Organizing Coordinator of People’s Policy & Base Building

Durham Beyond Policing is seeking an Organizing Coordinator of People’s Policy & Base Building who will co-lead organizing campaigns that win urgent, tangible improvements in our daily lives that get us closer to ending policing and incarceration. You will support Black and Brown working class community members teaching ourselves how to delve into municipal, county, and school budgets so we can understand how the system is misallocating our public dollars to fund policing and incarceration instead of human needs. You’ll help us distill complex concepts into clear, vivid ideas that inspire our base to take strategic action. You will choose the battles that matter most to our communities, that will deepen our consciousness and grow our base, and that will put us on a path to win more of what our people want and need over time.

Background

You are an organizer at heart, with a passion for listening to all kinds of people regardless of background, life experience or social upbringing, and you possess the ability to persuade community members to take courageous action together. You will bring your years of experience skillfully connecting state and local policy to creative, audacious, joyful on-the-ground organizing. You are focused on people, and sharing the stories of those who have been actively silenced. You understand the power of targeted one-on-ones and relational organizing to grow a membership base with patience and care. You embody leadership through love, listening, respect, and a bold commitment to liberation.

When you represent Durham Beyond Policing, you honor the humanity of those you interact with. The way you practice rigor and care in relationships reinforces DBP as a respected community organization and a trusted organizational partner. You move easefully through your tasks, and find fulfillment in amplifying organizing and advocacy work. You do your work through a lens of justice, liberation, inclusion, and accessibility.

You have a transparent, fair, collaborative leadership style. You embrace the opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback. You are clear on your commitments and you follow through. You care for yourself in ways that allow you to sustain consistency, encouragement, and inspiration.

Hours: 35hrs/week, mostly 9:30AM-4:30PM Monday-Friday with regular evening meetings and occasional weekends.

Location: Must be based in Durham, NC

Desired Start Date: December  2022, with a 90-day evaluation [timing is negotiable].

Compensation: The annual salary for this position is $55,000. DBP offers a flexible, affirming and encouraging work environment; health insurance, PTO and vacation.

Application deadline: Position open until filled

Preferred Experience:

Experience in community organizing or social justice activism
Training in popular education and critical participatory action methodology, or an eagerness to learn
Background in public policy
Experience using online project/team management tools like Slack, Signal, Basecamp, and other platforms
Multilingual ability is a plus, especially Spanish/English

Required skills and abilities:

Strong interpersonal communication skills and commitment to building authentic relationships
Passion for designing campaign arcs with strategic purpose that build people power through every tactical step taken
Passion for coordinating community events that nourish and unite
Confidence in public speaking and speaking with the media and coaching community members to do so
Direct, caring communication and steady patience while collaborating with others
Ability to manage multiple projects and learn new technology platforms quickly
Self-motivated
Ability to meet deadlines and collaborate well with others
Joyful about working in a Black and Brown-led multiracial organization
Reliable transportation, as this position is not remote and will require occasional local travel.

Responsibilities include:

  • Developing a strong organizing strategy and implementation plan, in authentic collaboration with membership, fellow staff, and advisors, and seeing the plans through to fruition
  • Developing outreach materials highlighting and announcing DBP’s community organizing work and events
  • Participating in weekly meetings with DBP staff
  • Facilitating meetings and workshops with members
  • Creating weekly reports to keep track of ongoing work
  • Building relationships with community members and trusted partners
  • Acting as a DBP spokesperson

Supervision:

Reports to Co-Director of People & Organizing
Accountable to staff, DBP membership body and leadership

About Durham Beyond Policing:

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition.

We are working to defund and abolish the Durham police, the sheriff’s department, and the jails, while simultaneously redistributing public resources and funding towards the institutions and culture shifts necessary to keep us all truly safe. Ultimately, we are building a beloved community where those who have committed and experienced harm are never disposable, and where policing, surveillance, and incarceration are no longer part of how we relate to each other. 

