Organizing Director

Rhizome Organizing Director - Apply by Sunday, June 18

Full job description here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hjD9fdgKrFNVRRgz8jrfibmuGW-i1YX79mzu7oL7WQE/edit

Highlights:

• $65,000 starting salary + will increase as org budget does + yearly increases (full salary plan)
• PTO: 12 weeks (3 in Dec, 3 in May, 10 Summer Fridays, 10 Federal Holidays, 2 flex weeks)
  • Includes 3 months paid parental leave + 2-month sabbatical every 3 years
  • Flexible hours: 4-5 common hours each day, then set your own schedule
  • Geoflexible: Organizing Director must be based in the U.S. full time
• Full insurance for medical, dental and vision + 401K (50% match up to $3,000)
• Small stipends provided for professional development, work equipment, etc

Start Date: This is a full-time, permanently remote role that begins part time (10 hours/week) July 6 and goes full-time (40-45 hours/week) August 7, after a trial period to ensure the organization is best meeting the needs of the candidate, and vice versa. This time will allow for co-design based on skills and passion. The only fixed times within the first month will be 8-9pm ET Monday and Thursday to meet Organizers. 

Rhizome Overview: We are a student-led, nonpartisan nonprofit launched by 90 Co-Founders in August 2021. We view schools as an untapped, sustainable source of civic power for young people and believe all youth deserve support to create a world that they want to live in. We train emerging leaders to lead actions & build a healthier future for their community. For more info see our overview, insta, impact, & website.

Mission, Vision, Model: Our mission is to activate young people’s identities into action and help youth treat civic service as the work of a lifetime. Our vision, voted on by the Student Organizers who lead our work, is to create a chain reaction of civic service while empowering young people to create the world they want to live in. Our flagship program is the Civic Service Fellowship, where emerging leaders from high schools across the country learn the first principles of community organizing, engage in identitarian reflection, and lead civic actions throughout the year. Actions include building community empowerment events around nonviolent and nonpartisan ideas they are passionate about in the fall, teaching democracy to local elementary school students in the winter, and running voter education drives in the spring. 

Responsibility: The Organizing Director is responsible for three key outcomes: 1) Growth, 2) Retention, and 3) Fellows Impact. This person will manage 15-25 Regional Organizers who lead local Chapters of the Civic Service Fellowship, refine our systems, and seek to build a culture that’s more compassionate, relationship-oriented, and purposeful. Strong relationships are the highest priority, and will lead to: 

• Growth: This is done by working with Regional Organizers to ensure that each team meets their outreach goals, working with Mentors to refine our onboarding systems, and working with Civic Service Fellows to improve the support we offer as Fellows first join Rhizome. 
• Retention: This is done by coaching Regional Organizers to build strong relationships, providing support for Regional Organizers & Community Organizers to facilitate weekly Chapter Meetings, and offering safe spaces for Organizers to surface their ideas, challenges, and events in their lives. 
• Fellows Making an Impact: This is done by building resources to support actions, supporting Organizers to motivate Fellows, developing timelines to support Fellows in understanding their responsibilities, and building systems that let us more fully understand the needs of Fellows.

Other Potential Responsibilities: Some folks might find it helpful to know how much time will be spent on each task. As a new org, we’re figuring it out & don’t want to mislead by making an unfounded guess:

• Remote work, with an exception of Rhizome retreats 2-4 times per year
• Work carefully to co-create systems that fit Rhizome’s strategic priorities
• Host spaces for all Organizers and Fellows to share ideas for improvements
• Collaborate with our Director of Youth Programs to refine organizing systems
• Track organizing stories and exchange ideas with our Communications Director
• Create monthly trainings around the first principles of organizing and management
• Co-facilitate weekly meetings with 65-100 Organizers each Monday at 8:00-9:00pm ET
• Build trusting relationships with our partners, educator, and other youth-led organizations
• Above all, co-create a culture that stays compassionate, relationship-oriented, & purposeful

Qualifications: No specific degree or type of work experience is needed. In general, candidates will:

• Bring with them multiple of full-time organizing experience
• Have demonstrated experience across a range of civic sandboxes
• Show demonstrated commitment to grassroots civic engagement work

Who We’re Looking For: We are most excited about candidates who bring the following. If you do not meet all the requirements listed, we still recommend you apply. We valued lived experiences and want to build systems with people who think, move, work outside the box. 

• Asks a lot of questions, listens deeply, and gives voice to their ideas
• Commits to building civic power for students and to bridging divides
• Is eager to learn, brings positive energy, and excels in building systems
• Wants their work to be interesting, collectively challenging, and rewarding 
• Believes that organizing spaces must become much more healthy and human
• Wants to build systems that expand while continuing to center youth leadership
• Moves dynamically and makes decisions within a faced-paced work environment
• Is dedicated to building community power and excited to create high-impact spaces
• Has long time horizons and a capacity for synthesizing info and understanding people

Preference will be given to candidates who:

• Can show a commitment to youth organizing in particular
• Know how to build scalable systems, and can show it
• Have experience managing teams of organizers

Final Note: We know that organizing is often a more-than-full time job.  We're looking for someone who is deeply passionate about youth power and sees this as the work of a lifetime, not a moment.  Our goal is to work with you to create a role that demands energy and creativity, without creating burnout. We do not negotiate salaries, as this practice replicates unwanted power dynamics. Learn about our timeline below.

Application Process: July is part-time at ~10 hours per week. The only mandatory times will be 8-9pm ET Mondays and Thursdays in order to meet the Organizers. Otherwise, we’ll work with the Organizing Director to schedule an onboarding process that will meet their needs and is mindful of their existing commitments through July. Review this timeline carefully & plan accordingly. Dates may change slightly. 

Due Date - Sunday June 18, 12pm ET. Submit your resume, essays, and personal information here.

• 1-2 page resume (remove name before submitting)
• On one PDF document, please share 2-3 short essays
  • Why do you want this role? (100) How would you seek to empower student organizers? (300) Optional: Is there anything else that you want to share with readers? (100 words)
• Demographic information, where you live, how you heard about this application

Applicant Status Update — Tuesday, June 20, midnight ET

Applicants Contacted: Tuesday, June 20 - Thursday June 22

Performance Tasks Due —  Tuesday, June 27

• Please block 90 minutes in advance to complete this task in case you make it to stage 3. The expected time commitment is 90 minutes and this will be completed between Friday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 27. We will provide a $100 stipend for time spent on the performance tasks:

• Review and revise Rhizome Organizing Plan. Please name the rationale for changes, since your thinking is what matters most here. Revisions will be 1-2 pages in length. 

• • Contact Information Due For Three References — Tuesday June 27

• If you move on to Stage 4, you’ll give a 5 minute presentation to a panel of Organizers on a topic of your choice related to organizing. Please share a paragraph summary on the topic you would like to share with the young people who lead our work. 

Panel Interview & Reference Checks — Tuesday June 27 - Friday June 30

• About 2-3 applicants will make it to stage 4.
• Reference checks will be made by phone call.

Final Decisions Released — Monday, July 3, midnight ET -> Start part-time Thursday, July 7

Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1ziKi5BUq5iNWFhkWSg8f9RtwJnU6RBpUKbn9DjPw1Pu6LQ/viewform?usp=sf_link