The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread, state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative—to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.

LDF’s litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education programs in the substantive areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to quality education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just criminal justice system.

LDF seeks an experienced, dynamic, and innovative Community Organizer to join its organizing team to advance its advocacy and litigation efforts. This position will work across all four (4) core LDF issue areas with priority given to police accountability and voting-related matters in New York.

The Community Organizer will report to LDF’s Deputy Director of Community Organizing.

Responsibilities:

• Valuing, highlighting, and building the capacity of impacted communities to effectively organize initiatives in collaboration with LDF’s advocacy on racial justice issues;
• Working with local communities to assist in building their capacity to challenge discriminatory law enforcement policies and practices and transform the means of promoting and maintaining public safety;
• Organizing communities or coalitions to advance racial equity in public systems, including but not limited to criminal justice systems;
• Developing and maintaining relationships, partnerships, and coalitions with organizations, community members/leaders, public officials, and other interested stakeholders;
• Planning, implementing, and coordinating successful community outreach and public education campaigns;
• Devising and implementing training for LDF staff, members, and supporters to build an ongoing growth and development process, including specific training on community outreach and engagement, meeting with elected officials, volunteer-led outreach like phone-banking and canvassing, data management, interacting with media, and using technology to take online activism offline;
• In collaboration with the Communications, Policy, Litigation, and Thurgood Marshall Institute Departments, developing persuasive and informative outreach materials, including fact sheets, talking points, and sample letters-to-the-editor;
• Tracking programs’ progress to goals, producing reports, and highlighting and adjusting plans as necessary;
• Collaborating and coordinating closely with the Policy, Litigation, and Thurgood Marshall Institute Departments to develop and sustain a multi-disciplinary and community-informed approach to LDF’s various advocacy efforts on racial justice issues;
• Other responsibilities as assigned by the Deputy Director of Community Organizer, Director of Community Organizing, and Senior Management.

Qualifications:

• Experience working on expanding democracy and policing reform campaigns preferred;
• A demonstrated commitment to racial justice and criminal justice reform;
• Minimum of five years of experience in organizing communities or coalitions to advance reforms to public systems, including but not limited to criminal justice systems;
• Familiarity with police misconduct/brutality and discriminatory policing issues and campaigns and with the organizations and coalitions currently working on these issues nationally;
• A demonstrated commitment to valuing, highlighting, and building the capacity of impacted communities to effectively organize initiatives to address police misconduct/brutality and discriminatory policing;
• A demonstrated ability to plan, implement and coordinate successful community outreach and public education campaigns;
• A demonstrated ability to develop and maintain relationships, partnerships, with coalitions of organizations, community members/leaders, and public officials via the internet, in-person, and telephone;

• Ability to work well under pressure with attention to detail;

• The integrity, professionalism, discretion, and sound judgment to handle sensitive, high-profile, legally privileged, and otherwise confidential information in an appropriate manner;
• The ability to work both in a team structure and independently, as required by different circumstances;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to convey complex information effectively to a wide range of audiences of varying sizes;
• Strong initiative and creative thinking;
• Excellent organizational skills;
• A willingness to adhere to a flexible and sometimes demanding schedule;
• Extensive travel to both urban and rural areas in the United States is required;
• Must have a valid driver’s license