Currently, we have a small staff and a large team of amazing, active volunteers who power our work. Our volunteer work is themed around Arts and Culture (design, printmaking, street art, community engagement projects); Communications (press releases, earned media, op-ed authorship, social media); Funds (grants, events, crowdfunding, budgeting); Advocacy (meetings with electeds, observing public meetings, tracking campaign opportunities); Research (literature review, writing reports/op-eds, presenting recommendations); and Outreach (base building, mobilizations, events, workshops, demonstrations, direct action).


Our volunteer-driven work will continue to play a crucial role in continuing the work of Durham Beyond Policing in coming years, and we are looking for staff who understand the role of social, economic, and environmental justice organizations in building transformative movements. We’ve seen the nonprofit industrial complex replace mass-based organizing with overworking a few paid staff to do the bidding of funders and this dynamic damages the work. We seek to build the opposite– staff members working a healthy work-life balance in ways that enhance coordination, strengthen participatory democracy practices, and increase organizational follow through by cultivating and supporting member leadership, with the majority of contributions coming from committed grassroots donors.

Because of our particular focus in Black communities, communities of color, and working class communities in Durham, we are seeking candidates with familiarity and strong relationships in these communities.

For more information on Durham Beyond Policing, please visit www.durhambeyondpolicing.org


On hiring in a movement

Durham Beyond Policing has been a powerful grassroots formation composed of a large number of mostly unpaid visionaries since 2016. We know applying for jobs in our home city and within a justice movement can feel complicated. We will receive more qualified candidates than we can afford to hire and we will have to make very difficult choices. We hope that our hiring process introduces us to wonderful collaborators, even if we are unable to hire everyone. We intend for our hiring processes to build bridges and forge new relationships.

The truth is that movement organizations cannot win on staffing alone. We staff to improve our coordination and effectiveness, but we win by successfully growing our base of Durham residents from every walk of life engaged in participatory decision-making, with people from marginalized and exploited communities at the leadership center.

Benefits

  • Health insurance
  • Thirteen paid holidays and 24 days of paid time off that is accrued on a monthly basis
  • Paid and unpaid leave policies detailed in the personnel handbook.

Category: Exempt employee 


To apply

If you require reasonable accommodation during your application process, please let the hiring committee know.

Submit the following to hiring@durhambeyondpolicing.com :

Subject line: “People’s Policy & Base Building Coordinator application from <YOUR NAME>”

In the body of the email include:

  • cover letter describing your interest in the position and any relevant experience
  • attached resume
  • three references, including a recent supervisor and colleague (name, phone, email, relationship to you)

Black people, indigenous people, people of color, persons with disabilities, women, trans and gender-nonconforming people, LGBTQ+ people, and people with lived experience surviving criminalization, repression, policing or jails and prisons, are strongly encouraged to apply. There are no formal education or degree requirements for this role.

Durham Beyond Policing is fiscally sponsored by Southern Vision Alliance (SVA). We have programmatic independence, we are supported by SVA’s administrative care for sponsored projects, and SVA’s board has ultimate fiscal and legal responsibility for Durham Beyond Policing’s actions.

Durham Beyond Policing and Southern Vision Alliance are equal opportunity employers. We recruit and hire qualified candidates on the basis of their qualifications and without regard to race, class, religion, sex, gender expression or identity, pregnancy status, marital status, or family responsibilities, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or any basis prohibited by law.

Communications & Cultural Work Coordinator

Durham Beyond Policing is seeking a skilled Communications & Cultural Work Coordinator to broadcast a compelling visionary narrative that resonates with our communities to build power, to streamline organizational communications with our volunteer base and supporters, and to create art that heals and transforms. The primary focus of this role will be to integrate Durham Beyond Policing’s abolitionist principles into our communications strategy. The ideal candidate brings strong writing and copy-editing, social media management, public relations, a high level of creativity, and a passion to connect with people across all backgrounds through cultural work and storytelling.

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition. 

In your role as Communications & Cultural Work Coordinator, you will be responsible for developing a forward-facing communications strategy and narrative focus, while creating easily accessible and engaging content. The ideal candidate should exhibit a strong ability to coordinate across multiple communication channels and platforms, and a commitment to being a team player. We are looking for someone who is innovative in the area of cultural work, with an eye on cutting edge technologies, storytelling, and deconstructing harmful narratives that impact those on the socio-economic margin.

