About Network Delaware

Our mission is to “reshape politics.”

We believe in the power of regular people getting involved in the political process. Whether that’s learning what’s going on in your own neighborhood, training on the basics of running for office, attending your first school board meeting, or even just discovering the policies being debated down in Legislative Hall.

Everyone should be a participant in our democracy, whether you’re a parent, student, long-time advocate, first-time advocate, resident, immigrant, someone with a title, or someone who just wants to make a difference. In particular, we look to build power among communities of color, working people, women, immigrants, LGBTQ communities, and young people.

We focus on three main activities:

1. Leadership Development: We train community organizers, issue campaign teams, and candidates for public office.

2. Civic Engagement: We register people to vote, build neighborhood-led action teams, and educate constituents about state and local policies.

3. Policy Change: We build coalitions to act for cross-issue campaigns for education, racial equity, immigrant rights, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, economic opportunity, etc.

So if you’re looking to make change, then Network Delaware is the place for you!

Learn more about our work at www.thenetworkde.org.

Position Description

Overview
Summer Organizers focus on direct community organizing through door-to-door engagement, leadership development trainings, and informing residents of the critical issues (in 2019 we will be working on criminal justice reform). Below are some of the specific areas Summer Organizers will work on.

Leadership development: Learn new skills, practice facilitating workshops, and developing the capacity of others

• Actively participate in organizing training programs

• Practice sharing newly learned skills by co-facilitating workshops for others

• Engage in mutual coaching

Recruit and develop volunteers: Build relationships with volunteers to hone their leadership with the neighborhood team

• Run volunteer recruitment campaigns using personal connections, social media, email, and general outreach

• Conduct frequent 1-on-1 meetings with community members to build strong relationships and develop leadership

• Coach and train volunteers to improve skills

• Work with team to help place volunteers quickly into appropriate leadership roles

Field organizing: Engage neighborhoods in the issues of the day and how they can get involved

• Implement our neighborhood team field plan

• Manage field canvass program

• Build connections with existing community and civic groups

• Host town hall meetings

Keys to Success

• Organized relationship building: Getting to know volunteers and candidates in a strategic and thoughtful way will be key to getting them connected to the organization.

• Clear and accessible communication: Many parts of this position involve communicating with a diverse array of people (e.g. members, candidates, funders, etc.) so both your written and verbal communication skills need to be strong.

• Independent planning and execution: Deciding TODO items and completing tasks without someone consistently assigning the work is key for this role.

• Building capacity in communities of color and low-income communities: An essential part of our mission is to develop political power in communities of color and low-income communities, so you will need to be focused on developing relationships and building up volunteer leaders.

• Leveling up volunteer engagement: This is nearly an all-volunteer effort, so you will need to prioritize not just getting volunteers involved, but also making sure their commitments grows over time.

Start date, hours, and location

The Summer Organizers Program starts June 2019 and lasts approximately two months, depending on the candidate’s availability.

Summer Organizer positions are between 10 and 15 hours a week, depending on the candidate’s availability.

Candidates must have the ability to attend at least some trainings in Wilmington (however we also have options for those organizing in Sussex as well). Most work will take place in New Castle County.

Stipends

Candidates who would like financial assistance to participate in the program can apply to receive between $500 and $2,000 depending on the number of participants.

To apply

Fill out this application form by the February 28th early application deadline!

Network Delaware is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities strongly encouraged to apply.