NLIHC seeks a housing advocacy organizer who will be responsible for maintaining and expanding NLIHC membership and mobilizing advocates on federal policy priorities to advance the Coalition’s mission. This is a one–year position that will play a key role in designing and implementing field strategies for various campaign efforts such as the NLIHC HoUSed campaign for long-term solutions to homelessness and housing poverty, the Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020 non-partisan civic-engagement project, coronavirus emergency rental assistance, federal budget priorities, and other campaigns. The housing advocacy organizer supports outreach activities, develops materials for use by state and local advocates, and supports low-income renters with organizing guidance and tools. The housing advocacy organizer reports to the field director.
Responsibilities/Duties
Field and Campaign Organizing, Education, and Activation
- Field and Campaign Organizing: Mobilize state partners, members, endorsers, and supporters on federal affordable housing policy issues. Generate letters and calls to legislative offices; assist organizations and constituents with meetings and media opportunities; generate resolutions, endorsements, and sign-ons; work with broad issue-based campaigns to raise the issue of housing.
- Field Activity: Track field activity, including member participation in call-in days and e-mail actions; prepare reports on activities, as requested. Maintain and enhance member and contact database for organizational/field needs; expand its use to distribute congressional profile data and timely, targeted calls to action that advance NLIHC goals.
- Education and Activation: Participate in meetings of national housing and other advocates to engage in strategy discussions, including HoUSed campaign policy group, Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC), and others as necessary. Create, update, and distribute materials, as needed, including calls-to-action, postcards, fact sheets, endorsement forms, brochures, and stickers. Identify conference and other speaking opportunities for Coalition staff; exhibit and present, as needed.
- Communications: Write (on a rotating basis among housing advocacy organizers) a weekly article for NLIHC’s e-newsletter, Memo to Members and Partner,s highlighting the field work of state partners or other NLIHC members. Help maximize use of the NLIHC website and social media tools, including webinars, videos, and blogs, to engage members. Draft articles for the Tenant Talk publication produced for low-income renters. Assist communications staff in generating media ideas and opportunities for work happening in the field.
State Partners
- NLIHC State Partner Meetings: Assist in the planning and convening of biannual NLIHC state partners’ meeting. Participate in state partner conference calls.
- State Activities: Track all field activity in the assigned states, including member participation in call-in days, email actions, and prepare reports on activities as requested. Promote activities of state partners through social media and NLIHC communication platforms.
- Growing the State Partner Coalition: Identify and cultivate potential new state partners in places where NLIHC is lacking a strong advocacy lead.
Membership
- Membership Recruitment: Identify sources for prospective members and coordinate ongoing membership drives, including among Housing Week of Action organizers, budget letter signers, HoUSed campaign endorsers, and Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition members. Engage pre-members through video and email; track effectiveness of contact. Undertake activities to achieve annual increases in membership. Reply to all inquiries from current members and potential new members. Use all other interactions as opportunities to secure new memberships.
- Membership Engagement and Retention: Welcome new Coalition members and build relationships with members in assigned states through personal calls, e-mails, and other outreach. Provide prompt and accurate responses to all inquiries about membership concerns. Track status of all members, send renewal notices in timely manner, and follow up as needed. Undertake activities to achieve a 90% or higher member retention rate.
- Resident Outreach: Support resident participation in NLIHC and partner organizations activities. Assist in developing content for Tenant Talk, NLIHC’s resident newsletter. Convene tenant groups, as determined by NLIHC management.
- Administration: Coordinate or assist in mailings to members and other partners. Maintain hard copy files of member records. Produce membership reports and lists, as needed. Maintain and update databases and contact lists, ensure accuracy of all data. Perform data entry and data cleaning; run reports and queries as needed to support work of NLIHC. Assist in implementation of member survey.
Organizational Support
- Meetings: Attend and participate at meetings with NLIHC Board of Directors; participate in staff meetings, state coalition meetings, trainings, and all Coalition events.
- Interns: Assist with the recruitment and supervision of Field interns.
- Other: Other duties as assigned to maximize organizational effectiveness toward achievement of NLIHC mission
Qualifications
Applicants must possess a bachelor's degree and have at least two years of work experience in U.S. elections and/or direct assistance to low-income communities (additional years of experience preferred; exceptional candidates with fewer may be considered). Applicants should have a strong commitment to social justice. Candidates should have strong analytical, writing, and organizational skills, as well as a keen attention to detail. Applicants should also be proficient in the Microsoft Office suite. Familiarity with Salesforce CRM database preferred.
An equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, NLIHC offers a competitive salary and a generous benefits package. This is a temporary full-time position located in Washington, DC, but NLIHC will be flexible about location (depending on the pandemic).
Interested candidates should submit a resume, cover letter with salary requirement, and one writing sample, to Renee Willis, vice president for field and communications and Bairy Diakite, operations manager at: [email protected] and [email protected]