Associate Organizer

Valley Interfaith Action is seeking to hire an Associate Organizer. Depending on the candidate’s interest and ability, this may become a Lead Organizer position.

Background:

Valley Interfaith Action (VIA) is a citizens’ power organization made up of 26 dues-paying member institutions (faith communities, immigrant associations, non-profits, unions) in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Virginia. VIA brings together leaders and their institutions across political, race, faith, city-county divides around their shared interests to take action and improve quality of life for Valley residents.

VIA is a strictly non-partisan, multi-issue organization that engages elected and corporate leaders to take action on our interests.

The Shenandoah Valley is a major hub for poultry production and home to one of nine refugee resettlement agencies in the country. Harrisonburg is 20% Hispanic and over 60 languages are spoken in Harrisonburg City Public Schools. Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are also the most politically divergent, adjacent districts in the country. Operating across the political red-blue divides, VIA is at the frontlines of the political polarization we see across our country, VIA is affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)/Metro IAF. Founded in Chicago in the 1940s, IAF is the largest and oldest network of broad-based citizen power organizations in the country. Read more about IAF’s accomplishments across the country here.

Current Campaigns:

VIA founded in March 2023 with over 560 residents, corporate, and elected leaders participating. Since its Founding, VIA has launched campaigns to improve transportation and childcare in the Valley.

Through its transportation campaign, VIA is creating a public-private partnership to leverage $1 million state and federal dollars to bring county-wide door-to-door demand response public transit to Rockingham County.

VIA’s childcare campaign is creating a transformative model for early education that increases access and affordability for families and keeps educators in the classroom through competitive compensation and career advancement opportunities, while helping area employers recruit and retain their workforce. VIA aims to bring the first two centers on-line in Fall 2025

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Identify, recruit, and train leaders using the IAF’s proven person-to-person organizing method, small group meetings, listening sessions, and leadership training.

• Set up and conduct 20-25 1-to-1 meetings per week. (A 1-to-1 meeting is a focused 40-minute meeting with an individual to build a relationship and to find leaders for public action.)

• Build and/or support organizing teams in 8-10 VIA member institutions.

• Identify potential VIA member institutions through identifying interested primary leaders (religious leaders, parents, educators, executives, etc.) and bring organizations in as a dues paying members with the organizing team.

• Organize with and train local leaders to take action on issues of interest, conduct in-depth research on the issues, & organize 100-300 person local actions in the public & private sectors.

• Write a weekly report and participate in a weekly check-in with the Lead Organizer.

QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZER:

There are few formal qualifications for this position. The organizer’s success will depend heavily on the ability to develop public relationships with local leaders. People from all backgrounds, with different sets of experiences, can accomplish this. The following qualities are shared by many successful organizers:

1. NATIVE INTELLIGENCE – not necessarily degrees, but the ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge the conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility.

2. 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.

3. SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-REFLECTION, AND CURIOSITY

4. RELATIONALITY, ESPECIALLY ACROSS RACE AND CULTURE – the ability to build deep trust with people, especially people unlike oneself, people of other races, classes, orientations, faiths, etc.

5. A TRACK RECORD – some evidence, in any context in the candidate’s life of attempting to relate to people and to respond to situations that demanded change; and some success in whatever field, career, or endeavor has occupied the individual’s time.

Other Important Position Requirements:

• Can meet deadlines and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced work environment;

• Can work evenings and weekends–this job does not have a set schedule;

• Must be self-starting and have an entrepreneurial spirit;

• Excellent personal accountability and follow through;

• Proficiency in Spanish highly desirable;

• Must own and operate a car.

People of color and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

HOW TO APPLY: E-mail us at katie@viavirginia.org. Please include a resume and a separate 1-page story about yourself that tells us why you want to be an organizer or why you became an organizer and a specific story about how you have demonstrated some of the qualities VIA looks for in a successful organizer. VIA will only review complete applications that include the 1-page story.

TRIAL PERIOD: Successful candidates will be given provisional 3-month contracts to test their capacity and appetite for power organizing, while receiving extensive training and supervision including setting measurable objectives and frequent evaluations by VIA’s Lead Organizer and Metro IAF Supervisors. Upon successful completion of this tryout period, a year-long contract will be negotiated.

SALARY/PACKAGE:

• $50,000 - $60,000 per year

• Benefits (health insurance, dental, paid vacation, 15% pension contribution after 1 year of employment, mileage and work expenses)

HIRING PROCESS: VIA takes time to get to know interested candidates and to provide opportunities for candidates to get to know VIA and what VIA organizers do. This process may include:

• An individual meeting, or series of individual meetings, held with the candidate;

• Asking the candidate to read and reflect on articles and/or a book on IAF and VIA organizing.

• Some contact with the candidate in the context of local training/organizing or some mutually agreed-upon voluntary experience that gives the candidate a better feel for VIA organizing and local VIA leaders and organizers a better sense of the candidate;

• Attending a VIA public action so the candidate can experience VIA’s power.

VIA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $50,000.00 - $60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Evenings as needed
• Weekends as needed

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Ability to Commute:

• Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Harrisonburg, VA 22801: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $50,000 - $60,000