Contractor Role: Formerly Incarcerated People Movement Lead Trainer 

As part of the Movement Capacity Building (MCB) program at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), we are seeking to partner with a “lead trainer” to serve specific needs of the Formerly Incarcerated People (FIP) movement for up to one year.

At CZI, we believe the people most impacted by the challenges their communities face should lead the development of solutions.  For organizations to be effective, they need targeted resources to strengthen internal systems and to become nimble, adaptive organizations.  CZI provides capacity support through individual organizational effectiveness grants complemented by cohort-based approaches to strengthen partnerships, spur collaboration, and build the capacity of organizations, organizational staff and volunteers, and their ecosystems.  CZI offers movement cohorts some of the best-in-class training, coaching, and tools to help grantee partners become as effective as possible and build stronger movements.

CZI’s FIP team supports the movement to decarcerate and ensure that people can thrive after incarceration.  We work with mature and budding movement leaders, organizers, advocates, technology support professionals, and trainers.  We are looking for someone to work closely with CZI grantee organizations that are founded and led by FIP, helping them to build specific capacities.

This contractor will work with the MCB team.  CZI’s FIP portfolio works closely with the Movement Capacity Building Team.

Candidates with criminal convictions, formerly incarcerated people, and family members of current or formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Anticipated start date is August 1, 2020. Contract position is for one year and is done remotely.  

If you are interested, please send your resume, cover letter, and three references to Alison McCrary at amccrary@contractor.chanzuckerberg.com with the subject line “Lead Trainer Contractor.” 

Specific roles and responsibilities include:

• Organizing & Political Support 

  • Develop relationships with the FIP cohort of organizations and key leaders from those organizations.

  • Co-design specific trainings with FIP organizations

  • Continue to debrief, assess, and provide recommendations to grow FIP-led campaigns

  • Meet regularly with movement leaders in the field to identify and assess their needs, troubleshoot, provide tech support and other support as needed

  • Coach FIP leaders to enhance their campaign strategy, organizing and management skills, conflict resolution, and other areas of movement leadership

• Planning and delivering training support:

  • Support goals and interests of the FIP cohort in order to keep CZI’s capacity-building work grounded in participant’s real-world needs

  • Develop and drive the implementation of plans for FIP online and in-person (when possible) training events so that they reflect input from the participants and draw out their expertise

  • Project manage key events such as training events and gatherings with stakeholders, grantees, and trainers throughout the year.

  • Develop and drive the implementation of a regular webinar series

  • Work with internal teams to help drive logistics and coordinate events

  • Provide ongoing coaching to movement leaders after trainings

  • Create opportunities to collaborate with movement groups to enhance their organizing skills and strategies to engage a growing base of FIP and build power to concretely change policies

• Evaluation and building a learning culture

  • Contribute to the evaluation and debrief process for CZI’s training activities

  • Report out on key learnings and overall progress toward program goals

  • Bring learnings gleaned from the debrief and evaluation process back into
    the FIP capacity-building program design

  • Assist with internal reports and metrics/evaluation work

Qualifications 

• Minimum of 4 years coaching and training individuals, organizations, and cohorts in advanced organizing, campaigning, leadership, solidarity and capacity building.

• Significant, deep, experience teaching, leading and crafting curriculum with an expertise in building power.

• Significant experience managing political relationships

• Campaign experience, working on issue-based campaigns to pass policy

• Experience leading movements, building coalitions and creating social change

• Deep understanding of multiple solidarity-based power-building organizing models

• Demonstrated work and understanding of how to engage with diverse directly impacted communities respectfully and with cultural competency

• Personally coached others in leadership

• Organize actors across multiple organizations

• Can effectively understand the capacities, needs, and make up of movements and community organizations.

• Understands effective engagement with communities and has relationship building skills.

• Credibility in the criminal justice and FIP communities and have worked in a leadership role in community work.

• Can contribute to discrete research projects, tools, infrastructure development, and process building.

Must have: 

• Excellent organizational skills

• Experience with using Google Drive, Slack, Zoom, and Google calendar on a daily basis.

• Self-starter

• Great project manager

• Proactive problem solver, team player, transparent communicator

• Experience in organizing, training, and building people power

• Capacity to be self-directed and self-managed

• Has experience in issue-based campaigns

• Ability to operate in uncertainty and quickly adapt or shift priorities

• Ability to deal with interpersonal challenges, tensions and dynamics and support conflict resolution

• Excellent writing and communication skills

• Experience in political and movement work

• Cultural competency and sensitivity to the needs of diverse communities

• Experience facilitating meetings, trainings, and events

Preferences

• Has experience working with FIP-led organizations

• Digital organizing experience

• Familiarity with movement technology tools

• Experiences with powerbuilding, narrative frameworks, coaching, and/or movement/organizing technology

• Relationships to the community

• Campaign experience particularly in passing legislation

• Subject matter expertise in criminal justice reform

• Facilitation experience

• Experience working with philanthropy

• Experience building coalitions

• Experience growing base-building organizations

• Experience working closely with directly impacted working class communities of color