Community Organizer - Central Kentucky

THE POSITION

*This is a Living document and subject to flow & transformation

Job Title: Community Organizer

Job Location: Central Kentucky with a preference of somebody in or near Lexington

Reporting Relationship: Supervised by an Organizing Co-Director or Lead Organizer

Employment Type: Full Time

Who We Are

KFTC is a grassroots organization with thousands of members and a dozen chapters across Kentucky organizing for racial, social, healing, and economic justice, a healthy environment, and an honest democracy. We believe in the power of community organizing – people working together to achieve common goals. KFTC members and staff use a range of organizing strategies to build grassroots power and make change, including leadership development, strategic communications, art and culture, integrated voter engagement, grassroots fundraising and alliance building. We are open to new, effective, and innovative ways centered in Love, care, and collective growth & action. as well.

KFTC’s leadership adopted the following vision and goal to guide our work through 2031:

Vivid Description: Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a collective light, leading the way to a thriving, joyful, intergenerational, multi-cultural society where people are free from oppression and where equity, health care, and racial, economic, and social justice exist for everyone. We are a beloved community, where all people are connected and affirmed through healthy relationships, and dedicated to achieving mutual liberation.

Audacious Goal: Guided by Black, Indigenous, People of Color and impacted communities, we will recruit, equip, and activate a network of 100,000 members and partners across all 120 counties to dismantle racism and all systems of oppression, to develop a robust democracy and transform the future of Kentucky.

What You’ll Do

KFTC is seeking to hire experienced organizers who are highly motivated, self-aware, creative, committed to lifelong learning and transforming the future of Kentucky while seeking to achieve mutual liberation for all. Working under the supervision of a Lead Organizer or Organizing Director.

We are especially interested in hiring Organizers to:

• Do strong, anti-racist, anti-colonial local organizing specifically in and around Lexington and central KY.
• Organize with an emphasis on campaigns and projects related to Racial & Social Justice, Just Transition & Climate, Education, Voting Rights & Democracy, Healing & Economic Justice.
• Bring skills and experience doing and leading organizing movements for mutual liberation, grassroots fundraising campaigns, door-to-door canvassing, and more.
• Connect to and help support other organizing work in ways that strengthen KFTC, builds our collective anti-racist & anti-colonial analysis and skills, and moves us toward KFTC’s Audacious Goal & Vivid Description.

You will:

• Cultivate relationships with and develop a broad, diverse base of skilled, active, self-aware, and politically conscious grassroots leaders.
• Recruit new members to KFTC
• Build your chapter by prioritizing building relationships through 1 on 1 convos and gatherings with active and engaged groups of leaders and changemakers who can strategically and effectively organize for social, environmental, healing, economic, and racial justice.
• Seek to be & move in ways that align with and support the achievement of KFTC’s Vivid Description & Audacious Goal
• Contribute to effective, successful local and statewide campaigns.
• Organize and drive turnout to events including neighborhood meetings, chapter meetings, public hearings, forums, and other relevant gatherings by organizing phone banks, texts banks, and/or other ways of reaching people on a regular basis.
• Use voter engagement strategies to help facilitate systemic healing, grow education, build grassroots power, advance issue campaigns, and change Kentucky’s political landscape. This could include phone & text banking, doing door-to-door canvassing, co-creating events with and for potential voters.
• Help strengthen relationships and support work with local and/or issue-based allies like local & state units of the NAACP, Black Leadership Action Coalition of Kentucky, Marafiki Center, Real Life Civics, Black Soil KY, Kentuckians for Energy Democracy, etc
• Support strategic communications about KFTC’s values, visions, goals, interests, issues, and activities.
• Conduct and inspire effective, consistent grassroots fundraising.
• Contribute constructively and positively to the KFTC organizing and staff teams.
• Efficiently fulfill administrative tasks.
• Contribute to a positive, diverse, and high performing staff culture and team.
• Attend staff meetings, retreats, and other required meetings.
• Active and timely response to communications (email, phone, etc) during work hours.
• Timely submission of timesheets, reimbursements, lobby reports, etc.
• Develop workplans and weekplans to guide your work.
• Other duties as assigned.

Who You Are

In this section we ask if you might see yourself in some of these descriptions? And, if you're not seeing yourself in some of these descriptions yet, that’s ok too. At KFTC we seek to lean into learning and growing together while embracing our individual & interwoven journeys with open hearts & open minds.

