Community Organizer (@ Common Ground of Southeastern Wisconsin)
Community Organizer at Common Ground of Southeastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee, WI - shared by Jobs That Help as a third party
Seeking Associate Organizer for Milwaukee’s Northside & Spanish-English Bilingual Associate Organizer for Milwaukee’s South Side
Common Ground seeks associate organizer’s to identify community issues and solutions, develop leaders and help grow our organization.
Common Ground is a multi-racial, nonpartisan group of ordinary people dedicated to resolving pressing social problems facing families and communities in Southeastern Wisconsin.
We believe that people working together have the power to improve our communities and our world. We challenge ourselves to imagine positive change. We set daring goals, create savvy strategies and are willing to stand up to powerful interests. We develop relationships with individuals and organizations to multiply our impact. We get results.
Common Ground’s success is founded upon the commitment of more than forty congregations, neighborhood groups, non-profits, schools and small businesses to address regional and local issues. Our members live and work in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, and our diversity – geographic, racial, social, and political – is the source of our strength.
Common Ground is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the nation’s oldest and largest institution- based, community organizing network. The IAF has eight decades of experience winning tough battles for affordable housing, health care access, school reform, effective job training and more.
Common Ground is seeking a candidate who possesses:
- INTELLIGENCE – the ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility.
- ANGER AND EDGE – a clear sense of what’s wrong, impatience in the face of that wrong, and a drive to address it.
- ABILITY TO RELATE ACROSS RACE AND CULTURE – able to build relationships and work with people unlike oneself, people of other races, classes, generations, sexual orientations, faiths.
- A TRACK RECORD – some evidence, in high school, college, the local community, or 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.
Responsibilities of this position include:
- Setting up and conducting 15-20 one-to-one meetings per week (A one-to-one meeting is a focused 40-minute meeting with a person to begin to build a relationship and to look for leaders for public action)
- Building organizing teams in 5-8 organizations
- Going door-to-door in target areas to build Neighborhood or Tenants’ Associations
- Finding and developing leaders
- Working with leaders to identify issues and solutions, and then taking action with those leaders to get results
- Raising money by collecting organizational dues and soliciting individual Friends of Common Ground gifts
- Participating in local and national trainings and staff development; learning to lead trainings
- Writing a weekly report and reflection and participating in a weekly check-in with the Lead Organizer
Compensation and Benefits
- Competitive based on experience
- Expenses and travel reimbursement covered
COVID-19 precautions
- Remote interview process
- Virtual meetings
All Common Ground employees work remotely. Meetings will be completed remotely via phone or Zoom, or socially distanced and wearing masks and/or face shields if in-person meetings are necessary. We adhere to best practices as recommended by the CDC.