About CCC + CCCAction

The Center for Community Change (CCC) builds the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to lead powerful and dynamic movements for social change. With our community-based partner groups, we bridge the grassroots and the national, supporting outsider strategies to disrupt the status quo while also building pathways to influence the insider conversation.

This position also supports the Center for Community Change Action (CCCA), an affiliated 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. While motivated by the same core values – equity, inclusion, and justice – CCC and CCCA operate independently of one another and each organization has its own board of directors.

Our vision of a better world centers the leadership of impacted people of color to move our work.  We are guided by our long term Path to Power plan, so that by 2025 we will enact bold, structural changes at the federal level that advance economic justice, racial justice, and immigration reform.

Position Description

CCC is seeking a Director of Black Led Organizing and Power Building to lead its work to advance Black organizing infrastructure through both new and tested approaches, contribute to the development of a governing agenda that can challenge and eradicate structures of oppression, and integrate sophisticated organizing, civic engagement, policy, and communications strategies.

The Director of Black Led Organizing and Power Building will provide leadership to the Black Freedom Collective, a cohort of Black-led organizing grounded in work at the intersection of economic and racial justice. In addition, s/he will oversee the team’s work on building out the Women’s Gathering, an innovative organizing and leadership development initiative focused on formerly incarcerated women of color who are organizing to change policies that criminalize poverty and poor people of color.  This work will be done in close collaboration with key staff and national and grassroots partners, which will require flexible and committed leadership.

Principal Responsibilities

The Director of Black Led Organizing and Power Building leads a robust effort dedicated to developing political power and an organizational infrastructure capable of catalyzing a movement for deep investment in communities of concentrated and racialized poverty.  The Director of Black Led Organizing and Power Building will work very closely with key leaders of CCC/A to develop and implement a comprehensive power-building plan in Black communities.

The Director of Black Led Organizing and Power Building will oversee and manage CCC’s efforts to:

• Build a cohort of Black-led community organizations, initially focused in the Midwest and South, comprised of at least ten core partners and a wider circle of 25-30 groups.
• Build out the Women’s Gathering, focused on the leadership development of formerly incarcerated women of color.
• Design and implement a plan to strengthen promising Black organizations on the ground.
• Design and implement a shared political education program for members of this cohort.
• Recognize and replicate local/state strategies for winning Issue campaigns for use in other localities.
• In collaboration with CCC/A’s National Political Director, define an electoral strategy for building and projecting Black political power and advancing our programmatic agenda at the municipal and state levels.

The Director will accomplish the work by:

• Supervising a team of organizers and other key staff; provide mentorship and guidance.
• Working with members of the organization’s Executive Team and team leads to advance these goals alongside the goals of the entire organization, namely via our strategy to build black and immigrant power.
• Proactively finding ways to intersect the work of the team with other campaigns/initiatives of the organization, including economic justice, child care, and immigrant rights.
• Employing a race, gender, and class analysis.
• Representing CCC at convenings, tables, speaking events, etc.
• Working with the Institutional Advancement team and senior leadership to raise funds for the work.
• Collaborating with national partner organizations to amplify and build momentum for this work.

Qualifications

The candidate is a creative leader who is deeply committed to CCC’s mission and values. S/he has knowledge and on-the-ground experience in community organizing and demonstrates overall leadership, supervisory and management skills, and proven dedication to build the power and capacity of low-income people to change those institutions and policies that affect their lives.

While no one candidate will possess every quality, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:

• Passion for the Center for Community Change’s mission and legacy.
• Recognized leader in work focused on racial equity and building Black infrastructure and political power, with 10+ years of experience.
• Seasoned facilitator, comfortable leading people.
• Strong political analysis, with an understanding of the history, relationships, and dynamics in the Black organizing space.
• Experience supervising organizers and mid-level managers.
• Excellent oral and written communicator.
• Experience in community organizing, movement building, and leadership development.
• Experience building the capacity of community-led, grassroots organizations and movements.
• Understanding of public policy, legal, and electoral levers to advance this work.

This position reports to: Managing Director of CCC/A. There will be substantial strategic collaboration with the President of CCC. This position is a management position.

The Center for Community Change recognizes a staff bargaining unit affiliated with IFPTE Local 70, a union for non-profit workers. This position is not included in the CCC bargaining unit and therefore not covered under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

Salary & Benefits: Minimum base salary $125,000 annual. CCC also offers an excellent benefits package, which includes 4 weeks of annual paid vacation; additional paid holiday leave between December 24 and January 1; 8% employer contribution to retirement account after six months of employment (and 3% employer contribution for the first 6 months); and a choice of generous health insurance plans.

This position is located in Washington, DC.

Closing Date of Position: December 5, 2018

How to apply: Please click here to submit a cover letter sharing your personal interest as well as salary expectations, a resume, and two writing samples.