Job Title: Gadsden County Community Organizer/Consultant
Reports to: Executive Director
Hours: Part-time, flexible, 40 hours/month
Job Description: STAC’s mission is to support sex and labor trafficking survivors of all ages and to educate the community about human trafficking. STAC connects survivors to safety and needed services by building strong and sustaining connections throughout a six-county region.
STAC seeks a self-motivated, outgoing Community Organizer to work closely with our Rural Community Action Program to conduct outreach, base building, training, education and community-based leadership development among local Gadsden County, Florida residents. The goal of this project is for the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center to build and support a networked anti-human trafficking community in Gadsden County, Florida.
Background Information: Education and information about how to recognize and respond to human trafficking is the number one way to end this horrific reality. For any community to effectively identify and assist sex and labor trafficking survivors, it must be informed and understand how to identify human trafficking and how to respond safely in a trauma-informed and victim-centered way.
Sex and labor trafficking often goes unrecognized and unchecked in rural areas. Gadsden County is no exception. Some think that due to the strong agricultural sector there, only labor trafficking of farmworkers occurs in Gadsden, and this could not be further from the truth. While labor trafficking in agriculture no doubt is a reality, sex trafficking cases have been uncovered there. Relevant here, children and teens are both sex and labor trafficked in rural areas.
Activities: The organizer will be responsible for membership involvement in local events, campaigns and coalitions working on issues related to our mission and that of persons who have vulnerabilities to sex and labor trafficking.
The organizer will connect with local groups and individuals, conduct popular education discussions about human trafficking and its connections to other social justice issues including discrimination, poverty, and access to services. The Community Organizer will co-facilitate training programs, work with STAC’s community partners and undertake other tasks as needed to meet the goals of this program.
Key Responsibilities: The responsibilities of the Community Organizer may include but are not limited to the following, as mutually agreed:
- Meet regularly with community leaders, members and organizations to provide opportunities to introduce STAC and the issues communities are facing regarding human trafficking and for community members to enlighten and instruct STAC on possible community involvement and events and discuss current events impacting the community and identify upcoming advocacy and organizing opportunities
- Network and build sustaining relationships with other groups, agencies, and organizations
- Facilitate an annual community anti-human trafficking forum in January of each year
- Help to create a unified group of community members, organizations, and agencies who can identify sex and labor trafficking, support survivors, and strengthen community responses against sex and labor trafficking
- Create a detailed Three-Year Action Plan for outreach and education to three sectors (faith, schools, healthcare)
- Conduct regular outreach to build awareness and increase interest in the topic of human trafficking
- Be in weekly contact with STAC staff
Skills, Abilities & Qualifications:
- 2 years previous experience working as a community organizer
- Gadsden County residency or long-term familiarity and connection with the Gadsden County community
- Education: Associate degree, minimum
- Social work background and/or prior experience working with people at the grassroots level
- Outgoing personality and ability to work with people from a variety of backgrounds
- Excellent organizational skills with ability to manage diverse projects simultaneously
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, interpersonal skills and self-motivation
- Positive, proactive and personable team player
- Ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team
- Comfort with social media and digital communication required
- Graphic design skills preferred
- Spanish language proficiency preferred
- Special interest in building an empowered community against sex and labor traffickers, including social justice inspired empowerment of Gadsden County residents to be fortified against both sex and labor trafficking
Compensation: Negotiable, depending on skill level $20 – $30/hour, plus mileage expenses
Application Deadline: Position will remain open until filled, with a preference that those interested will apply before August 1, 2024.
Contact: Robin Hassler Thompson, Executive Director robin@surviveandthriveadvocacy.org
In the cover letter to your resume, please describe your experience working as a community organizer, what you learned from that experience, why you would like to work on anti-human trafficking advocacy, and your philosophy of community organizing. Cover letters that do not specifically address these four points will not be considered. Please include “Community Organizer” in the subject line.
The Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.