Experience

You are an artist, performer or practitioner at heart, with an ability to get messaging across to many audiences, regardless of background, life experience or social upbringing.

You are focused on people, and sharing the stories of those who have been actively silenced.

You move easefully through your tasks, and find fulfillment in amplifying organizing and advocacy work.

You embody leadership through love, listening, respect, and a bold commitment to liberation.

When you represent Durham Beyond Policing, you honor the humanity of those you interact with. The way you practice rigor and care in relationships reinforces DBP as a respected community organization and a trusted organizational partner.

You do your work through a lens of justice, liberation, inclusion, and accessibility. You have a transparent, fair, collaborative leadership style. You embrace the opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback. You are clear on your commitments and you follow through. You care for yourself in ways that allow you to sustain consistency, encouragement, and inspiration.

Hours: 35hrs/week, mostly 9:30AM-4:30PM Monday-Friday with regular evening meetings and occasional weekends.

Location: Must be based in Durham, NC

Desired Start Date: December 5,  2022, with a 90-day evaluation [timing is negotiable].

Compensation: The annual salary for this position is $55,000. DBP offers a flexible, affirming and encouraging work environment; health insurance, PTO and vacation.

Application deadline: Position open until filled

Preferred Experience

  • Experience in community organizing or social justice activism
  • Experience in public relations, press contact management, earned and paid media
  • Experience using online project/team management tools like Slack, Signal, Basecamp, and other platforms
  • Background in artmaking or performance
  • Strong social media management skills (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)
  • Brilliant writer with the ability to convey difficult concepts
  • Experience in writing articles, op-eds, blogs etc.
  • Experience in capturing stories through audio storytelling or videography
  • Coordinating community events

Required skills and abilities

  • English-speaking or Multilingual a plus!
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills and commitment to building authentic relationships
  • Experience in content development and social media management
  • Confidence and steady patience while collaborating with others
  • Ability to manage multiple projects and learn new technology platforms quickly
  • Self-motivated
  • Confidence in public-speaking
  • Ability to meet deadlines and collaborate with others
  • Joyful about working in a Black and Brown-led multiracial organization
  • Reliable transportation, as this position is not remote and will require occasional local travel. 

Supervision 

  • Reports to Co-Director of People & Organizing
  • Accountable to staff, DBP membership body and leadership

Responsibilities include

  • Developing a strong communications and forward-facing narrative strategy
  • Developing press releases highlighting and announcing DBP’s community organizing work and events
  • Updating/Modifying our Internal Communications Memo
  • Orienting our base to our communications best practices 
  • Auditing/monitoring existing communications channels and platforms
  • Researching useful technology tools, and facilitating organization-wide implementation
  • Developing social media content and managing our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts
  • Acting as DBP’s Press/Public Relations Manager and Spokesperson on occasion
  • Collecting, capturing and curating stories of community members
  • Some filming/editing short videos for social media/website
  • Attending weekly meetings with DBP staff
  • Creating weekly reports to keep track of ongoing work
  • Build relationships with community members and trusted partners

About Durham Beyond Policing

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition. 

We are working to defund and abolish the Durham police, the sheriff’s department, and the jails, while simultaneously redistributing public resources and funding towards the institutions and culture shifts necessary to keep us all truly safe. Ultimately, we are building a beloved community where those who have committed and experienced harm are never disposable, and where policing, surveillance, and incarceration are no longer part of how we relate to each other. 

Currently, we have a small staff and a large team of amazing, active volunteers who power our work. Our volunteer work is themed around Arts and Culture (design, printmaking, street art, community engagement projects); Communications (press releases, earned media, op-ed authorship, social media); Funds (grants, events, crowdfunding, budgeting); Advocacy (meetings with electeds, observing public meetings, tracking campaign opportunities); Research (literature review, writing reports/op-eds, presenting recommendations); and Outreach (base building, mobilizations, events, workshops, demonstrations, direct action).

Our volunteer-driven work will continue to play a crucial role in continuing the work of Durham Beyond Policing in coming years, and we are looking for staff who understand the role of social, economic, and environmental justice organizations in building transformative movements. We’ve seen the nonprofit industrial complex replace mass-based organizing with overworking a few paid staff to do the bidding of funders and this dynamic damages the work. We seek to build the opposite– staff members working a healthy work-life balance in ways that enhance coordination, strengthen participatory democracy practices, and increase organizational follow through by cultivating and supporting member leadership, with the majority of contributions coming from committed grassroots donors.

