One Colorado Education Fund (OCEF) and Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) have entered into a joint project to increase reciprocal support, awareness and activism among the LGBT and immigrant rights communities in Colorado. OCEF and CIRC will work in partnership on an LGBT-immigration project to educate and mobilize our respective bases of support around the priority issues for each organization. As part of this joint alliance-building project, OCEF and CIRC each seek to hire full-time Alliance Building Organizers (two organizers, one based at CIRC and one based at OCEF). The Alliance Building Organizers will work to engage OCEF and CIRC members and constituents to: 1) promote more fair, humane and common sense immigration enforcement and reform policies, and 2) advocate for statewide and local policies to create LGBT equality in schools, healthcare and relationship recognition.OCEF and CIRC’s Alliance Building Organizers will work in close partnership to develop and implement a statewide public education and field-organizing plan. They will help plan, coordinate and implement a full range of organizing activities to cultivate an active and diverse base of support across the state.Specifically, the Alliance Building Organizers will:

• Identify and engage local and regional coalition partners already working on the intersections of these two issues to develop a yearlong work plan;
• Conduct a series of local and regional community meetings across Colorado to increase reciprocal awareness within the LGBT and immigrant communities about immigration and LGBT issues respectively;
• Facilitate meetings, community dialogues and discussions around ally-ship, intersection of LGBT-immigration issues and common interests, and alliance-building;
• Create and implement a curriculum to educate members about the history of the immigrant rights movement, the similarities to the LGBT movement, and current state and federal immigration policies;
• Establish a grassroots network of supporters and activists to take action;
• Conduct 1:1s with community leaders in key areas of the state;
• Work with communications staff to develop messengers to share their stories and craft messages for member communications;
• Organize press events;
• Work alongside political staff to engage constituents in regular communication with key elected officials;
• Organize phone banks and call nights for identifying supporters on key issues;
• Adapt materials and messages to the needs of the community;
• Track all progress and monitor changes in beliefs over time;
• Attend meetings with both organizations as needed;
• Connect alliance building efforts to the overall research, advocacy, field and communications efforts leading up to and during the 2012 state legislative session campaigns.

The ideal candidates for the Alliance Building Organizer positions will possess the following skills:

• Be an enthusiastic self-starter with high energy and commitment to social justice;
• Be independent, flexible, adaptable, resourceful, creative and able to easily adapt to a fast-paced environment;
• Take responsibility for specific goals and measurable outcomes within designated time frames;
• Coordinate multi-task initiatives to successful conclusion;
• Be familiar with—and/or be willing and able to achieve a working knowledge of—state and federal LGBT and immigration policies and the related dynamics of Colorado politics;
• Possess “people skills” that will be used to recruit and mobilize volunteers, work effectively with partner organizations, and facilitate community meetings;
• Be able to travel throughout the state and maintain flexible work hours, including weekends and evenings;
• Bring a minimum of one to two years of volunteer or paid experience in social justice and / or grassroots organizing; and
• Candidates must be bilingual in English and Spanish.

TO APPLY‍

Salary is competitive and includes health benefits. To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to employment@coloradoimmigrant.org by close of business on October 31, 2011. The positions will be open until filled.ABOUT ONE COLORADO EDUCATION FUNDOne Colorado Education Fund (OCEF) is a statewide organization dedicated to secure and protect equality and opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Coloradans and their families. Our vision is a fair and just Colorado.

‍ABOUT THE COLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION

‍The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) is a statewide membership-based coalition of immigrant, labor, interfaith, youth and ally organizations founded in 2002 to build a unified statewide voice to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees in Colorado and the United States. CIRC achieves this mission through non-partisan civic engagement, public education and winning fair, humane and workable public policies.The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and One Colorado Education Fund are aggressive advocates of affirmative action and welcome applications from all backgrounds, particularly from people of color; women; LBGTQ people; immigrants or refugees; people with disabilities; and people from low- or moderate-income backgrounds.The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and One Colorado Education Fund are equal opportunity, affirmative action employers and do not discriminate in its employment decisions on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, disability status, veteran status, military obligations, marital status and policy party affiliation, or on any other basis that would be in violation of any applicable federal, state, or local law.