Campaigns Director

Location: Maryland

Summary: Progressive Maryland was founded to empower communities to act for social and economic justice by developing leaders and cultivating allies in order to build a grassroots movement with the power to advance economic, racial, and environmental equity. We are made up of over 125,000 individual members and supporters and dozens of affiliated religious, community and labor organizations statewide.

Campaigns Director: The Campaigns Director takes responsibility for building a collective of cohesive, effective, and relational member leaders and volunteers for the organization by managing our team of issue campaign organizers. The Campaigns Director oversees all recruitment of new supporters and the development of volunteer member leaders who both a) identify with and support the mission of Progressive Maryland, and b) commit to power building for the world as it should be. Under the supervision of our Executive Director, the The Campaigns Director builds issue and electoral campaign strategies and leads the planning, execution, and debrief of grassroots outreach plans to further the ideologic and programmatic goals of the organization. The Campaigns Director also manages the execution of periodic grassroots fundraising and membership drives.

 

Our Campaigns:

–Police Accountability and Ending Mass Incarceration: The Progressive Maryland Justice Task Force has formed to create a more just and transformative system of justice in Maryland. We are committed to ending the criminal legal systems oppression of Black and Indigenous People of Color here in Maryland while creating alternative systems for community safety.
–Environmental Justice: Maryland is home to many environmental treasures from the Chesapeake Bay to our state and community parks. Unfortunately, pollution and misguided corporate practices threaten these public resources, often at the expense of low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. We believe in an economic system that puts people and the environment above corporate profits and will continue to fight to make this a reality.
–Fair Elections: For democracy to flourish in “The Free State,” Progressive Maryland believes we must work diligently to protect voters’ rights, maximize voter education and participation, and minimize the domination and corrupting influence of money in our electoral and political processes. To these ends, we focus on the four areas described below with summaries of our progress and achievements to date.
–Healthcare Justice:The COVID19 pandemic has exposed the existing problems in our healthcare system like never before. Our healthcare system has produced racial disparities in health outcomes that result in people of color having shorter lifespans and a great number of preventable illnesses. –Progressive Maryland’s Health Care Task Force fights for health care as a human right as well as a broader public health system that ends racial health disparities.
–Ending the War on Drugs: The Progressive Maryland Drug Policy Task Force aims to alleviate the societal damage of both substance abuse and prohibition by increasing resources and establishing overdose prevention sites. We seek to empower Maryland residents with harm reduction-based education, policy platforms to fight for drug policy reform and therefore embody a community that cares about all of its people.  To advocate for drug policies to expand harm reduction across the state of Maryland.
–Re-entry Support Services: The Re-Entry Work Group (Now Returning Citizens Task Force) was formed in 2019 to respond to an unmet need – the lack of transitional housing and programs, social services, and jobs for returning citizens in Prince George’s County. The group continues to advocate for voter access, re-entry housing, jobs, healthcare, funding for a transition center, and formation of an Office of Returning Citizens Affairs for the county.
Responsibilities 

● Supervise the issue campaign organizers in many of the major issue areas and work with those campaign organizers to fully build out their strategies, their teams, their fundraising, and to execute their campaign plans to the fullest. Where there is not a campaign organizer in place, ensure the necessary planning and fundraising groundwork is laid, and recruit the right team to lead the effort.

● In coordination with the Organizing Director Develop Progressive Maryland’s campaigning methodology to be of the highest levels of rigor and impact by developing and instituting clear goals, benchmarks, and practices of the art and science of campaigning.

● Ensure organizational base building and grassroots fundraising goals including PAC fundraising are met and tracked in a consistent and accurate fashion

● Oversee the development of Progressive Maryland strategic campaign plans and statewide issue task forces

● Oversee our advocacy and electoral programs in coordination with Progressive Maryland allies and affiliate organizations to ensure that the organization advances its goals for reform and systemic change.

 

 

Qualifications 

● Strong commitment to building grassroots power by organizing individuals to take collective action

● Ability to and experience with manage teams of organizers, canvassers, or similar positions on a social justice issue and/or progressive electoral campaign

● Ability to design and run training programs covering basic community organizing skills.
●  Experience building and implementing issue-based and electoral campaign plans that are driven by grassroots organizing and leadership development
● Basic computer literacy and a willingness to quickly learn and use new digital platforms

● Ability to meet deadlines under pressure while handling multiple projects

● Ability to work independently, as a member of a team, and as a team lead

● The ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge the conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility.

● Experience with Votebuilder/VAN and other campaign platforms

● Experience with and/or understanding of a broad range of racial, economic, gender, social, and environmental equity issues

● A clear sense of the challenges our communities face, impatience in the face of those wrongs, and a drive to address them

 

Pluses (but not required) 

● Familiarity with Maryland political systems on the city, county, and state level

 

Travel: All positions require reliable access to a vehicle and a valid driver’s license, laptop, phone, and willingness to travel throughout Maryland (as needed).

Salary, Benefits, and Position Details: Salary is commensurate with experience between $60,000-$70,000. Benefits include health, vision, and dental insurance, a 403(b) retirement plan, 2 weeks paid vacation and 6 personal days per year, and holidays.

To Apply: Please send a 1-page or less story of self that tells us why you want to be or became an organizer, resume, and three professional references to [email protected] with Campaigns Director” in the email subject line. Only complete applications submitted by email will be considered. Complete applications will be considered on a rolling basis until a hire is made.

Progressive Maryland is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, People of Color, LGBTQ people, Returning Citizens, and Immigrants are strongly encouraged to apply.