The mission of Worcester Common Ground, Inc. as a Community Land Trust and a Community Development Corporation is to promote and develop permanent and sustainable improvements in the neighborhoods of Central Worcester through affordable housing, community activism, and economic development. We place particular emphasis on ensuring that all Worcester Common Ground, Inc. constituents have a voice in our process.

The Community Organizer (CO) reports directly to the Executive Director and serves as the sole member of their department. In this capacity, the CO will be responsible for the following:

Community Organizing and Leadership Development

• Design and implement a systematic method for conducting outreach with: WCG tenants and homeowners; non-WCG residents; local businesses; institutions and organizations.
• Build diverse coalitions with community organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to achieve both WCG and neighborhood-wide community engagement goals.
• Help community members develop diverse member-led committees; collaborate with residents to identify important neighborhood issues and address challenges that may disproportionately affect their communities.
• Establish sustainable, effective and culturally tailored interventions that improve neighborhood health and wellbeing; create, mobilize, and execute concrete organizing strategies, goals, and campaigns.
• Identify residents with interest and potential to increase their leadership skills and roles within the neighborhood; organize leadership and community engagement training opportunities for residents; and Integrate emerging leaders into the planning and implementation of WCG activities and programs
• Facilitate regular meetings and communication between residents, business owners, City of Worcester personnel, elected officials, and other institutional partners.
• Support Executive Director in writing grants and fundraising efforts for WCG community organizing activities, events, and programs.
• Establish and execute evaluation methods and data collection to keep projects on track; create reports as needed.
• Work collaboratively with other staff members to maximize linkages between programs and advance the mission, goals, and membership of the organization.

Board-Designated Committees and Community Land Trust Membership

• Work with residents to create a board-designated Community Committee that will help develop, implement, and evaluate community outreach, organizing, and resident engagement strategies
• Support Board members to lead the committee, draft and present reports to the Board, and serve as liaisons to broader community engagement strategies
• Oversee the development, implementation, and evaluation of a membership recruitment plan to support the Community Land Trust with support from staff and Board

Digital and Social Media

• Manage organization social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram) including creating engaging posts to promote our work, growing our online presence, and interacting with constituents.
• Manage Constant Contact platform to engage with contact base, design creative recipient-specific content, and integrate with social media platforms when appropriate.
• Establish a schedule to manage content across all communication platforms to ensure consistency.
• Update organization marketing content (i.e. brochures, flyers, etc.) and design Annual Report.

Skillset

• Bachelor’s Degree and/or 3-5 years of work history and experience with community/tenant organizing, campaign or volunteer coordination, and leadership development.
• Bi-lingual in English and Spanish required.
• Aptitude for and interest in relationship-building, fostering community partnerships, and community organizing/outreach.
• Excellent facilitation and communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Strong work ethic, responsible, self-motivated, able to execute and prioritize multiple ongoing projects.
• Commitment to and knowledge of social justice and anti-racist practices.
• Understanding of organizing principles and neighborhood capacity building strategies
• Project management and evaluation skills to ensure organizing efforts and programs are successful and authentically representing the community.

Starting Salary: $35,000

Benefits Package:

• *Full Health Insurance through Harvard Pilgrim Health, *Dental Insurance through Delta Dental, Workers compensation, Accidental death and dismemberment – Life insurance equal to annual salary, A pre-tax savings plan matched by the company for the first 3% of salary contributed to the plan, The company has the option to provide IRA participant with a 2% bonus which is deposited into the employee’s IRA account, 40 hours of sick pay with no carry over, Three personal days, Ten- vacation days with no carry over. These benefits are pro-rated based on the percentage of full-time employment. These benefits accrue throughout the year based on time of service. Current personnel policy allows for a ninety- day probationary period for all new employees.
• *Available to full-time employees only.

WCG is committed to non-discrimination and equal opportunity in employment.