Community Organizer

Community Organizer: full-time, part-time, & contract roles all offered Compensation: 20k-80k (depends on experience and time commitment)
Start date: flexible (between 10/1 and 12/1)
Location: flexible (some work can be remote but must be able to get to Philadelphia)
CommonLands: mission and vision
CommonLands is working to turn 1 million families into homeowners in the next five years by creating an accessible and scalable cooperative housing program that provides equitable homeownership for low-income families and the working class. Between homeownership barriers, decades of housing discrimination, and an exorbitant increase in real estate prices, the working class is often trapped in a never-ending renting cycle. It is known that homeownership increases generational wealth; as a result, renting households have drastically less wealth than their home-owning peers. CommonLands is committed to helping close this wealth gap by providing accessible, affordable housing on a national level to support lower-income families and the working class that currently face economic or social barriers to homeownership.
We aren’t just developing a program to create accessibility to homeownership, we are also developing a community of support within our homeowners. We will supply the resources, tools, and assets needed to prioritize our community members in becoming self-sufficient, financially stable, and achieving long-term goals. We will take our profits and reinvest them in our communities by focusing on:
-Education, Guidance, and Support
-Mutual Aid
-Community, Real Relationships, and Peer to Peer Transactions -Equity, Trust, and Respect
-Empowerment
Organization culture:
Our culture is team-oriented, with a collaborative environment, prioritizing trust, communication, and competence. When hiring, we look for strong culture fits, ensuring each team member is passionate about the CommonLands vision, communities in need, an equitable society, and ready to do the work. We care deeply about everyone that works with CommonLands and make certain there is a healthy work-life balance. At its core, we are for the community, by the community, and as such will be a community-owned, community-run organization that takes a “needs-based approach” for its decision making.
Job brief:
We are looking for a team member that is ready to do the work and lead the implementation of a robust community engagement model for our cooperative affordable housing program. Our Community Organizers meet residents on their front porches and at community
meetings, rebuilding social networks and facilitating connections to resources in order to support our communities and neighbors however they need. Community Organizers are neighborhood mobilizers who conduct outreach and organize residents year-round; listening to, and addressing, the individual concerns of residents. Organizers develop neighborhood-based initiatives, representing the community, and positively impacting our neighbors, and improving the overall quality of life for residents. Since CommonLands is a new organization, each community organizer will have the opportunity to make the position their own. With guidance and support from CommonLands leadership, our community organizers will take on initiatives and work that they feel is most pressing for their direct community.
Duties will include but are not limited to:
● Building a Strong Base of Members through:
○ Conducting outreach: to educate neighborhood residents and groups about the rezoning process, community development plans, gentrification, and anti-displacement strategies.
○ Organizing Tenants’ Associations: we organize so that landlord harassment stops, repairs are done, people can stay in their homes, communities are stabilized, and ultimately so that people know and claim their own power. Our goal is to develop and support already existing tenants’ associations that can ultimately operate independently of our support while bringing members of tenants’ associations into our organization and developing them as leaders for future campaigns.
○ Conducting Effective Outreach and Base Building Work: Using various and creative methods to recruit new members, keeping accurate records, assessing potential members, and effectively meeting goals to turnout members to key actions and events.
● Organize “Common Center”: to ensure we are supporting our communities in the ways they need, we open at least one “Common Center” in every city we are based. The Common Centers act as a community space for organizing work, educational programming, afterschool programs, act as a hub and meeting space for our organization partners, running food and clothing pantries, and more. Our Community Organizer will help lead the Common Center by working directly with CommonLands leadership to create programming and partnerships and create a space that will positively impact and support our community and their needs.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS: Previous work done associated with organizing, ideally like unionizing, grass-root-based organizing, canvassing, mutual aid work, etc. This can be either an entry-level, mid-level, or senior-level position. Responsibilities will depend on the C.O.’s experience. Tenant Organizing experience is a plus. We are looking for someone with a strong track record of a commitment to social justice; demonstrated commitment to leadership development, community building, and community organizing as strategies for social change; ability to communicate, listen and motivate people to action from diverse backgrounds; strong experience in facilitation, training and leadership development; excellent writing and public speaking skills; computer literate; ability to work nights and weekends as necessary. English/Spanish bilingual skills preferred.
Benefits
-Being part of the founding team of a soon to be a national organization -Competitive compensation and employee benefits
-Collaborative, transparent, and empowering work culture
-Flexible work time and work location
-Meaningful work on creating better technologies for a fairer future -Playing a key role in solving the US national housing crisis
-The potential to become a partner or executive team member