DC Defund Fellowship hosted by Working Families Party

[Kristin Burgess]

About the DC Defund Fellowship

The Defund Fellowship is a 12 month, year-long fellowship working on the DC campaign to defund police and secure investments in meeting community needs and building community safety strategies. This fellowship will be hosted by DC Working Families Party (DCWFP).

DCWFP seeks a fellow who can engage, mobilize and activate DCWFP members, activists, coalition partners, and community members impacted by the prison industrial complex to advance our strategic goals. This fellow will push the Defund Metropolitan Police Department campaign to the next level, more effectively coordinate across organizations, communities, and movements, and build nationally networked local organizing efforts to achieve genuine and lasting safety in communities.

The Defund Fellowship is sponsored by the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Accountability, which works to ensure all people have access to resources and tools to advocate for systems change and accountability in law enforcement.

Apply to the DC Defund Fellowship by visiting our job website.

Primary Responsibilities

• Initiates regular virtual trainings, mass meetings, text parties, and other tactics that gather supporters and members, help elect WFP candidates, win on Defund MPD and build the party
• Builds a team of local leaders that ensure all gatherings have strong attendance (benchmarks to be assigned) and utilize a WFP 2.0 culture grounded in creating radically welcoming and engaging spaces
• Maintains a schedule of at least 15 relational meetings each week with current and potential members, allies, partners, constituency/community leaders, candidates, electeds and their staff, donors, and other stakeholders to expand the Defund MPD base of support
• Research and prepare written materials, on issues related to Defund Police Campaigns
• Ensures tracking of supporters and members and their leadership development in CRM/database, and builds a team of members capable of this
• Interfaces with and reports to other state staff, Regional Director, National Organizing Director, National Membership Experience & Political Development Team, and other WFP staff and teams as assigned
• Supports traditional and new media including recruiting and training supporters and members to write letters to the editor/op-eds, make connections with local/community media outlets, and support WFP social media strategies
• Other duties as assigned

Community Resource Hub Responsibilities

• Actively and fully participate in all CRH quarterly training sessions (equivalent to no more than 8 hours of training per quarter)
• Actively participate in monthly peer support sessions
• Attend weekly office hours for budget, communications, and campaign strategy assistance at least 4 times during the course of the fellowship;
• Contribute to a final report on their activities as a fellow
• Contribute budget documents, data, and feedback to the ongoing development of the Defund Campaign Budget Tool

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of previous organizing or relevant experience working with communities of color in DC, and persons directly impacted by the prison industrial complex
• Excellent listening and interpersonal skills
• The ability to work independently and hold yourself accountable in a remote, entrepreneurial work environment
• Proficiency using spreadsheets and constituent relationship management systems
• Pre-existing commitment to the theory of prison abolition and the defunding of the police campaign

People of color directly impacted by the Prison Industrial Complex encouraged to apply! 

Compensation

The salary for this position is $50,000 to $55,000 and will be adjusted based on our internal equitable scale, which takes into consideration years of experience, geographic location, and final job description. We also offer excellent benefits. 

Applications will be considered until February 26th, 2021. Apply to the DC Defund Fellowship by visiting our job website.  

This Fellowship will run for one year from March 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022. 

About Working Families Party

The Working Families Party is the progressive party for the multiracial working class, fighting for a nation that works for the many, not the few. Our People's Charter spells out our roadmap to a nation that cares for all of us. We recruit, train, and support transformational candidates up and down the ballot -- and run them to win.

WFP is made up of individual and organizational members who come together to build a new political movement to change America.

Working Families is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to racial, economic, and social justice. Women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and members of other historically disenfranchised populations are strongly encouraged to apply.