The Community Organizer will work with the Organizing Team to build power together with Asian Americans in Virginia through a base of community members who are eager and excited to engage in issue-based campaigns. This individual will be passionate about seeking out the issues that impact our communities, developing community member voices, and empowering community leaders to take action for themselves. This individual will fight to make sure that those who are most impacted have a seat and voice at decision-making tables.
Responsibilities
Organizing (80%)Â
- Conduct outreach and build relationships with community members through regular one-on-ones, specifically South Asian Americans in Virginia.
- Listen to, identify, and connect the issues that impact community members to Hamkae Center core issue areas.
- Provide leadership opportunities and necessary support for community members to express their leadership to participate in community gatherings, trainings, meetings with elected officials, direct actions, legislative visits, advocacy days, etc.
- Facilitate community meetings where we discuss major issues and campaign strategy to further our collective goals.
- Keep organized notes on community members one-on-one.
- Provide necessary analysis and updates for campaign planning processes.
- Represent Hamkae Center as needed in coalition meetings and other public spaces.
- Develop community resources in other languages as needed.
Leadership (20%) Â
- Actively participate in weekly staff meetings, organizing team meetings, and other relevant internal cross-team meetings.
- Participate in year-round organizing, civic engagement, and fundraising campaigns with the rest of Hamkae Center team.
- Carefully track time and communications to ensure appropriate assignment.
- Other duties as assigned.
Key Skills & Qualifications
- Prior work experience
- 0-2 years of relevant professional experience in community organizing
- Technical skills & resource management
- Operating and applying basic tools and technical skills, like recording information into an Excel spreadsheet or database, to solve role-specific problems while managing and optimizing resources for individual and small team-related projects.
- Strategic proficiency
- Noticing patterns or connecting the dots based on conversations with community members and partners to develop analysis and contributing that insight to strengthen campaigns and overall organizational strategic planning.
- Language skills
- Bilingual in Urdu or Hindi and English (spoken and written)
- Project & time management, problem solving
- Effectively managing time and deadlines by organizing work and responsibilities efficiently and coordinating projects and tasks to meet expectations as well as deadlines.
- Addressing errors and adjusting work to avoid making similar mistakes in the future while identifying solutions and anticipating problems by course-correcting when needed.
- Adaptability & resilience
- Navigating change and taking advantage of unexpected opportunities, new conditions, and addressing challenges with the capacity to recover from setbacks and deal with adversity positively by accepting them as learning opportunities.
- Self-awareness & conflict management
- Appropriately identifying conflict, alerting supervisor as needed, and listening and participating in discussions to resolve disputes with the willingness to engage in healthy conflict and resolution by recognizing and managing emotions of self while appropriately responding to others and understanding the challenges of teammates as well.
- Communications skills
- Within Hamkae Center: offering solutions and adjusted timelines to renegotiate deadlines when they won’t be met, ensuring your timeliness does not affect others’ work.
- Ability to listen and communicate effectively with different audiences (staff, community leaders, community members, etc.)
- Trust, empathy, & integrity
- Demonstrates the capacity to support oneself and others in the workplace and community through active listening and displays strong moral and ethical standards by maintaining alignment with our core values and following organizational guidelines around privacy, trust, and ethical conduct.
- Leadership & teamwork
- Fostering teamwork and collaborating effectively within a team by handling conflicts appropriately, understanding their own responsibilities, carrying out tasks as directed, and supporting others to promote wellness and a healthy workplace environment.
- Comfortable providing and receiving positive and constructive feedback to team members and supervisors, fostering a learning and growing environment while demonstrating honesty, integrity, and a willingness to change if corrective action is necessary.
Preferred Qualifications (not required)
- Experience with community organizing, especially with working and middle-class Asian Americans
- Familiar with political environment in Virginia
Additional Details
- Location: hybrid (must be based in Northern Virginia)
- Job Type: full-time
- Reports to: Organizing Manager
- Pay: $50k (commensurate w/ experience)
- Benefits:
- Salary (commensurate with experience)
- Hybrid position (mix of in-office and work from home)
- Full health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) matching
- Paid time off, vacation, sick days (if you, a partner, or a family member are sick), and other leave time customized to your unique circumstances. We close the first week of July and between December 25 – January 1 for reflection and rejuvenation.
To Apply
Send resume and salary expectations to Mitch Chan at mchan@hamkaecenter.org. Please write the subject heading “Community Organizer – [First Name] [Last Name]”.
Supplementary: submit up to two paragraphs as to why this position interests you.
About Hamkae Center
Hamkae Center organizes Asian Americans in Virginia to achieve social, economic, and racial justice. Through community organizing, public policy advocacy, civic engagement, and youth leadership development, Hamkae Center works to build a future in which low- and middle-income, immigrant, people of color, and marginalized communities can fully participate in U.S. society and work together as makers of lasting change. We are the Virginia affiliate of the NAKASEC Network.
Hamkae Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. People from a wide range of backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. We are committed to a diverse workplace and supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities.