Because of our particular focus in Black communities, communities of color, and working class communities in Durham, we are seeking candidates with familiarity and strong relationships in these communities.

For more information on Durham Beyond Policing, please visit www.durhambeyondpolicing.org

On hiring in a movement

Durham Beyond Policing has been a powerful grassroots formation composed of a large number of mostly unpaid visionaries since 2016. We know applying for jobs in our home city and within a justice movement can feel complicated. We will receive more qualified candidates than we can afford to hire and we will have to make very difficult choices. We hope that our hiring process introduces us to wonderful collaborators, even if we are unable to hire everyone. We intend for our hiring processes to build bridges and forge new relationships.

The truth is that movement organizations cannot win on staffing alone. We staff to improve our coordination and effectiveness, but we win by successfully growing our base of Durham residents from every walk of life engaged in participatory decision-making, with people from marginalized and exploited communities at the leadership center. 

Benefits

  • Health insurance
  • Thirteen paid holidays and 24 days of paid time off that is accrued on a monthly basis
  • Paid and unpaid leave policies detailed in the personnel handbook.
  • Communications & Cultural Work Coordinator will be provided with a high quality work laptop and hotspot (as needed). You will be responsible for keeping equipment in good working condition as it will be in your possession at all times for the duration of your contract.

Category: Exempt employee 

To apply

If you require reasonable accommodation during your application process, please let the hiring committee know.

Submit the following to hiring@durhambeyondpolicing.com:

Subject line: “Communications & Cultural Work  application from <YOUR NAME>

In the body of the email include:

  • cover letter describing your interest in the position and any relevant experience
  • attached resume
  • three references, including a recent supervisor and colleague (name, phone, email, relationship to you)

Black people, indigenous people, people of color, persons with disabilities, women, trans and gendernonconforming people, LGBTQ+ people, and people with lived experience surviving criminalization, repression, policing or jails and prisons, are strongly encouraged to apply. There are no formal education or degree requirements for this role.

Durham Beyond Policing is fiscally sponsored by Southern Vision Alliance (SVA). We have programmatic independence, we are supported by SVA’s administrative care for sponsored projects, and SVA’s board has ultimate fiscal and legal responsibility for Durham Beyond Policing’s actions.

Durham Beyond Policing and Southern Vision Alliance are equal opportunity employers. We recruit and hire qualified candidates on the basis of their qualifications and without regard to race, class, religion, sex, gender expression or identity, pregnancy status, marital status, or family responsibilities, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or any basis prohibited by law.

CPAR District Organizer

Durham Beyond Policing is looking for an emerging leader local to the Durham community to serve as District Organizer leading our Community Participatory Action Research Project. You will work in collaboration with Durham Beyond Policing staff, member leadership, advisory board, and partner organizations.  We are seeking candidates who are connected to Durham communities, and who align with DBP’s mission, vision and values. 

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition. 

As District Organizer, you will lead several critical functions including organizing around important issues, such as fighting over-policing, surveillance, and incarceration, and creating opportunities for our people to thrive. You will be tasked with leading community outreach, base-building, skilling up and growing through leadership development and professional training opportunities.  

Our Community Participatory Action Research Project (CPAR) is a new endeavor by Durham Beyond Policing, deepening our practice of listening to our fellow residents to develop solutions to the challenges our neighborhoods face. Community participatory action research is a collective process of investigation, empowerment, and action. The people most affected by the problems investigate and analyze the issues, sometimes inviting in the help of additional experts, and ultimately act together to bring about meaningful, long-term solutions.

In your role, you will assist Durham community residents in your neighborhood in developing and implementing alternatives to policing as a collective project. Community participatory action research is an approach to creating new forms of knowledge and practice that center collaboration and creativity. In Durham, we envision using community participatory action research to generate models that can address harm and violence without policing. 

