable Housing, founded in January 2017 and led by Connections for the Homeless, is a coalition of local non-profits, faith communities, and individuals that advocate for affordable housing solutions.
The main role of the Community Organizer will be to integrate the advocacy work of Joining Forces into the communities that the agency serves and to increase the membership of Joining Forces.
The Community Organizer will expand the advocacy work of Connections for the Homeless into the communities the agency serves by engaging community stakeholders and building a strong and diverse membership base including voices of people struggling with housing costs or who are homeless, human services agencies, civic organizations, municipal staff, and elected officials.
A key function of the Community Organizer will be outreach to communities of color to increase representation and include the important voices of people with experiences of housing cost burden and instability resulting from systemic racism.
Specific Duties:
• Develop and manage the Joining Forces membership function.
• Recruit new organization and individual members;
• Maintain member information;
• Maintain strong relationships with members via personal contacts, surveys, etc.;
• Meet with member agencies to create and monitor advocacy plans;
• With Advocacy Manager, plan and conduct member meetings.
Develop advocates to work for systemic change through community education and lobbying of elected officials.
• Schedule and coordinate Advocacy training sessions;
• Assist in leadership of training sessions.
Create and manage a “Speakers Bureau” of individuals who are interested in telling their housing stories.
• Provide mentorship and train community members to deliver their stories;
• Publicize the speaker’s bureau to the community and coordinate speaking engagements.
Manage advocacy-related meetings, including committee meetings, member meetings, and attendance at municipal meetings.
Manage communications to members and the advocacy community including social media presence and maintaining the Joining Forces website.
Perform other duties as assigned.
The following qualifications are requirements for the position:
• Community organizing, affordable housing advocacy and/or similar experience
• Strong communications skills, both verbal and written
• Excellent relationship building skills with people from all walks of life
• Experience with leadership development programs, facilitating meetings and training, developing educational material, and organizing community events
• Proficiency in use of technology for scheduling, project management, contact management and document creation
• Experience with social media
• Self-motivated, with the ability to work in a fast-paced collaborative and professional environment
• Deep personal commitment to social justice
• Ability to lift up to 30 pounds
• Must have a valid Illinois driver’s license
Other requirements:
• Must submit to a criminal background check and submit to or provide evidence of a recent test for tuberculosis.
Reports to: Manager of Advocacy December, 2020
Contact: Interested candidates should submit cover letter + resume to info@connect2home.org.
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