You are deeply committed to KFTC’s vision and values, as well as grassroots organizing as an approach to change. Key attributes & guiding principles include, and are not limited to:

• Brings a visionary spirit to the work and culture of the organization via brave imagination, innovative thought and creativity
• Persistently seeks understanding the specific experiences of historically marginalized groups in the U.S., particularly Black and Indigenous groups.
• Employs anti-racist & anti-colonial values, practices, and principles to your personal & professional life.
• Direct anti-racism and anti-colonial experience (e.g. direct experience in and/or with Black & Indigenous led justice movements, etc.).
• Is committed to being a lifelong learner who is open to flow and change, and capable of being open to giving, receiving, & applying Loving critique.
• Understands the importance and potential of building authentic solidarity between BIPOC folks and low income white folks.
• Prioritizes self-care for the purpose of collective care, as it is intrinsically tied to the energy infused in the work.
• Has and seeks to hone a conscious awareness of themselves and the people and environments they engage with

Ideally, you have 3 or more years experience in a similar role (volunteer experience is relevant), and have experience working with groups and developing other people as leaders. You are able to relate to Kentuckians from all walks of life and move people to action.

Strong interpersonal communication, group facilitation, and listening skills are essential. You are organized, strategic, able to cope with changing and uncertain circumstances, collaborative, courageous, and compassionate. What does it look like when we intentionally center healing, collective grief practices, and joy in our work & lives?

Strong, ever-growing, and intricate knowledge of self. Introspective and committed lifelong learner. Where are you currently located on your own personal healing journey, and how does it weave into your work?

You’ll need to work well independently; this job is very self-directed. We also need you to be skilled at working collaboratively in teams with volunteers and co-workers. Be comfortable using (and/or learning to use) technology, including Google platforms, databases, email and Slack communication, and various social media platforms.

Additional desired, yet not necessary, qualities and experiences include:

• Broadly familiar with Kentucky’s political, economic, and energy landscape.
• Experience with spokesperson development and media relations.

Finally, you excel in and are guided by these concepts & principles:

1. Commitment, creativity, and skills that pull yourself and us all toward liberation & Love.
2. Critical consciousness, analysis, thinking, and planning skills.
3. Self-direction, reliability, and resilience.
4. Wholistic self, interpersonal, and community building skills, meaning you come to this work as your whole and authentic self regardless of space, place, and/or circumstance, with an alignment of mind, body, spirit & energy towards a vision of mutual liberation for all.

What Else You’ll Need to Know

1. This position will be open until filled; ideal start date is during July or August 2024.
2. These positions require a full-time, flexible, 40-hour/week schedule with frequent in-state travel, some overnight travel, and some work on nights and weekends. A valid driver’s license and a vehicle that can be used for work are also required. KFTC staff work either mostly from home or some hybrid between home and office depending on their schedule and responsibilities.
3. All employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and comply with safety policies and procedures, like masking and social distancing. Employees in need of an exemption from this policy due to a medical reason or because of a sincerely held religious belief must submit a completed Request for Accommodation.
4. Salary is based on prior relevant experience. An Organizer with no experience would start at $46,440. 5 years of relevant experience would mean starting at $53,667. A successful candidate who brings additional experience will have a higher starting salary.
5. Generally, KFTC’s staff receive an annual cost of living pay adjustment plus an additional across the board yearly pay raise.
6. KFTC currently provides free full family health, dental, and vision coverage. We have a compensation time policy, 15 paid vacation days, 9 paid sick days, 3 paid personal days, and 11 paid holidays as well as 5 days of closure time at year’s end. We offer 40 days of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and 20 days of paid family care leave. All staff are eligible for a month paid sabbatical after 5 years. KFTC contributes to a Simplified Employee Pension plan after 3 years of employment.
7. This position is in the bargaining unit of the staff union, which is represented by Chicago-Midwest Regional Joint Board, Workers United, an affiliate of SEIU.
8. KFTC is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, color, marital status, veteran status, national origin, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical size or weight, status as parent or caregiver, pregnancy status, ancestry, or physical or mental disability that can be reasonably accommodated without undue hardship.

Our equal employment opportunity philosophy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, training, promotion, transfer, job benefits, pay, and dismissal.

KFTC aims to be guided by people most-impacted by the issues at the center of our work. People of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQIA2S+ people are encouraged to apply.