We will use community participatory action research to create at least one intervention to harm and violence impacting our communities. You will be engaging your neighbors in an iterative process of identifying pressing safety issues, critical needs, and resources necessary to build trusted systems of safety and community accountability. It is essential that the people organizing the research belong to the communities, have trusted relationships with community members, and have a vested interest in building systems that will keep their communities safe. We want to work with communities that have experienced a history of over-policing, and work together in finding a solution to root causes.

Hours: 30hrs/week, mostly 12pm-6pm Monday-Friday with regular evening meetings and occasional weekends.

Desired Start Date: November 1, 2022, with a 90-day evaluation. 

Compensation: The salary for this position is $42,000. This is a 12 month, 1099 contract position. DBP offers a flexible, affirming and encouraging work environment; health reimbursement stipend, PTO and vacation.

Application deadline: Position open until filled

Experience

You are ready to lead long range planning to fulfill Durham Beyond Policing’s vision, and support our incredible team of hardworking workers and volunteers to actualize it.

You are eager to engage neighbors and community members in learning together and building an intervention to harm and violence that impacts our communities.

You embody leadership through love, listening, respect, and a bold commitment to liberation.

When you represent Durham Beyond Policing, you honor the humanity of those you interact with. The way you practice rigor and care in relationships establishes DBP as a respected community organization and a trusted organizational partner.

You do your work through a lens of justice, liberation, inclusion, and accessibility. You have a transparent, fair, collaborative leadership style. You embrace the opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback. You are clear on your commitments and you follow through. You care for yourself in ways that allow you to sustain consistency, encouragement, and inspiration.

Preferred Experience

  • Experience in community organizing, or union work (preferred but not required)
  • Strong leadership qualities and a positive attitude towards working with people from different generations and backgrounds
  • Strong partnership skills, able to establish relationships with community leaders, residents and fellow staff
  • Influence and trust within your community and or neighborhood
  • High degree of emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills
  • Experience and/or commitment learning about transformative justice, conflict transformation, and community accountability
  • Excellent communication skills and responsiveness
  • Excellent written, analytical, oral, organizational, and time management skills
  • A commitment to the work of Durham Beyond Policing and readiness to grow and learn with the membership

Required skills and abilities

  • English-speaking, Bilingual a plus!
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills and commitment to building authentic relationships
  • Experience in managing event logistics, eager to be the first there and last to leave
  • Confidence and steady patience while collaborating with others
  • Ability to manage multiple projects, events and logistical needs
  • Self-motivated
  • Ability to meet deadlines and collaborate with others
  • Joyful about working in a Black and Brown-led multiracial organization
  • Reliable transportation, as this position is in-person and not remote. 

Supervision 

  • Reports to Co-Director of People & Organizing
  • Works in close partnership with Co-Coordinator of CPAR & Popular Education and Co-District Organizer
  • Accountable to your CPAR Co-District Organizer, staff, DBP membership body and leadership

Responsibilities include

  • Assisting Durham community residents in your neighborhood in developing and implementing alternatives to policing as a collective project. 
  • Being an advocate and leader in your community around addressing interpersonal harm and police violence
  • Engaging your neighbors in an iterative process of identifying pressing safety issues, critical needs, and resources necessary to build trusted systems of safety and community accountability. 
  • Facilitating meeting spaces, people’s assemblies and town halls with residents and other stakeholders
  • Assisting with setting up/cleaning up meeting spaces
  • Attending weekly meetings with DBP staff
  • Creating weekly reports to keep track of ongoing work
  • Build relationships with community members
  • District Organizers will be provided with a high quality work laptop and hotspot. You will be responsible for keeping equipment in good working condition as it will be in your possession at all times for the duration of your contract. 

About Durham Beyond Policing

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition. 

We are working to defund and abolish the Durham police, the sheriff’s department, and the jails, while simultaneously redistributing public resources and funding towards the institutions and culture shifts necessary to keep us all truly safe. Ultimately, we are building a beloved community where those who have committed and experienced harm are never disposable, and where policing, surveillance, and incarceration are no longer part of how we relate to each other. 

