Advocacy Coordinator

Location: Remote, but preferably candidates based in Georgia

Position Summary:

El Refugio Ministry provides hospitality, visitation, and support to immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones. 

We seek to hire a compassionate and dedicated Advocacy Coordinator to help El Refugio carry out our vision toward a country without immigration detention.  The Advocacy Coordinator plays an important role in the day-to-day operations of El Refugio by supporting dedicated volunteer teams and managing El Refugio’s advocacy actions in coordination with staff and the advocacy team. 

Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Advocacy Coordinator will:

• Plan and execute El Refugio’s advocacy campaigns and efforts to end immigration detention
• Lead individual advocacy actions in coordination with the Advocacy Team
• Lead advocacy team by assigning cases to volunteers, ensuring appropriate action and follow-up, and recruiting/training new volunteers
• Monitor abuses reported during phone calls, letters, and visits
• Respond to requests for support from people in detention and their loved ones, including, filing complaints and connecting impacted persons and their families with external resources
• Conduct or procure ongoing volunteer training
• Educate volunteers on El Refugio values, actions, and policies ensuring volunteers are prepared to fulfill their duties
• Serve as the staff liaison for the hotline volunteer
• Be the initial point of contact for visitation groups and coordinate the visitation schedule 
• Suggest process and system improvements and innovations
• Assist Executive Director in other administrative tasks, as needed, to conduct the business of El Refugio and support volunteers, partners, and guests

Required Qualifications:

• Fluent in spoken and written Spanish; fluency in other languages is a plus
• Deeply committed to immigrants’ rights  and passionate about supporting immigrants directly impacted by the U.S. immigration detention system
• Strong organizational skills, effective time management skills, and excellent attention to detail
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work well with people, especially immigrants in detention and loved ones who may be in crisis, using a trauma-informed lens
• Demonstrated reliability as a team player and ability to work with multiple stakeholders simultaneously, including the Executive Director, Board of Directors, volunteers, visitors, partners, and guests
• Experience managing teams and building community among a team of volunteers
• Prior experience with and demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, as well as cloud document sharing tools such as Google Drive and similar  
• Availability to attend occasional evening and weekend events
• Ability to work from home/remotely with little supervision

Preferred Qualifications

• Individuals directly impacted by immigration detention or has prior experience working with immigrants or formerly incarcerated individuals
• Experience organizing in-person and/or digital advocacy campaigns and events
• Experience compiling data for reporting and analysis

How to Apply:

Please send a letter of inquiry and resume to info@elrefugioministry.org with the subject line: Advocacy Coordinator position. Please tell us, in a couple of paragraphs, why you would like to work with El Refugio. If you have experience with or have been directly impacted by the communities or groups that El Refugio works with, please include relevant details in your application.

El Refugio is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds. Candidates who have been directly affected by immigration detention or the mass incarceration system are encouraged to apply. The selected applicant’s employment will be contingent on the results of a background check.