GCDD is hiring: Community Organizing Director
Community Organizing Director
| Atlanta GA 30303 USA | Full Time
Job Description
Real Communities Overview:
Real Communities is state wide community organizing initiative started in 2009 by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities to find ways to bring together people with and without disabilities in their local communities around issues they select. Influenced by Asset Based Community Development, Popular Education, Intersectionality, Person Centered Values, and Visionary Organizing, GCDD supports community organizers and their local groups working on a variety of issues working for social justice and intentional, reciprocal relationship building.
Community partners must only agree to 4 commitments to participate in Real Communities and have a great deal of flexibility to experiment, innovate, and explore together.
1. Action Focuses on Making the Community Better for Everyone The initiative is not about specialized responses to disability, but about engaging people who care about working together on local issues of common interest. This means learningto listen carefully to fellow citizens[1] outside the circle of those primarily concerned with disability and discover local issues people care about enough to take action together.
2. People with Developmental Disabilities Are Active Members People with developmental disabilities influence the group’s direction and participate in doing its work. Action is with people with developmental disabilities, not for them. This means regularly asking, “Whose gifts are missing?” and discovering how to reach out, invite, and actively involve people who need personalized support in order to contribute to their community.
3. Building Local Capacity for Collective Action Over time, the initiative builds up local capacity for collective action by creating and strengthening continuing relationships with a variety of associations and groups. The initiative is not about single victories but about building communities where people have a growing capacity to act together. This means learning to build and strengthen local alliances and networks.
4. Participants Take Responsibility for Sharing What They Are Learning The initiative creates new ways for people with developmental disabilities to do the work of active citizenship and makes what they have found available to other communities. This means learning to reflect together on the work and identify and communicate its lessons.
Job Description:
This position requires a strong commitment to grassroots organizing, intersectional approaches and a willingness to build deep relationships and spend a large amount of time on the ground coaching, cheerleading, and supporting our existing community partners and organizers and scouting and planting seeds for new partnerships.
This work requires an ability to juggle a number of tasks ranging from administrative work, support of community groups and their projects, connecting people to one another, developing learning opportunities, designing and facilitating meetings, retreats and trainings, developing customized support for partners. Willingness to travel and spend time in community space is a must. We need someone who is willing to get their hands dirty and take initiative.
Those with grassroots organizing experience are particularly encouraged to apply. If you think that you are the last person who would be selected to work in a state agency supporting a statewide community organizing initiative, you are probably exactly the type of candidate we seek!
Learning Questions for Interested Candidates: Qualified applicants should be interested in engaging around questions such as:
1. How can an institutional funder use our resources to support grassroots community organizing without the institution running the show? How do we protect the communities from the institution and provide the institution with what they need to continue to justify this use of resources?
2. How do you truly engage folks who have been extremely marginalized to come into community and participate in leadership roles?
3. How do you access folks who aren’t already plugged in? How to do engage folks on the margins?
4. What can communities do to create and implement their own solutions and create supports around folks without relying on the human service system or government to do it for them? How can we create pockets of the world we want to live in together now?
5. How can we use stories to show impact to traditional funders who usually emphasize numbers over stories?
6. How do we recognize and capture the ripples that occur and make change in communities as an in-direct result of our efforts?
[1] “Citizen” does not refer to legal status but to willingness to act to make one’s community a better place.
Completion of a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Social Work, Public Administration, or a closely related field
OR
Five years of professional experience in the area of community organizing, developmental disabilities, working with public, private, community, and advocacy groups.
Commitment to social justice and disability rights. Experience and training in community organizing, facilitation, training, and advocacy is required. Knowledge of community organizing practices and principles. Significant knowledge of programs, available services, laws, regulations, and issues related to people with developmental disabilities.
Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing with members of the public, elected officials, clergy, and other groups representing a variety of economic, ethnic and social backgrounds Ability to work independently, exercise initiative, and accomplish tasks without continuous supervision.
Experience working with computers and software to develop and maintain a variety of data and files, prepare presentation materials, and correspondence.
Preferred Qualifications: Preference will be given to candidates, who in addition to meeting the qualifications listed above, possess the following:
• Professional experience in the area of developmental disabilities, community organizing, working with public, private, community, and advocacy groups. Experience must have included community organizing, facilitation, training, networking, and advocacy. Experience and a deep understanding of culturally appropriate methods for engagement and working with people from diverse backgrounds, across boundaries of class, race and issue.
• Ability to understand and communicate effectively with people who have developmental disabilities, their families, professionals, policy makers, and support/advocacy groups.
• Grassroots fundraising and grant writing.
Click here to apply.