Currently, we have a small staff and a large team of amazing, active volunteers who power our work. Our volunteer work is themed around Arts and Culture (design, printmaking, street art, community engagement projects); Communications (press releases, earned media, op-ed authorship, social media); Funds (grants, events, crowdfunding, budgeting); Advocacy (meetings with electeds, observing public meetings, tracking campaign opportunities); Research (literature review, writing reports/op-eds, presenting recommendations); and Outreach (base building, mobilizations, events, workshops, demonstrations, direct action).

Our volunteer-driven work will continue to play a crucial role in continuing the work of Durham Beyond Policing in coming years, and we are looking for staff who understand the role of social, economic, and environmental justice organizations in building transformative movements. We’ve seen the nonprofit industrial complex replace mass-based organizing with overworking a few paid staff to do the bidding of funders and this dynamic damages the work. We seek to build the opposite– staff members working a healthy work-life balance in ways that enhance coordination, strengthen participatory democracy practices, and increase organizational follow through by cultivating and supporting member leadership, with the majority of contributions coming from committed grassroots donors.

Because of our particular focus in Black communities, communities of color, and working class communities in Durham, we are seeking candidates with familiarity and strong relationships in these communities.

For more information on Durham Beyond Policing, please visit www.durhambeyondpolicing.org

On hiring in a movement

Durham Beyond Policing has been a powerful grassroots formation composed of a large number of mostly unpaid visionaries since 2016. We know applying for jobs in our home city and within a justice movement can feel complicated. We will receive more qualified candidates than we can afford to hire and we will have to make very difficult choices. We hope that our hiring process introduces us to wonderful collaborators, even if we are unable to hire everyone. We intend for our hiring processes to build bridges and forge new relationships.

The truth is that movement organizations cannot win on staffing alone. We staff to improve our coordination and effectiveness, but we win by successfully growing our base of Durham residents from every walk of life engaged in participatory decision-making, with people from marginalized and exploited communities at the leadership center. 

Benefits

  • Health reimbursement stipend
  • Thirteen paid holidays and 24 days of paid time off that is accrued on a monthly basis
  • Paid and unpaid leave policies detailed in the personnel handbook.

Category: Exempt employee 

To apply

If you require reasonable accommodation during your application process, please let the hiring committee know.

Submit the following to hiring@durhambeyondpolicing.com:

Subject line: “CPAR District Organizer _____Community application from <YOUR NAME>

In the body of the email include:

  • cover letter describing your interest in the position and any relevant experience
  • attached resume
  • three references, including a recent supervisor and colleague (name, phone, email, relationship to you)

Black people, indigenous people, people of color, persons with disabilities, women, trans and gendernonconforming people, LGBTQ+ people, and people with lived experience surviving criminalization, repression, policing or jails and prisons, are strongly encouraged to apply. There are no formal education or degree requirements for this role.

Durham Beyond Policing is fiscally sponsored by Southern Vision Alliance (SVA). We have programmatic independence, are supported by SVA’s administrative care for sponsored projects, and SVA’s board has ultimate fiscal and legal responsibility for Durham Beyond Policing’s actions.

Durham Beyond Policing and Southern Vision Alliance are equal opportunity employers. We recruit and hire qualified candidates on the basis of their qualifications and without regard to race, class, religion, sex, gender expression or identity, pregnancy status, marital status, or family responsibilities, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or any basis prohibited by law.

Co-Director of People & Organizing, Durham Beyond Policing

Durham Beyond Policing  is looking for a visionary leader to direct our work as Co-Director of People & Organizing, in partnership with the Co-Director of Development & Movement Building, and in collaboration with staff, member leadership, and our advisory board. You must have a demonstrated long-time commitment to our mission, vision, and values. 

As Co-Director of People & Organizing you will lead several critical functions that support Durham Beyond Policing’s continued success as an organization, including managing organizing, operations, culture, and local organizational relationships.

The Co-Director of People & Organizing will lead the charge on moving Durham Beyond Policing forward by implementing practices, systems and tools where they currently don’t exist, and improving all structures wherever possible.

Hours: 35-40 hrs/week, mostly 9am-5pm Monday-Friday with regular evening meetings and occasional weekends.
Desired Start Date: May 1, 2022, with a 90-day evaluation. 

