Reports to: Organizing & Political Director

Location: San Diego

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary Range: $68,000 – $80,000

Position Overview

The ACLU-SDIC seeks to hire a full-time Organizer based in San Diego, Ca. Under the supervision of the Organizing & Political Director, the Organizer will be responsible for developing close relationships with a variety of individuals and organizations representative of local communities. The Organizer will develop and execute an annual work plan designed to promote participation in local, state, and federal campaigns; build an active base of community advocates who can be mobilized to participate in meetings, rallies, hearings, and delegations; create a volunteer leadership development process that empowers the community; build relationships with community organizations, faith leaders, business leaders, donors, and new and diverse communities to advance our civil rights and civil liberties campaigns. The Organizer will work in collaboration with ACLU policy, communications, and legal staff at the affiliate and statewide level.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

Develop organizing campaigns around key civil liberties and/or civil rights issues that are generated through community interest and vision, and aligned with the affiliate’s priority issue areas (Advancing Justice, Advancing Immigrants’ Rights and Advancing Racial and Economic Justice).
Identify, cultivate, and develop 1:1 relationships with community leaders across San Diego County with an emphasis on a particular region (Central SD and South SD).
Conduct 10-15 weekly relational meetings with volunteers, community leaders and organizational allies.
Support a regional volunteer leadership team. Train leaders to build organizing teams with the power to win policy changes that promote immigrant justice, economic dignity and racial justice reform utilizing ACLU’s organizing model and approach to leadership development.
Develop and conduct training for leaders and partners on effective community organizing: research meetings, team building, mobilization, advocacy, gathering signatures, power analysis, voter engagement, coalition building, structural racism, popular education, storytelling, one-to-ones, etc.
Develop strong relationships and galvanize support of community organizations, public officials, law enforcement officers, faith leaders, business leaders, donors, and new and diverse communities for organizing campaigns.
Represent ACLU in coalition meetings and work collaboratively on joint efforts with community organizations and coalition partners.
Use weekly planning and tracking tools to report on goals, outcomes, and key learnings. Maintain and update leader lists, regional sign-in lists, and other data.
Work collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team to integrate and align organizing strategies with strategic communications, policy, litigation, electoral programs, and other strategies and tactics.
Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

A strong commitment to the mission and goals of the ACLU-SDIC, racial equity, dismantling white supremacy, and incorporating a structural power analysis into work.
Knowledge and understanding of how power and oppression is manifested in matters of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, ability, citizenship and socio-economic circumstances.
Strong interpersonal communication and relationship-building skills; ability to connect with others, motivate and quickly gain trust with volunteers, staff, community members, and coalition partners.
Growth and learning mindset: ability to take and implement feedback.
2 years of organizing experience (including paid or volunteer) in community/field organizing and base building for issue-based or political campaigns.
Experience in Ballot Initiative or electoral campaigns are a plus.
Valid automobile driver’s license and working vehicle required; this position will involve extensive travel throughout San Diego County. Must be able to accommodate a variable work schedule including nights and weekends.

Other Possible Qualifications:

Familiarity and experience working on issues of housing, criminal justice, or immigration
Fluency in Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, or other languages
Experience doing integrated voter engagement work, including canvassing, phone banking, and using PDI
Experience organizing with people who have been incarcerated, people without immigration documents, or people experiencing homelessness/housing displacement/severe rent burden
Life experience with incarceration, being without immigration documents, or homelessness/housing displacement/severe rent burden, system impacted

Compensation and Benefits:

The job includes regular evening work and some weekend work
Salary in a range from $68,000- $80,000
Excellent benefits include four weeks paid vacation; 18 office holidays; medical and dental insurance for staff members and their families; life and long-term disability insurance; and 401(k) plan with employer match.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: While performing the responsibilities of the job, the employee is required to exchange accurate information, detect/identify documents and the information contained in them, move between areas in and out of the office to complete their role. The employee may need to move various equipment including computer to their work location.

What Now?

Please submit a cover letter explaining your interest in and qualifications for the position as detailed in this announcement, a current resume, writing sample, and names and contact information of three professional references (including at least one supervisor).

Click here to apply.

The ACLU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages applications from women, people of color, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, veterans, and people with arrest records and/or convictions.

#LI-DNI

Apply for this Job

* Required

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Phone

Resume/CV *

Google Drive

(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)

Cover Letter *

Google Drive

(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)

LinkedIn Profile

Website

If you chose 'A race or ethnicity not listed,' please let us know how you self-identify:

______________________________________________________________

Gender

If you chose 'A gender not listed,' please let us know how you self-identify:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are committed to equal opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. To help us measure how well we are doing, we are asking you to tell us if you have a disability or if you ever had a disability. Completing this form is voluntary, but we hope that you will choose to fill it out. If you are applying for a job, any answer you give will be kept private and will not be used against you in any way.

If you already work for us, your answer will not be used against you in any way. Because a person may become disabled at any time, we are required to ask all of our employees to update their information every five years. You may voluntarily self-identify as having a disability on this form without fear of any punishment because you did not identify as having a disability earlier.

How do I know if I have a disability?

You are considered to have a disability if you have a physical or mental impairment or medical condition that substantially limits a major life activity, or if you have a history or record of such an impairment or medical condition.

Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

Blindness
Deafness
Cancer
Diabetes
Epilepsy
Autism
Cerebral palsy
HIV/AIDS
Schizophrenia
Muscular dystrophy
Bipolar disorder
Major depression
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Impairments requiring the use of a wheelchair
Intellectual disability (previously called mental retardation)

Disability Status:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Veteran Status

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Significant Disability Status

Disability diversity in the workplace includes people with significant disabilities. A “significant disability” is one that is associated with particularly low employment rates. The federal government has recognized that individuals with certain disabilities, particularly manifest disabilities, face barriers to employment above and beyond the barriers faced by people with the broader range of disabilities. See Questions and Answers: The EEOC's Final Rule on Affirmative Action for People with Disabilities in Federal Employment, (https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/qanda-ada-disabilities-final-rule.cfm). The ACLU’s affirmative action plan for people with disabilities includes an overall goal for people with a broad range of disabilities, and a “subgoal” for people with significant disabilities.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ The following demographic questions are optional. They are used to help us better understand our applicant pool and to continually improve our outreach and recruitment efforts. Individuals seeking employment at the ACLU are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Race and/or Ethnicity

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in ACLU - Affiliate Offices’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Gender

Are you Hispanic/Latino?

Please identify your race

Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

Veteran Status

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305

Page 1 of 1

OMB Control Number 1250-0005

Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
Blind or low vision
Cancer (past or present)
Cardiovascular or heart disease
Celiac disease
Cerebral palsy
Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
Diabetes
Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
Intellectual or developmental disability
Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
Short stature (dwarfism)
Traumatic brain injury

Disability Status

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

Please reach out to our support team via our help center.

Please complete the reCAPTCHA above.