BACKGROUND:
The Center for Economic Democracy (CED) is a US social movement building organization, growing capacity in our communities to transition capitalism into a just, sustainable and democratic economy. Based in Boston, CED supports local racial and economic justice initiatives like the Boston Ujima Project, Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power, the Solidarity Economy Initiative and Yes for a Better Budget, while offering training and technical assistance for economic democracy efforts across the US.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Program Associate, a full-time (40 hours/week) exempt salaried employee, will split their time between coordination of the Solidarity Economy Initiative and support of the Municipal Democracy Program. The Program Associate will be supervised by the Senior Director of Programs at the Center for Economic Democracy, who oversees program management for SEI and the Director of Municipal Democracy, who oversees program management for the Municipal Democracy Program at CED.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Solidarity Economy Initiative: 50% of the position is focused on the Solidarity Economy Initiative (SEI), a Massachusetts-based grassroots and funder organizing collaborative that creates space for grassroots organizers in working class communities of color to lead a Just Transition to a Solidarity Economy.
The Program Associate will be the primary person responsible for coordinating SEI. This includes a mix of organizational development, foundation staff engagement, program coordination, and administrative management responsibilities.
● Coordination and logistics: Planning, facilitation, coordination, co-design of SEI Grassroots and Funder Cohort sessions.
● Relationship Building: First point of contact with Executive Directors, build trusting relationships, act as advocate and supporter for organizations, support leadership development.
● Program Coordination: Coordinate SEI program activities, such as public trainings and workshops in coordination with SEI grassroots’ cohort and SEI funders’ cohort.
● Public Collateral: Create and publish content for social media, web and printed media.
● Public Relations: Represent SEI at funder meetings and convenings, and speak publicly about SEI strategy and outcomes.
● Organizational communication: Connect with other CED initiatives to communicate SEI’s work and identify opportunities for collaboration.
2. Municipal Democracy Program: 50% of the position is focused on CED’s city charter reform work. The Municipal Democracy Program began in 2018 with the Boston Charter Reform Study Group’s exploration of modernizing the Boston City Charter to reflect the
priorities and voices of Boston’s current residents. In 2020, after the murder of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, across the country and in Boston, cities’ budgets came under scrutiny, highlighting the disparity in how communities of color are resourced. In Nov 2021,
the Municipal Democracy Program’s “Yes On 1 for a Better Budget” coalition successfully advocated for and won passage of a historic voter referendum (Ballot Question 1) to change Boston’s charter in order to democratize the budget process and implement participatory budgeting. The Municipal Democracy Program is now in phase 2 of its advocacy trajectory, coordinating the coalition to ensure an equitable, community-led, and well-funded citywide
participatory budgeting process.
○ Coordination & Logistics: Planning, facilitation, coordination and co-design of Participatory Budgeting coalition meetings, events and gatherings.
○ Research & Advocacy: Work with coalition partners like the Participatory Budgeting Project to gather best practices and policies for Boston’s participatory budgeting process.
○ Communications: Support the CED-led PB coalition’s communications work, including digital organizing as well as social, earned, and paid media strategy and implementation.
QUALIFICATIONS:
● Skilled at organizing and supporting grassroots and BIPOC coalitions.
● A thorough and diligent project manager.
● Experience with organizing and facilitating events and conferences
● Expertise using web hosting platforms like Zoom/webex/google meet to facilitate meetings in a virtual environment
● Developed facilitation style over virtual platforms
● Experience in the grassroots community organizing sector
● Relationships and familiarity with the organizing community in Boston and/or Massachusetts
● Strong racial, gender justice and class analysis
● Familiarity with critiques of capitalism and potential alternatives
● Fluency in Spanish preferred
POSITION DETAILS:
1. Overview: Full-time (40 hours/week) exempt salaried position
2. Salary range: $47,500 – $60,000
3. Generous benefits package, including health, dental/vision coverage, 3% retirement match,
student loan assistance program, and health savings account
4. CED observes all national holidays and maintains a Responsible Paid Time Off policy
5. This position requires Massachusetts residency (unless otherwise negotiated) and the ability to commute to CED’s Boston office on a regular basis
6. Current Covid-19 protocol temporarily allows fully remote work arrangements for employees with an option to use CED’s Boston office space
How to apply: If interested, please email your resume and cover letter by by Jan 23, 2022 to: jobs@economicdemocracy.us. Ideal start date is 1/30 – 2/15/22.
IMPORTANT: Please write “PROGRAM ASSOCIATE” in the subject line.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Center of Economic Democracy is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, height, weight, or marital status in employment or the provision of services.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
