Police Accountability Organizer

Overview

TITLE: Police Accountability Organizer

SUPERVISED BY: Director of Training and Membership

SUPERVISES:  interns, as assigned

SALARY/HOURLY, EXEMPT OR NONEXEMPT: Salary, Exempt

FULL-TIME

ONE Northside is seeking an energetic and highly organized Police Accountability Organizer to lead a community-powered team dedicated to creating a more equitable system of justice for all Chicagoans and ensuring that our police department acts with accountability and transparency. This individual will organize young people, people affected by police misconduct, people who regularly interact with the police and others who deeply care about police accountability. This staff member will have the opportunity to work with community members and partners across Chicago to implement a new system for civilian oversight of the police in Chicago, engage the community as new civilian oversight policies are created, and help create a Chicago that is safe for everyone.

 

POSITION SUMMARY

The ONE Northside Police Accountability Organizer will cultivate a group of community members working on strategies to address police abuse in Chicago. This will involve coalition work and organizing marginalized populations in our northside neighborhoods.

 

ONE Northside’s Police Accountability Issue Team supports alternatives to policing as a more just system for public safety. As we build those alternatives, we must make sure that our police department acts with accountability and transparency. To work toward these goals, we will:

-Implement the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance by educating voters and other community members about the new civilian leadership bodies it creates for police accountability and mobilizing people to leverage the power of these new bodies.
-Work with coalition partners to use these new structures for police accountability to win concrete victories.
-Monitor the court-ordered reforms to make sure CPD includes community voices in shaping future public safety policies and follows through with reforms that protect young people, people of color, people with disabilities, and people living with mental illness.
-Monitor and leverage opportunities to increase safety and well being in our communities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Organizing

-Coordinate with Organizing Director, Director of Membership and Training, and the Police Accountility team at ONE Northside to develop organizing strategies and campaigns to advance ONE Northside’s priorities
-Collaborate with members of the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability and Empowering Communities for Public Safety coalition to implement the ECPS ordinance
-For ECPS implementation and all future police accountability campaigns, create winning campaign strategies, using tactics such as meeting with elected officials, public education, direct action, strategic communications, and more.
-Build a base of engaged community members by conducting outreach to high school students, service organizations, ethnic associations and public institutions and by engaging in door-to-door canvassing and phone banking about ONE Northside’s campaigns and efforts to create change in public policies
-Work with allies and the ACLU to ensure community engagement in police reforms as part of consent decree
-Conduct research on issues important to the organization and our campaigns, research issues raised by members, and train community members  to do research themselves.
-Mentor and develop the leadership skills of community members by supporting them in taking on roles in the Police Accountability campaign and other organizational activities.
-Create and lead popular education and skill-building trainings to develop the leadership of grassroots members.
-Meet with grassroots and grasstops community members on issues impacting them, determine their interests, and bring them into the organization.
-Work with grassroots leaders to participate in city, statewide, and national coalitions that advance our campaigns
-Support the activities of ONE People’s Campaign, our 501c4 sister organization

Administration/Fundraising

-Prepare written reports, meeting summaries, press releases, and related materials as they pertain to the work
-Participate in quarterly grassroots fundraising tactics and support grant fundraising by identifying and drafting grant proposals and reports, participating in and preparing leaders for site visits.
-Develop and maintain relationships with leaders in our institutional members, engage them in our quarterly membership meetings, and help recruit new institutional and individual members.
-Assist the management team with other tasks, as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

A successful candidate for this position is an individual who is detail-oriented, able to juggle multiple projects, willing to be in the community and able to forge powerful relationships. They should have a strong interest in working with a diverse group of people and will thrive within a staff team and issue team culture that emphasizes accountability, growth, and community. An ideal candidate is someone with an appetite to be a community organizer, who is rooted in a deep commitment to racial and social justice change on the local, city and federal level.

-2+ years of community organizing experience and familiarity with a diverse range of organizing tactics and strategies
-Proven ability to work with a diverse constituency, across lines of race, class, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion and other differences
-Serious appetite and excitement to go door-to-door, make calls, meet new community members and bring them into the work
-Commitment to racial equity and overcoming white supremacy, you recognize the role of race, income, age, immigration status, and other identities in shaping disparities among communities and you consistently amplify community voices to advocate for more equitable solutions. You recognize how your own identities show up in the work, and welcome, reflect on, and act on feedback with an eye toward continuous learning about race, ability, and other lines of difference.
-Deep self-interest in building relationships with youth, people who interact with the criminal justice system, former gang members and other marginalized constituencies
-Willing to use confrontation as a tactic for winning justice
-Proficient with google suite and other basic computer skills
-Must be a motivated self-starter who can juggle many moving pieces
-Ability to work independently and as part of a team
-Effective communication skills

Preferred

-Experience working in coalitions
-Effective and creative problem solver
-Innovative, creative, mature thinking and reasoning
-Commitment to training and agitation methodology as a tool for growth and accountability
-BA degree or equivalent life experience
-Fluency in a second language is a plus
-Having a car is preferred

This is a community organizing job and will require attendance at night and weekend meetings.  ONE Northside is an equal opportunity employer.

 

COMPENSATION:

Salary is in the $46,681 – $50,416 range, commensurate with experience

Comprehensive benefits package includes employer paid medical and dental insurance. Employer contribution of 4% of salary into a retirement plan. 13 paid vacation and personal days the first year, 12 wellness days  and 18 paid holidays.

To Apply – Please send a resume and cover letter to Becky Wanberg at bwanberg@onenorthside.org with the subject line: Police Accountability Organizer.