Compensation: The salary for this position is $65,000. DBP offers a flexible, encouraging work environment; health, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) retirement plan contribution; health reimbursement account, vacation, life insurance, detailed below.

Application deadline: Position open until filled

Experience

You are ready to lead long range planning to fulfill Durham Beyond Policing’s vision, and support our incredible team of hardworking workers and volunteers to actualize it.

You are eager to develop systems and infrastructure to support healthy, sustainable work culture and effectiveness in grassroots organizing.

You embody leadership through love,  listening, respect, and a bold commitment to liberation.

When you represent Durham Beyond Policing, you honor the humanity of those you interact with. The way you practice rigor and care in relationships establishes DBP as a respected community organization and a trusted organizational partner.

You manage staff and volunteers within an organization through a lens of justice, liberation, inclusion, and accessibility. You have a transparent, fair, collaborative leadership style. You embrace the opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback. You are clear on your commitments and you follow through. You care for yourself in ways that allow you to sustain consistency, encouragement, and inspiration.

As Co-Director of People & Movement Building, you will bring a high level of professional and proven experience, an acumen for liberatory management (recognizing supervision as a tool to cultivate movement leadership), and the demonstrated ability to lead a rapidly evolving organization. You will have managed a team within an organization and will be deeply committed to justice, liberation, inclusion and accessibility.

The ideal candidate will have most, if not all, of the following professional and personal experience and qualities:

  • Expertise in skillfully managing teams with excellent results. Prior experience with unionized workers and collective bargaining processes is a plus
  • Expertise in people management, including 5+ years of direct supervisory experience  and 2+ years of developing new leaders
  • Experience overseeing compliance efforts, and developing administrative processes and procedures
  • Strong partnership skills, able to establish credibility and rapport with team members
  • Influential with a demonstrated ability to coach and counsel employees
  • High degree of emotional intelligence, interpersonal, and negotiation skills
  • Track record of successfully navigating complex employee relations situations
  • Excellent written, analytical, oral, organizational, and time management skills
  • A commitment to the work of Durham Beyond Policing and readiness to grow and learn with the membership
  • Joyful about working in a Black and Brown-led multiracial organization

Required skills and abilities

  • Fluency in organizational development and strategic planning
  • Intuitive zeal for mapping power and plotting winning campaigns
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills and commitment to building authentic relationships 
  • Mighty confidence and steady patience while collaborating with team members,  in coalitional settings, with elected leaders, with funders, during interviews, speeches and debates, in tense settings and across challenging power dynamics
  • Strong writing and editing skills
  • Experience with databases and tracking details
  • Ability to manage multiple projects, plot benchmarks, and multitask in a busy environment 
  • Ability to meet deadlines and motivate self and team
  • Experience in and commitment to transformative justice, conflict transformation, and community accountability

Supervision 

  • Reports to DBP Advisory Board
  • Works in close partnership with the Co-Director of Development & Movement Building
  • Accountable to Executive Director of Southern Vision Alliance, DBP’s fiscal sponsor
  • Accountable to your DBP Co-Director, staff, and members
  • Supervises, manages, and supports the staff to be successful, and helps coordinate and support DBP members

Responsibilities include

  • Manage Coordinator of  Participatory Action Research and Popular Education, Coordinator of People’s Policy and Basebuilding, and Coordinator of Communications and Cultural Work
  • Manage Durham Beyond Policing partner relationships; follow up with coalition partner leads, create and manage database with lead points of contact, ensures alignment and recommitment of members to DBP’s Principles of Unity
  • Meet regularly with other squad leads, and Campaign Coordinator to ensure cross-squad synergy of strategy and activities towards DBP goals
  • Develop and solidify internal infrastructure of Durham Beyond Policing, to prepare for bringing in additional paid staff, and management of philanthropic funding
  • Analyze the County and City budgets as part of DBP’s invest/ divest strategy
  • Develop a critical participatory action research strategy and generate benchmarks to support Durham communities most impacted by gun violence and police patrolling/ surveillance in researching and deriving transformative solutions

About Durham Beyond Policing

Durham Beyond Policing (DBP) is a grassroots abolitionist formation devoted to the end of policing in all forms, and the creation of systems of safety rooted in care and community accountability. We are pro-Black, we are Black and Brown-led, and we trust the leadership of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. We are survivors of state-sanctioned, interpersonal, racial, sexual, and gender-based violence, and these experiences root our commitment to abolition. 

