Director, Organizing Discern Team

[Ashley Ellington]

Director, Organizing Discern Team

Position Grade:  Director 2

Position Location: Flexible Location

About Leadership for Educational Equity

Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan leadership development organization dedicated to developing its members’ potential to ensure every child has the opportunity to receive an outstanding education. Our kids and communities need more leaders who believe that educational inequity is a solvable problem. We believe that when our members are organized and reach positions of leadership, they’ll serve as a transformative force for students, communities and the broader movement for educational equity. LEE is a diverse team of passionate and talented individuals committed to making a difference. We are a high-growth, results-oriented organization that operates in an entrepreneurial environment deeply invested in continuous improvement.  If you would like to become part of our team and join the fight for educational equity, or if you would simply like to learn more about what we do, please visit educationalequity.org.

Position Summary:

The Organizing Discern team, part of the Organizing Leadership Team, will design and implement strategies to expose and inspire many LEE members into volunteer organizing, as well as inspire more members into career organizing. LEE’s Organizing Leadership team is responsible for building and sustaining LEE’s approach to developing member leadership around collective action, focusing primarily on creating pathways for members to have preliminary engagement with organizing work both digitally and in person, and then to build intermediate and advanced skills to be effective drivers of regional organizing campaigns.

In consultation with the Vice President, Organizing Leadership (OL), the Director, Organizing Discern will design strategy to inspire members into volunteer organizing and community organizing careers. The Discern Team will lead in several key ways:

• Clarifying what inspires members into organizing careers, combining data on member interests and member leadership patterns with compelling narratives and developing a clear sense of the multiple experiences that lead one into community organizing as a volunteer and career interest
• Designing digital/online, in-person, and blended experiences for members to inspire them into organizing opportunities and make informed choices when pursuing organizing opportunities
• Aligning OL’s Develop team to the clarified membership pathway in organizing

To support the work areas above, this role will also build branding for LEE’s volunteer organizing opportunities, and share that branding out in the world in as many ways as possible. The role requires both independent design and significant management across the OL team and LEE. In particular, the Director will collaborate with LEE’s Technology team in all aspects of work, LEE’s Communications team on branding and communications to members, LEE’s Regional Impact team on all in-person and blended experiences for members, and across the subteams on the National Impact team to learn from inspire and discern strategies in other member pathways. To continuously strengthen a new approach in OL’s work, this role will need to build assessment frameworks for projects, set up data tracking, rigorously track and analyze data and make strategic shifts accordingly.

This position reports to the Vice President, Organizing Leadership.

Position Location: Flexible

Travel Requirements: 25 - 30%

 Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute vision and strategy for the discern part of collective organizing action work to inspire members into volunteer organizing and community organizing careers
• Build a theory of development for collective organizing action work and its place in the member journey using data on member interests and leadership patterns
• Design digital/online, in-person, and blended experiences for members
• Lead development of accompanying resources including blended/online tools
• Develop a support structure for regions including regional trainings
• Build branding for LEE’s volunteer organizing opportunities and determine how to effectively communicate opportunities to a wide, diverse audience
• Build assessment frameworks for projects, set up data tracking, rigorously track and analyze data and make strategic shifts accordingly
• Collaborate across teams at LEE to design strategy, create resources, track data, and evaluate and improve OL Discern impact   

 

Minimum Qualifications:

• 6+ years of relevant professional work with leadership development and member engagement experience including curriculum design and facilitation
• 3+ years of professional organizing experience in broad base building or community organizing
• Demonstrated success engaging diverse audiences through outreach, messaging and marketing
• Demonstrated track record of effective communication across a complex organizational structure
• Experience creating effective blended learning opportunities, such as online learning, digital brand building and gaming experiences
• Ability to identify useful metrics in a body of work and see trends that inform strategy
• Ability to create inclusive membership experiences
• Has multiple existing relationships with partners leading organizing that impacts educational inequity
• Ability to communicate and collaborate within a geographically dispersed team
• Strong, demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion
• Deep passion for educational equity and belief in LEE’s mission and theory of change

Benefits and Salary

Salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior experience. In addition, a comprehensive benefits package is included. LEE offers a comprehensive benefits plan that includes health, dental and vision coverage for spouses, families and domestic partners; life insurance; a retirement package with employer match; family and parent benefits; generous paid time off and an organization-wide winter break between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.  

An Equal-Opportunity Employer with a Commitment to Diversity

Leadership for Educational Equity is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and as an organization committed to diversity and the perspective of all voices, we consider applicants equally of race, gender, color, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability, political affiliation and national origin. We reasonably accommodate staff members and/or applicants with disabilities, provided they are otherwise able to perform the essential functions of the job.

An affirmative action-equal opportunity employer.

The statements in this description represent typical elements, criteria, and general work performed. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for the job.