Arena Careers

About The People’s Lobby

The People’s Lobby is a membership-driven organization devoted to organizing widespread support for public policies and candidates – including people from our communities – that put racial justice and the needs of people and the planet before the interests of big corporations and the very rich. We train leaders to build bases of people and money power in our communities, organize support for progressive legislation, endorse candidates and take direct action to pressure elected officials and other powerful people to put the interests of people and the planet first.

About the Climate Bank Campaign Organizer Position

This position focuses on building The People’s Lobby’s base of poor and working class people, especially in communities of color, and serving as an organizer in a campaign to win investments that both decrease our state’s climate impact and improve people’s lives by building or repairing affordable housing, creating good jobs, and more broadly directing federal resources towards community priorities.

Areas of responsibility:

Basebuilding and Leadership Development

• Use one to one conversations, canvassing, online outreach, virtual events, church based organizing and/or other strategies to build a base of leaders and members leading a campaign.
• Identify and develop leaders through mentorship, training, and agitation, to increase the number of people they can bring into action on the campaign.
• Develop a ladder of engagement and any necessary training, so leaders and members make significant contributions to key aspects of the campaign work.
• Coordinate with other teams in the organization on local events, actions, and community building.

Issue Campaign Development

• Organize popular education sessions to share the opportunities provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and the Illinois Climate Bank.
• Organize community listening sessions and other opportunities to identify community priorities for local implementation of those programs and resources.
• With the support of senior staff and in partnership with coalition allies, organize leaders and members to collectively develop a campaign to shape local implementation of those programs to meet community needs and priorities.
• Coordinate and strategize with the Environmental Justice Team to coordinate on broader environmental justice issues as needed.

Participation in Organization-Wide Priorities

The People’s Lobby is a multi-issue, multi-geographic organization that comes together to win issues at the city, county, state and federal levels, and the power we build in other geographic areas will also be key for winning victories for members. This organizer will also be responsible for bringing members into all-organization activities including:

• Bringing Environmental Justice issues to the rest of the organization to get broad support.
• Organizing members to participate in shared leadership development training, popular education, electoral endorsements, direct voter contact work, and other membership events.
• Organizing members to participate in the annual end-of-year fundraising drive.
• Making regular asks of people in the base to become dues-paying members.

Investment in your own growth as an organizer and leader

• Developing clarity about your own self-interest in organizing with The People’s Lobby.
• Making a commitment to regular reading, reflection and evaluation of your work
• Practicing and receiving agitation about overcoming personal obstacles to effective leadership and a willingness to take calculated risks.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated success in relational organizing and in working with people from diverse race, class and gender identities.
• Demonstrated success in working with volunteers to complete group projects.
• Demonstrated success using a combination of tactics (canvassing, community meetings, social media or other) to bring new people into an issue or electoral campaign or as organization members.

Qualities Sought:

• Angry about injustice in the world and committed to effectiveness.
• Willingness to work within The People’s Lobby’s organizing methodology, including a focus on self-interest, negotiation and agitation.
• Enjoys working with people and is capable of negotiating clearly with members, coworkers and the supervisor about how we do the work.
• Willingness to take risks and do things outside of personal comfort zone.
• Attentive to details, which is often the difference between an average organizer and a highly effective organizer. Examples include keeping a busy calendar and the ability (or willingness to learn) how to think through the steps of managing meetings or events involving groups (sometimes large groups) of people.
• The ability to take multiple perspectives, even at times seemingly competing perspectives, and see what might be true (partial truths) in each of them.
• Kind, but direct. Able to give and receive feedback.

Benefits

The People’s Lobby is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that a diverse team enriches our work and strengthens our mission. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds who are passionate about social justice and who share our commitment to equity and inclusion.

Employer-paid health and dental plans, technology and transportation stipends, and 5% retirement contribution. The People’s Lobby offers generous paid time off, including 10 sick days per year and 10 days of paid time off for the first year of employment. The following holidays are observed by the organization: New Year's Day, Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People's Day, and Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. In addition to the holidays officially observed by the organization, permanent, regular employees are entitled to five (5) paid floating holidays, to be used for the observance of other civic holidays, religious holidays, or other days of personal significance. Additionally, offices will be closed for the last ten business days of each year.