Posting: Highland Park Coordinator- Soulardarity
May 30, 2023
POSITION: Highland Park Coordinator
JOB TYPE: Full Time, Hybrid Remote
WORK SCHEDULE: Traditional business hours with some flexibility. Occasional nights and
weekends to attend meetings and events as required.
CLASSIFICATION: Exempt Employee
SALARY RANGE: $45K - $50K commensurate with experience
BENEFITS: Up to $675 monthly stipend; access to Extended Advance Program; Professional
Development opportunities; paid holiday time-off, and a generous paid time off policy.
REPORTS TO: Program Director
LOCATION: Highland Park, MI. Preference will be given to applicants currently residing in or
willing to relocate to the City of Highland Park, MI. Required travel to staff meetings,
membership gatherings, campaigns, and events as needed.
WHO WE ARE...SOULARDARITY BACKGROUND
Soulardarity started out of necessity, when Highland Park residents were left in the dark by DTE
Energy’s repossession of over 1,000 streetlights in 2011. When we came together, it was with
the simple goal of restoring light to the darkness. 10 years later, we have become a locally and
nationally recognized leader in energy democracy.
Soulardarity has achieved significant impact in Highland Park and Detroit with minimal
resources since 2012, including restoring 17 streetlights, deploying $30,000 of solar lighting and
emergency generation, growing community initiatives, conducting education projects,
advocating for energy democracy, and co-authoring a national policy proposal for Community
Ownership of Power Administration.
Soulardarity's staff team has more than doubled in size in the past two years, and the current
hiring process aims to increase operational capacity and supportive infrastructure for frontline
staff and solidify capacity for the Executive Director to lead the transition towards a just energy
democracy.
The following section outlines the essential skills and experience for the position, but
Soulardarity encourages applicants with diverse strengths and talents who share the vision and
enthusiasm for the role and organization to apply.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Reporting to the Program Director, the role of the Highland Park Coordinator is to build
collective power in Highland Park towards Soulardarity’s goals of making Highland Park a global
model of sustainability and self-determination. They will provide organizing support to the
Highland Park Campaign Team, composed of Soulardarity staff, members and partners, that
sets goals and priorities for our Highland Park campaigns. Their work will also focus on the
Highland Park Track for the Soulardarity Community Organizing Collaborative (SCOC), an
annual 3-4 month long fellowship that trains local organizers with a focus on community-owned
clean energy goals through organizing, media, and movement building.
This is currently a hybrid remote role that requires working from home and in-person meetings
as needed. You will need to have your own computer and internet access to work from home, as
well as the ability to travel for in-person meetings and events. Soulardarity offers an all inclusive
monthly stipend to assist with payment for health care, technology and transportation needs for
eligible employees.
WHO YOU ARE...
We are seeking a community organizer with cultural competence, relationship-building skills,
advocacy experience, organizational skills, communication abilities, collaborative leadership,
flexibility, and self-awareness to work with our majority Black community. This role requires a
commitment to partnership and empowerment of community members.
The Highland Park Coordinator is expected to work across diverse multigenerational teams and
workstyles, and help the organization design and administer systems that make workflow more
efficient. The candidate should care deeply about Soulardarity’s mission, commitment to
consensus-building and strong facilitation of coalitions, and enjoy strategy and systems.
Prior experience in working with environmental justice, frontline grassroots, and energy
democracy organizations is desirable.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES may include, but are not limited to...
These tasks represent baseline responsibilities for this position. As Soulardarity takes on new
projects and grows, there will be possibilities (and sometimes the need to) move into new
accountabilities and areas of work. The Highland Park Coordinator will work with staff and
Soulardarity members to create and implement a strategy to grow Soulardarity’s community
engagement, membership, and fundraising:
- Develop, evaluate, and track campaign strategies to achieve Soulardarity’s goals and objectives
- Communicate and coordinate events and campaign updates through social media, NationBuilder CRM membership database, and website with members and the general public
- Perform outreach to Soulardarity members and supporters to drive attendance at public meetings such as city council and city commissions
- Communicate and work with community leaders including, but not limited to; municipal officials & staff and community organizations on issues pertaining to Soulardarity’s goals
- Monitor and track public activities of municipal officials
- Manage Soulardarity Community Organizing Collaborative (SCOC) Highland Park Program Track. To learn more about the SCOC Program go to www.soulardarity.com/scoc2022
- Maintain communications with the broader community about Soulardarity’s issues, campaigns, and programs
- Organize, implement, and carry out activities driven by the Highland Park Campaign Team (HPCT) and develop its leadership
- Fulfill duties as steering committee representative for Soulardarity in the Highland Park Community Crisis Coalition (HPC3)
- Draft and provide monthly updates on Highland Park program activities for newsletters, social media, and external media outreach
- Recruit new Soulardarity members through program activities and events
- Attend meetings and actively engage with coalition partners and as assigned by Program Director
- Coordinate with Soulardarity member leadership, staff, and partners to ensure alignment with broader organizational goals, priorities and vision
- Develop and distribute public facing materials - flyers, one-pager updates for members and potential funders, etc.
COLLABORATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES with staff, members and volunteers:
- Maintain and update member and prospect information in NationBuilder CRM member database
- Engage in ongoing community outreach (Door-to-Door, One-On-One, Phone Calling, Email & Text Blasts)
- Build and maintain trusting relationships with current and potential members and prospects
- Provide support with membership programs and events
- Build and foster relationships with existing and potential partners
- Attend required staff meetings, membership gatherings, coalition meetings, events, etc.
JOB REQUIREMENTS
Applicants for the Highland Park Coordinator position should:
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively from home or other remote location and travel to in-person meetings and events.
- Have strong supervisory and managerial experience – Demonstrate experience effectively managing teams and be able to build rapport among their team while challenging staff to achieve ambitious goals.
- Commitment to Soulardarity’s mission – Possess a commitment to racial equity, energy democracy, social justice, and grassroots organizing.
- Possess strong interpersonal skills, and awareness of interpersonal dynamics to work with a diverse and multigenerational group of colleagues, building support and consensus decision-making processes for campaigns.
- Invest in understanding the people and spaces that they navigate in, so that they can develop strategies that will promote teamwork amongst a diverse and multigenerational landscape.
- Have strong organizational skills and an ability to deal with many tasks and priorities while being on top of details. Work effectively on a tight schedule and be able to set and meet realistic deadlines.
- Experience as an organizer, campaigner, or in environmental justice is a plus.
- Competency with Google Suite, Slack, CRM’s, Asana, and project management platforms.
- Solid track record of working closely with senior management, and ideally in a BIPOC work environment.
- A demonstrated commitment to environmental, social and racial justice issues and
- understanding of challenges facing low income and BIPOC communities.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
You could be great for this role if:
- Have 1-2 years of relevant experience (Ex: election work, volunteer recruitment, volunteer organizing, campaign management, etc)
- Familiarity with:
- Project/Task management systems (Ex: Asana, Basecamp, Monday, etc)
- Communication and workspace applications (Ex: Slack, Zoom, Google Suite, etc)
- Social media platforms (Ex: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc)
- Database and/or CRM management (Ex: Nationbuilder, NGPVAN, EveryAction,
- etc)
- Knowledge of and commitment to progressive social change movements and grassroots organizing as the key to building local people power.
- Be able to work in alignment with and have strong knowledge and experience of the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing, and environmental justice principles.
- Experience in managing staff, contractors, members and volunteers.
- Communicate clearly and effectively.
- Familiar with work plans, goal setting, and participate in setting priorities and meeting deadlines.
- Detail-oriented and able to manage your time efficiently.
- Possess solid problem-solving skills and know how to give and receive feedback well.
- Highly communicative and good at public speaking/public relations, open to a fast-changing work environment, and a self-starter who can learn independently and quickly on the fly.
- A desire to grow and develop personally, and deepen our collective frameworks. You
- want to learn from others in an organization committed to movement-building for
- transformational change and self-determination.
Soulardarity is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member)
or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
HOW TO APPLY
Interested applicants are asked to email the following with “Highland Park Coordinator” written in the subject line to jobs@soulardarity.com:
- Cover letter
- Your cover letter should succinctly describe the skills, community experience, knowledge & workstyle which equip you for this role, and why you are interested in this position.
- Resume
- Three (3) references
OVERVIEW OF HIRING PROCESS
- Immediate hire opportunity to fill this position. We will be considering applicants on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
- A scenario based assessment will be included as part of the interview process.
- For applicants who proceed to an interview, there will be 2-3 rounds of interviews. Applicants can expect a response within a week of submitting an application instructing next steps if applicable. Any changes to this schedule will be communicated to applicants.
- Applicants will be scored and interviewed by the Soulardarity Hiring Committee. Primary contact(s) during the hiring process will be the Human Resources Manager.
Please understand that only those applicants who are being considered will be contacted.
Position is open until filled and incomplete applications will not be considered. Thank you.
We value a strong, diverse team of folks whose lived experience informs their relationship to
social and environmental justice work and our collective liberation. Women, trans-and
gender-nonconforming folks, queer people, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color),
individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. We acknowledge
this list is incomplete and encourage you to apply if your lived experience informs your desire to
be a part of social and environmental justice work.