CSSC Field Organizer Program
February 15–June 15, 2016
About the Internship
California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) is seeking a student and recent alumni to support and develop our Fossil Free UC campaign as CSSC Field Organizers (FOs).
The Field Organizer will work on an array of projects to support youth involvement and leadership in the Fossil Free UC campaign. These include but are not limited to: narrative strategy support (including social media content creation, messaging and website management), on and off-campus campaign support, student leadership development, organizational development, outreach support, state and national strategy implementation, coalition building and events management.
About Fossil Free and CSSC
The Fossil Free and Fossil Free UC campaigns are calling out extractive and exploitative corporate power, building student power and polarizing the public and their communities, including the University of California, around climate justice issues by demanding their higher education institutions divest their endowments from the top 200 fossil fuel companies with the largest proven carbon reserves and, in some cases, encouraging them to (re)invest in local living economies through contributing to funds that support the development of climate jobs in areas historically exploited by the fossil fuel industry.
CSSC’s mission is to unite and empower California’s community of higher education to collaboratively and nonviolently transform ourselves and our institutions based on our inherent social, economic, and ecological responsibilities. CSSC supports campaigns on college campuses across the state, including the Fossil Free campaign, which support students to organize for positive change, including renewable solutions and social justice.
Desired Experience
Applicants must have experience working on a the Fossil Free UC campaign, or experience in the field that can be considered applicable, strong writing and communications skills and a working knowledge of online organizing tools such as Google documents and Microsoft Office. Proficiency of WordPress, Mailchimp, and Adobe are not required but desirable.
Expectations
Field Organizers may be responsible for any or all of the following:
- Narrative Strategy Creation and Coordination: FOs will be expected to aid in the development and execution of narrative strategy, messaging, traditional and social media content creation, and management of the website in coordination with the Campaign Director, student campaigners, and CSSC communications staff.
- Campaign Strategy: FOs will be expected to participate in shaping campaign strategy with both the Campaign Director and other students working on the campaign. This will include setting timelines, messaging, rhetoric, choosing tactics, and reviewing actions.
- Mentorship:
- Mentorship. FOs will be expected to receive mentorship themselves from an individual or group outside of their campaign work. These mentors can be found outside of the CSSC network-from a partner organization or a personal contact; or from within CSSC’s network-from the Board of Directors, CSSC alums, or other CSSC leadership.
- Student Leadership Development: FOs will be expected to empower and inspire new members, and train volunteers to do various tasks. They will be expected to delegate and help volunteers in setting timelines. FOs will be expected to shadow on campus check-in calls and eventually do them themselves to help campuses with setting their own timelines and strategies.
- Coalition-building: Working with on and off-campus groups to build links between student-led campaigns, frontline communities and off-campus organizations.
- Logistics and Event Coordination: FOs will be expected to help with logistics for various events. This includes travel coordination, acquiring food, budget management, programming and reaching out to venues.
- Reflection and Check-ins: FOs will be expected to participate in weekly check-ins with the Campaign Director and other FOs and conduct periodic reflection reports on personal performance and quality of the program, throughout and at the end of the contract period.
Time Commitment and Compensation
This Field Organizer will work closer to 10–11 hours per week and receive compensation for a contract period, to be discussed during the hiring process. More information about the program timeline, position descriptions, contract terms, and recompense will be available during the hiring process from the Campaign Director, Silver Hannon.
Application
To apply, send a cover letter and resume/CV to [email protected]. The cover letter should indicate what role the applicant is interested in and why.
The California Student Sustainability Coalition is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to supporting the skills and leadership of people of color, low-income persons, LGBT persons, differently-abled people, and other people from diverse backgrounds. People from these and other historically marginalized backgrounds and communities are strongly encouraged to apply.