Field Consulting and Advance Position (Contract)

[Shawn Phetteplace]

Temporary Field Organizer Consultant

National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare

 

National non-profit advocacy organization is seeking a temporary field organizer consultant to plan, advance and execute three senior citizen issue forums to be held in Michigan, Wisconsin and Oregon during the fall of 2019.  The events will focus on why prescription drug prices have skyrocketed and how seniors can advocate for legislation that contains or lowers drug costs.

 

Consultant Responsibilities:

• Prior to each forum, the consultant will participate in the planning of all aspects of the event with National Committee staff, including facilities, equipment, food and beverages, staging and signage, crowd building and media relations. 
• Within a week of each forum, the consultant will travel to the site of the event to perform advance work, including: (1) outreach to local seniors, senior organizations and cosponsoring organizations for crowd building purposes, (2) coordinate with local facility, equipment, food and beverage vendors to ensure they follow our instructions for the event, (3) ensure that the local venue will be accessible for people with disabilities, (4) set up staging materials and signage, (5) encourage local media to cover the event, (6) photocopy event handouts and (7) provide transportation to and from the airport for National Committee speakers and staff.
• During the event, the consultant will provide direction to vendors, assistance to reporters and other media, facilitate the participation of speakers and the moderator, coordinate with cosponsoring organization officers, staff and volunteers, and greet audience members and help them with special needs they may have.   
• After the event, gather all reusable staging materials and signage for next event, clean facility based on contract with vendor, send thank you notes to event speakers and cosponsoring organizations, and document strengths and weaknesses of events.
• Between forums, participate in a post-mortem on event with National Committee staff. 
• Upon the completion of the forums, submit to National Committee staff a written summary and evaluation of each event.
• Other duties as assigned.

 

Minimum Requirements:

Significant experience working as a paid field organizer and advance staff for grassroots political and/or issue-based advocacy campaigns.  Excellent oral, written communication and interpersonal skills.  Ability to work effectively across departments and/or staff responsible for different aspects of the campaign (e.g. management, media, issues, volunteer coordination and administrative staff).  Track record of working autonomously and productively at remote locations with little supervision.  Experience with directing vendors, media relations and working with elected officials, their staff and volunteers.

 

While not required, the following experience, capabilities and education would be considered a plus:  (1) working as a field organizer and performing advance work in Michigan, Wisconsin and/or Oregon, (2) prior work with senior citizen organizations, (3) experience with building and maintaining advocacy coalitions, (4) knowledge of public policy issues important to seniors, particularly health care issues and (5) a bachelor’s degree or successful completion of some undergraduate college courses.

 

The candidate selected for this position will be a temporary consultant for a term limited to August-November 2019.  Although the National Committee is based in Washington, DC, the consultant retained for this position would not be required to live in the DC metropolitan area during the term of their retainer.  Qualified candidates may send a cover letter, resume and retainer expectations to adc...@ncpssm.org.  Visit our website at www.ncpssm.org.