Organizing Director

Sacred Heart Community Service, located in San Jose, CA is looking for an experienced manager of organizers to lead, develop, innovate, and integrate our efforts to build a base of grassroots leaders and allies, and spearhead campaigns to address the root causes of poverty and inequality.

This individual must be highly organized, possess an ability to work flexibly and creatively, and demonstrate superior organizing, training, and communication skills. The ideal candidate must be equally committed to our vision of a community united to ensure every child and adult is free from poverty, an approach of driving policy change through transformational leadership development, and developing programs through an anti-racism and anti-oppression worldview.

For 60 years, SHCS has been one of the leading institutions addressing poverty in Santa Clara County through a strategy that combines meeting basic needs and offering tools for self-sufficiency while building power together to push for systemic change. In the 17 years that SHCS has been organizing, our committees have won local campaigns almost every year, including stopping a new Santa Clara County jail from being built, strengthening protections for renters from further displacement, and making our immigration protections among the strongest in the country.

The Organizing Director will maintain that tradition, playing a key role in planning and supporting successful community-shaped policy campaigns and working with our team to develop sustained and democratic organizing committees.

The Organizing Director guides SHCS’ efforts to make change and fulfil our vision of a community united to ensure that every child and adult is free from poverty. The leader of SHCS’ Organizing team, the position is responsible for leading efforts to develop the skills, consciousness, and involvement of low-income communities and their allies, while spearheading policy campaigns to exercise grassroots power to win material changes to SHCS members’ lives.

The position supports the training of staff and membership to understand the root causes of poverty and systems of oppression, while developing staff capacity to organize and mobilize membership to participate in committees and policy campaigns. The Director supports the development and implementation of a policy advocacy agenda working with and increasing the capacity of grassroots leadership, organizational stakeholders (staff, volunteers, board members, and donors), and community allies.

• Directs the development and implementation of outreach and organizing plans, including training, communications systems, databases, strategic and tactical plans.
• Develops and leads efforts to recruit leaders through door-to-door canvassing, one-on-one meetings, social service program outreach, and house meetings.
• Leads planning and coordination of action committees in order to build an effective, ongoing organization and to maintain the involvement of grassroots leaders.
• Directly organizes federated committee structure, with a focus on developing advanced leadership to set campaign priorities, coordinate training efforts, and provide input into the hiring and evaluation of staff.
• Designs and oversees training on a variety of leadership/organizing topics including: member recruitment, facilitation and public speaking, issue development and analysis, media relations, campaign planning, and power analysis.
• Oversees participatory action research and analysis efforts with leaders.
• Oversees and facilitates the development of grassroots action campaigns, including developing effective campaign strategy, coordination of campaign tactics, and recruiting coalition allies.
• Facilitates the training, support, and professional development of organizers and program staff to run and win community organizing campaigns at the local level.

• Supports the development and implementation of the SHCS policy advocacy strategy, working with the Policy Director and the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships to ensure coordination with organizational stakeholders in planning, campaign development, partner cultivation, and web-based advocacy efforts.
• Supports the identification of policy advocacy opportunities in alignment with the vision, mission, and core values of SHCS.
• Collaborates on efforts to engage and build the capacity of organizational stakeholders and…