Position: National Field Manager – Health Care Team

Location: Washington, DC preferred
Post Date: August 27, 2008
Closing Date: Open until filled.

About the Campaign for Community Change

The Campaign for Community Change (The Campaign) aims to increase the profile of policy issues that matter to low-income people and people of color; educate and empower communities to act on those issues; and influence the federal legislation to benefit low-income families and communities. Specifically, the Campaign works to equip low-income, immigrant and communities of color with the skills and resources to participate year-round in the electoral process. The Campaign’s goal is to ensure that these
communities—historically underrepresented in voter turnout—are recognized as constituencies to which every candidate is accountable. We aim to promote a culture of civic participation and assist our constituencies to become fully engaged in American democracy.

One of the most distinctive elements of the Campaign is that it is driven by local grassroots groups and leaders. The Campaign provides guidance and support, but the ownership is in the hands of the people from these communities and the organizations to which they belong. The Campaign will provide partner organizations with an array of support and resources to help them reach their electoral goals through voter education, registration, mobilization and protection, as well as efforts designed to strengthen the membership and leadership within their organizations. For further information please visit our website at www.campaignforcommunities.org.

Position Description:

The role of the National Health Care Field Manager is to manage a complex set of field relationships with state and local groups around the country that comprise the health care field for the Campaign for Community Change. The field manager is responsible for ensuring that the Campaign’s field meets deliverables around health care reform in the areas of: public education, earned media, grassroots lobbying and direct action. For the next 18 months these deliverables will be directly associated with the field plan of the Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) coalition, for which the Campaign is one of three national field managers. These efforts are intended to educate the public and decision makers about problems and solutions in the health care system and to mobilize large scale grassroots support for national health care reform. The national health care field manager will play a critical role in finding synergy between the health care assignments and asks of local partners with those of other Campaign for Community Change initiatives on immigration, worker justice, etc.

This position involves frequent travel in order to work on site with state and local partner organizations and have one-on-one conversations with those organization’s directors and program staff about both accomplishments and challenges with program implementation. This position involves familiarity with various organizing approaches, the ability to negotiate with multiple partners and the ability to find the correct balance between local political conditions in multiple states and national program constraints. The National Field Manager will help supervise and coordinate a small team of regional campaign organizers who will be assigned to specific organizations and states as adjunct staff to implement program.

Principal Responsibilities:

Duties include:

• Coordinate the team of Regional Campaign Organizers on the Health Care Team, including work plan development and review, regular one-on-one and team progress check-ins, staff development and evaluation. This will involve direct supervision as well as coordination with staff supervised by other managers but tasked with specific deliverables to the Health Care team.
• Assist Regional Campaign Organizers to troubleshoot problem areas and develop strategic action plans to overcome these challenges and deliver on stated commitments and goals. Identify model practices to disseminate among field as a whole; identify problems in implementation and direct staff time and resources to solve those problems as they arise
• Work directly with State partner groups as necessary & work to plan and implement group meetings of multiple organizations for the purpose of joint training, programmatic planning and evaluation.
• Manage relationship between the field and communications, policy and legislative teams both internally to the Campaign for Community Change and with HCAN national staff. This will involve:

.. recruiting staff and leaders from our field partners to HCAN committees,

.. regular internal communication with peers and colleagues assigned to policy, staff and legislative functions to ensure that they are promoting the interests of our field partners and helping broker those relationships.

• Report regularly to supervisor and partners on the joint CCC/NWFCO health care leadership team, evaluating progress toward goals in the field and identifying challenges to be addressed by the team.

Qualifications:

• Deep commitment to a vision of racial, social, and economic justice and to building progressive power.
• At least 3 years experience in supervision of field organizers engaged in community/grassroots organizing campaigns for policy change.
• At least 5 years experience in community/grassroots organizing, political campaigns and/or legislative work.
• Experience with national campaigns or large municipal/state coalitions strongly preferred.
• Strong written and verbal skills, and ability to listen.
• Ability to produce consistent, quality work in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to travel occasionally for field support and evaluation and to work flexible hours required.
• Ability to work independently and strong time management skills.
• Strong facilitation skills.
• Computer skills (word processing, spreadsheet & database, electronic communication).
• Ability to speak Spanish or other languages a plus.
• A sense of humor.

This position reports to:  Deputy Director for Organizing and Strategy, Organizing Unit

Salary & Benefits:  The Campaign for Community Change offers a competitive salary and an excellent benefits package.

Closing Date of Position:  Open Until Filled

How to apply: Please submit resume, cover letter that includes salary expectations and at least two writing samples to:

employment@communitychange.org
(Fax) 202-387-4891
Center for Community Change
Human Resources
Re: National Field Manager – Health Care Team
1536 U Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009