Community Organizing Associate

Job Description

Job Description

Description

About I AM ALS 

I AM ALS is a patient-centric movement revolutionizing how to end disease. The nonprofit provides critical support and resources to people with ALS, caregivers, and loved ones. We empower advocates to raise awareness and lead the movement against ALS in driving the development of treatments and cures. Founded in 2019 by husband and wife team Brian Wallach and Sandra Abrevaya, I AM ALS was born out of their desire to rewrite the ALS story for Brian and the tens of thousands of other people with ALS. 

The Opportunity 

In three short years, I AM ALS has established itself as a force for driving change in ALS. Together with people impacted by ALS, the organization has developed an array of programs, platforms, tools, and resources designed to encourage advocacy and action and to amplify and help address ALS community concerns, opinions, and needs. The ALS community drives our work, both literally and figuratively. Core both to our organizational model and this role’s responsibilities in particular, I AM ALS has multiple community ‘teams’, all led by and composed of people living with or impacted by ALS, that meet regularly to organize around opportunities for advocacy and action. Each team centers on a different type of advocacy or affinity group. For example, the Legislative Community team works to pass ALS legislation and increase federal funding. A Familial ALS team focuses on ensuring that the concerns of families with a history of ALS are being addressed in the broader ALS community and creates resources and information for other familial ALS families. The broader ALS community and these teams in particular have been core to recent progress, including the 2021 passage of the ACT for ALS bill, the creation of a veterans with ALS and suicide awareness campaign, and the development of both the Patient-centric Clinical Trial Design (PaCTD) Rating System and ALS Signal, a clinical trial dashboard. There is so much the ALS community and organization have accomplished together, but still there is so much more work to be done. This is why I AM ALS seeks to build out its organizing team – to work with the community to continue changing the advocacy and research landscapes and spread awareness of ALS. The Community Organizing Associate will play a key role in working collaboratively with both staff and community members to build upon our successes and strengths and create the next phase of I AM ALS’s grassroots advocacy work. 

You 

You are mission-centric, compassionate, and want to help people and change systems. You have a background in community-centric efforts, such as organizing, research, or outreach. You are dedicated to ensuring community members are engaged and equipped with the education, training, skills, and tools needed to further their advocacy. No task is too small and no project too big for you to passionately drive forward shared goals. 

Key Responsibilities

This work includes both direct responsibility for building and implementing programs and a focus on helping the Director of Organizing form strategic plans and deliver on department goals. The Community Organizing Associate will assist in building and managing our community teams with emphasis on outreach to and development of community members, including the following responsibilities in particular: 

• Build and nurture relationships with ALS advocates. 
• Attend and facilitate weekly ALS advocacy team meetings with a focus on supporting the teams in shaping and achieving advocacy goals. 
• Create advocacy communications and tools. Ensure sufficient resources exist to equip ALS advocates for high-impact work. 
• Develop, implement, and lead community training series and collateral designed to equip and deepen the understanding of relevant topics and tools. 
• Develop and implement volunteer recruitment and retention strategies.
• Work with the Director of Organizing on building and implementing strategies and goals.
• Communicate, consider, and include both community and organization needs and concerns into your work.
• Measure and evaluate advocate engagement and effectiveness, ensuring strategic goals are met.
• Work collaboratively with other I AM ALS staff on relevant projects.
• Educate and connect advocates to I AM ALS Community Support programs. 
• Other organizational needs that may arise.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess some combination of the following qualifications: 

• Experience in advocacy, grassroots organizing, or community-centric projects or research 
• Demonstrated experience in collaborative action
• Experience in managing and facilitating volunteers and group interactions 
• Excellent organizational and written and verbal communication skills 
• Ability to tackle multiple projects and incorporate feedback from multiple stakeholders
• Effective listening skills and the ability to build rapport with individuals
• Work collaboratively with peers and community members and be flexible with their priorities, thinking, and approach
• Communicates and interacts effectively with people from different cultures, religions, geographies, and perspectives 
• Willingness to give and receive feedback

Travel Requirements 

• This position is based in Washington, DC with travel up to 10% for meetings and events. 

Benefits

Position is full time/exempt with competitive salary and benefits package including health insurance offering