Campaign Coordinator - Reparations for Black Students Campaign

About the Campaign

Since 2016, the Justice for Oakland Students (J4OS) has organized racial justice organizations and groups to challenge the trajectory of Oakland Unified School District’s agenda in serving Oakland students, families and communities. After 3 year of listening to Black students, families and communities about the harm of anti-Black racism in OUSD schools, the Black Working Group of J4OS launched the Black Students for Reparations Campaign in August 2020.  Building on the success of Black leaders calling for greater city-wide investment in the Black community of Oakland, we designed a resolution that incorporated 16 demands to repair generations of harm within OUSD. After weeks of advocating and organizing with our Core Leaders Committee, we successfully won the passage of the “Reparations for Black Students Resolution” on March 24, 2021. Now, we must organize to sustain and grow our base of leaders and supporters to ensure the campaign continues to push for OUSD to implement the resolution to ensure that the first resolution in the country to frame reparations in education is indeed historic and a model for our larger fight across the United States. 

About the Position

The Reparations Campaign Coordinator is responsible for actively engaging the Black Working Group (BWG) and Core Leaders Committee (CLC) to implement the Reparations for Black Students Campaign Strategy. The BWG consists of leaders from Black led organizations such as Bay Area Plan, Parent-Voices and the Oakland Education Association, focusing on bringing about systemic change for Black teachers, students, families in Oakland. The Core Leaders committee is the organizing body of the Reparations campaign that is made up of teachers, support staff, parents, students and coalition partners. The Campaign Coordinator will focus on bringing awareness to the campaign, serving as a liaison between the BWG and CLC.

The Campaign Coordinator will work extensively with the CLC to support the building of a powerful movement to both keep majority black schools safe and to ensure authentic implementation of resolution goals. They will also support the BWG to coordinate meetings, rallies, actions and engage members in advancing the goals in the Reparations campaign.

This is an exciting opportunity for a self-motivated and creative individual who wants to have an impact on changing the current conditions of school climate and culture by uplifting and shifting educators and support staff to be active and intentional around creating a sanctuary for all children.  

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

BWG Facilitation

• Support BWG to coordinate the campaign strategy
• Attend Black Working Group Planning Meetings to participate in campaign strategy development
• Coordinate and calendar meetings with Black Working Group
• Document all work and report to Black Working Group

Core Leaders Committee

• Engage parent, youth and education leaders to participate in Core Leaders Committee
• Facilitate the Core Leaders weekly meetings
• Maintain systems of tracking outreach and following up on engagement strategy with Core Leaders
• Coordinate leadership development of Core Leaders Committee
• Collaborate with Justice For Oakland Students Coalition members and Elder Council on curriculum development

Communications

• Work with Communication Coordinator to maintain regular social media presence on campaign websites, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram...to tell the stories of progress, challenges and successes, through photos, videos, blog posts and interviews.
• Work with Communication Coordinator to ensure that accurate and up to date written and electronic outreach materials for campaign engagement are developed that promote transformative family engagement, the reparations campaigns and the impact being achieved
• Implement evaluation tools and strategies that effectively measure impact and tell the stories of transformation
• Performs other special projects and assignments as needed

​Hours of Work 

Monday-Saturday

This is a full-time (40 hours/week)

Flexible work schedule with evenings and weekends regularly required

Duration of Position: August 15, 2021 - June 30, 2023 (contingent on funding)

Essential Duties

• Work at a computer approximately 70% of the time, Subject to Change
• Speak clearly and effectively by phone, face-to-face and before groups
• Travel to and from communities and statewide via personal car. Must have valid CA driver’s license and current insurance coverage.
• Knowledge of Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Office, Google Suite, relational databases and the internet
• Experience using online and social media tools 

   

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated commitment to mission and values of the Reparations campaign and resolution goals.
• Proven record of community organizing experience
• A bachelor's degree in sociology, public policy, education or a related field or 4 years equivalent experience
• Five years of experience developing and leading social and/or racial justice programs
• Five years of campaign and/or organizing experience, preferably in a public education setting
• Strong oral communication skills; comfort with one-on-ones, phone outreach, and public speaking
• Professional writing skills
• Ability to synthesize and re-organize information so that it is accessible to people with different learning styles and life expectancies
• Ability to lead, motivate and inspire the base to develop into leaders and participate in key programs
• Ability to take initiative and be creative in developing new roles for the base in campaigns and providing support 
• Excellent organizational skills; ability to manage and prioritize work subject to deadlines in a dynamic and changing environment, as an individual and as a member of a team; detail oriented and conscientious
• Excellent facilitation skills, diplomacy and awareness of group dynamics
• Ability and willingness to work weekends and evenings when necessary
• Ability to maintain confidentiality about the campaign 
• Motivated by results
• Willingness to innovate 
• Ability to lift and/or carry 20 lbs or more

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with public policy, advocacy or organizing around issues in public education 
• Experience developing curriculum for grassroots organizing and empowerment