Application period closed: Common Ground seeks Youth Organizer

We are no longer accepting applications for this position. Thanks for your interest! Please see our JOIN OUR STAFF page for current openings.

Youth Organizer  

At Common Ground, a truly diverse community of 200 students from 16 different towns experiences a mix of high academic standards, active learning and leadership opportunities, and small school supports that are producing dramatic educational results.

Common Ground — the nation’s oldest environmental charter high school, creating the next generation of successful college students and powerful environmental leaders — is seeking a passionate, creative, outstanding Youth Organizer. This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to work at a school that prioritizes leadership development and project-based learning around environmental and social justice issues.

The Youth Organizer is a newly-created part-time position designed to address the organizational need for and commitment to greater student empowerment and engagement regarding systems of oppression, as well as models and tools for resisting and transforming those systems.  The position will be responsible for supporting student facilitation of after-school programs and creating spaces for students to reflect and take action together on issues of community, power, oppression, and justice.

This employee will have the chance to: 

• Dedicate time to getting to know the school and organization while building relationships with students in and out of the classroom and with staff across the organization
• Support student planning and facilitation of existing after-school programs focused on activism, identity, and organizing
• Co-create all school opportunities with students during school-wide events (such as assemblies/town halls, biannual Mix It Up Day events, etc.) and after-school workshops to build student awareness around issues of social and environmental justice
• Facilitate or coordinate workshops for student group leaders to develop leadership, activism, and organizing skills
• Help facilitate field work/trips or guest speakers for classroom-based and out-of-school opportunities (including experiences such as plays, workshops, protests, conferences, etc.)
• Facilitate student participation in organizational committees and decision-making (e.g. curriculum re-development, working to build a more effective and inclusive organization, board of directors)
• Support student action to create community events, engage in advocacy, and develop and/or participate in existing campaigns in area issues of their choosing and concern
• Participate in a working group aiming to build the capacity of Common Ground staff to support student organizing, and student-led and intergenerational change efforts
• Facilitate networking with other youth-serving organizations in New Haven

Together with the CEIO (Co-Creating Effective and Inclusive Organizations) Core Partnership Team, with support from the Student Affairs Manager and Environmental Leadership Manager, the Organizer will identify local opportunities for our students to develop their leadership skills and create change in and beyond our school community.

Common Ground is seeking outstanding candidates with:

• Concrete youth organizing experience (six months minimum organizing experience preferred but not required)
• Experience with and passion for working with youth from diverse ethnic, racial, and class backgrounds is a must
• Experience developing leadership in others
• A high level of self-motivation and a proven ability to work independently as well as collaboratively
• A passion for social, environmental, and food justice

We will accept applications from:

• individuals who would join our staff as part-time employees, and
• community organizations, who would act as independent contractors and identify a member of staff to play the role of youth organizer

This is a part-time position (approximately 40 hours over two week periods during the school year, with the possibility of summer work), mostly during the second half of the school day and after school hours as well as some evenings and weekends for events. This position can be structured as an hourly position compensated at $18 per hour, or a contract with an organization for $15,000 for the school year.

To apply, please send resume and cover letter to:

Jesse Delia
Environmental Leadership Manager
jdelia@commongroundct.org

Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled. Applicants will be contacted to schedule first interviews in-person or by phone in early September.

Common Ground is particularly eager for candidates who help us fulfill our commitment to building a racially and culturally diverse faculty and staff.

It is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School that no person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or otherwise discriminated against under any program, including employment, because of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, marital status, civil union status, sexual orientation, mental retardation, and past/present history of mental disorder, learning disability and physical disability.

It is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to age, color, marital status, civil union status, national origin, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender in all personnel actions, including recruitment, evaluation, selection, daily interactions, promotion, compensation, training and termination.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended, it is the policy of the New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. and Common Ground High School not to discriminate against protected qualified applicants and employees with disabilities in all aspect of employment.