We are working to defund and abolish the Durham police, the sheriff’s department, and the jails, while simultaneously redistributing public resources and funding towards the institutions and culture shifts necessary to keep us all truly safe. Ultimately, we are building a beloved community where those who have committed and experienced harm are never disposable, and where policing, surveillance, and incarceration are no longer part of how we relate to each other. 

Currently, we have a small staff and a large team of amazing, active volunteers who power our work. Our volunteer work is themed around Arts and Culture (design, printmaking, street art, community engagement projects); Communications (press releases, earned media, op-ed authorship, social media); Funds (grants, events, crowdfunding, budgeting); Advocacy (meetings with electeds, observing public meetings, tracking campaign opportunities); Research (literature review, writing reports/op-eds, presenting recommendations); and Outreach (base building, mobilizations, events, workshops, demonstrations, direct action).

Our volunteer-driven work will continue to play a crucial role in continuing the work of Durham Beyond Policing in coming years, and we are looking for staff who understand the role of social, economic, and environmental justice organizations in building transformative movements. We’ve seen the nonprofit industrial complex replace mass-based organizing with overworking a few paid staff to do the bidding of funders and this dynamic damages the work. We seek to build the opposite– staff members working a healthy work-life balance in ways that enhance coordination, strengthen participatory democracy practices, and increase organizational follow through by cultivating and supporting member leadership, with the majority of contributions coming from committed grassroots donors.

Because of our particular focus in Black communities, communities of color, and working class communities in Durham, we are seeking candidates with familiarity and strong relationships in these communities.

For more information on Durham Beyond Policing, please visit www.durhambeyondpolicing.org

On hiring in a movement

Durham Beyond Policing has been a powerful grassroots formation composed of a large number of mostly unpaid visionaries since 2016. We know applying for jobs in our home city and within a justice movement can feel complicated. We will receive more qualified candidates than we can afford to hire and we will have to make very difficult choices. We hope that our hiring process introduces us to wonderful collaborators, even if we are unable to hire everyone. We intend for our hiring processes to build bridges and forge new relationships.

The truth is that movement organizations cannot win on staffing alone. We staff to improve our coordination and effectiveness, but we win by successfully growing our base of Durham residents from every walk of life engaged in participatory decision-making, with people from marginalized and exploited communities at the leadership center. 

Benefits

  • 401(k) Retirement Plan 3% Matching Contribution 
  • High quality, low deductible health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Health reimbursement account
  • Thirteen paid holidays and 24 days of paid time off that is accrued on a monthly basis (prorated for part-time, salaried staff).
  • Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance
  • Optional Employee Paid Supplemental insurances: Additional life insurance and Short Term & Long Term Disability Insurance
  • Paid and unpaid leave policies detailed in the personnel handbook.

Category: Exempt employee 

To apply

If you require reasonable accommodation during your application process, please let the hiring committee know.

Submit the following to hiring@durhambeyondpolicing.com:

Subject line: “Co-Director of People & Organizing application from <YOUR NAME>
In the body of the email include:

  • cover letter describing your interest in the position and any relevant experience
  • attached resume
  • three references, including a recent supervisor and colleague (name, phone, email, relationship to you)

Black people, indigenous people, people of color, persons with disabilities, women, trans and gendernonconforming people, LGBTQ+ people, and people with lived experience surviving criminalization, repression, policing or jails and prisons, are strongly encouraged to apply. There are no formal education or degree requirements for this role.

Durham Beyond Policing is fiscally sponsored by Southern Vision Alliance (SVA). We have programmatic independence, are supported by SVA’s administrative care for sponsored projects, and SVA’s board has ultimate fiscal and legal responsibility for Durham Beyond Policing’s actions.

Durham Beyond Policing and Southern Vision Alliance are equal opportunity employers. We recruit and hire qualified candidates on the basis of their qualifications and without regard to race, class, religion, sex, gender expression or identity, pregnancy status, marital status, or family responsibilities, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or any basis prohibited by law.