Arena Careers

The Industrial Areas Foundation is seeking to recruit, train, and develop a new generation of organizers to work in one of the existing groups and assist in new strategies and targeted campaigns. The Industrial Areas Foundation recruits organizers to work across the US in its 55+ affiliate organizations, especially in racially, religiously, ethnically, and politically diverse areas. IAF is seeking women and men from colleges & universities (graduate & undergraduate), prison-to-college programs, seminaries, unions, the military, political campaigns, non-profits, health care, and other professions interested in exploring careers in organizing. IAF is the oldest and largest broad-based, multi-racial, strictly non-partisan citizens organizing network in the US. IAF, founded by Saul Alinsky, won the first universal health care law in Massachusetts that became the blueprint for US Affordable Care Act, conceived and won the first living wage laws in Baltimore and New York that became national and international movements, won pioneering criminal justice reforms in CT, NC, VA, IL, NJ as well as other areas, and secured more than $2 Trillion in infrastructure, housing, schools investment to revitalize poor rural, urban and suburban communities across the US.

IAF has trained hundreds of thousands of citizen leaders and organizers, including Ceasar Chavez, Carmelia Goff, Bishop Douglas Miles, and Sister Christine Stephens. Here are some of the qualities IAF looks for in a successful organizer:

1. NATIVE INTELLIGENCE – not necessarily degrees, but the ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility.
2. ANGER AND EDGE – not temper, not ideological fervor, not an abstract commitment to “the people,” but a clear sense of what’s wrong, impatience in the face of that wrong, and a drive to address it.
3. A WILLINGNESS TO CROSS RACE, CULTURE, POLITICS – to be willing to work with people unlike oneself, people of other races, classes, orientations, faiths, and political views.
4. A TRACK RECORD – some evidence, in high school, college, the local community or the workplace of attempting to relate to people and to respond to situations that demanded change; and some success in whatever field or career or endeavor has occupied the individual’s time.
5. A DRIVE TO BE ON THE GROUND IN COMMUNITIES DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY INJUSTICE TO BUILD POWER & TAKE ACTION FROM THE BOTTOM UP — some evidence You are committed to people and place, and you embrace the organizing tradition pioneered by A. Philip Randolph, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hammer, Diane Nash, Ceasar Chavez, Bob Moses, and others.
6. A WILLINGNESS TO GROW AND LEARN, TO ACCEPT CRITIQUE, & TO BE MENTORED & TO BE ACCOUNTABLE. Becoming a top-flight IAF organizer is an ongoing apprenticeship of organizing over many years in various contexts, with multiple organizer and leader mentors, and in diverse political jurisdictions. Additionally, organizers commit to ongoing evaluation, accountability, and mentorship from the organizers and leaders in the IAF collective that have come before.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES NINETY-DAY PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER TRY-OUTS (year-round): IAF offers paid, 90-day try-outs to interested people at one of its 55+ organizations across the US any time of the year.

Organizer candidates are assigned to a sponsoring IAF organization, are given an organizing assignment to test their capacities, and receive extensive training and supervision from a senior IAF organizer. These try-outs are offered after a process that includes:

• An expression of interest by an individual that would include a letter of introduction, a resume, and some references;
• An individual meeting, or series of individual meetings, held with the candidate; Some contact with the individual in the context of local training/organizing or some mutually agreed-upon voluntary experience that gives the individual a better view and feel for IAF organizing and the local IAF organizer a better sense of the individual;
• Then, the 90-day try-out itself. Upon successful completion of a 90-day try-out, candidates may be offered a 1-year contract;
• We are actively looking for candidates who speak Spanish, French, and Amharic. Salary Range: IAF organizing is a profession. IAF pays competitive wages with benefits, including health care, employer-paid pension, vacation, and periodic sabbaticals. IAF has a strong respect for the importance of family, personal lives, and the interests of its organizers. Salary ranges based on position, experience, and location are comparable with major US unions: organizer trainees/associates $50,000–$70,000; senior organizers $70,000–$85,000; lead organizers $85,000–$120,000; and state lead organizers $120,000–$140,000. IAF ’s highest priority is the ongoing training, development, and mentoring of organizers and, as a result, has a strong retention rate.

Experience: IAF prioritizes recruiting people with experience, grit, and a demonstrated track record in 1) organizing, 2) leadership in another field, and/or 3) overcoming life challenges and battling injustices. IAF organizers usually start in one of the following roles based on experience:

• Trainee & Associate Organizer— build core organizing teams in member institutions, identify local leaders and issues for action, undertake local action that addresses community issues, and develop local leaders.

• Senior Organizer— work with key institutions and primary leaders on local and regional issue campaigns, build core organizing teams in member institutions, recruit new institutions, raise money, and train leaders in broad-based power organizing. 4+ years of organizing experience expected. After a 12-24 month intensive apprenticeship in one of IAF's most successful organizations and supervision/mentoring by one of IAF's senior organizers, the best incoming organizers could become a lead organizer in an existing or new project.

• IAF Background Information: check out the following: the CBS News/Ted Koppel story on IAF Nehemiah Housing work; Boston Review: In Defense of Politics by Michael Gecan; Listen, Organize, Act Podcast on organizing; One Quarter for One Baltimore video campaign for jobs, and Metro IAF’s 2023 Organizing Victories Report on affordable housing, jobs, mental health, climate justice & other areas;

• TO APPLY: Please send your resume and a one-page cover letter that includes a story about when YOU acted to create change. Please include in the story how you used the qualities listed above. All IAF affiliates are proud Equal Opportunity Employers. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ are strongly encouraged to apply.