JobDescriptions
Each fellow is placed in a host site organization where they work for 32 hours a week during their ten months. Fellowship sites are selected based on their organizational culture (and commitment to social justice), a clear and engaging job description, and their potential for being a positive learning environment for fellows. Our 30 host sites and fellow projects change each year and are determined by a competitive grant review process. Below is a list of the projects and position for the 2012-13 program year.
Boston Worker’s Alliance Community Organizer
Boston Workers’ Alliance is a grassroots union of under- and unemployed workers, organizing for economic rights. In particular, BWA combats discrimination against those with criminal records (CORI) through campaign organizing, green business incubation and direct services. BWA maintains a vital Direct Services program that includes a Worker Center, CORI Clinic and the Boston Staffing Alliance (a CORI friendly temp agency). BWA also develops new cooperative businesses as a job creation strategy, and finally, runs leadership development and community organizing campaigns that include municipal, state and federal policy change objectives.
The fellow is working as an Organizer and to help drive BWA’s communications strategy with the broader community. They spend about half of their time involved in BWA’s direct services and organizing work. This includes outreach to new members, managing communication between current members, and planning and participating in coalition meetings. The other half of their time includes some administrative responsibilities in the office, as well as designing and implementing a public relations strategy through both print and social media. This includes blogging, writing a monthly newsletter, and assisting with press releases.
Boston Youth Organizing Project Office manager and Support Staff
BYOP is an organization of youth, led by youth, supported by adults, and united by a common purpose: to increase youth power and create positive social change. To do this we identify values, build relationships across differences, train and develop leaders, identify key issues of concern, and take action for justice. BYOP’s seeks to 1) to help young people develop into active and engaged citizens who have a respected voice in the public arena and 2) to help make the Boston-area a more hospitable and equitable place for young people to live, be educated, and work. BYOP is a place for youth of color from low-income communities in the Boston area: a constituency that who traditionally does not have an organized voice and therefore has limited power to influence policies and decisions that affect their everyday lives. BYOP seeks to engage and activate middle & high school students, ages 12-20 years old, most of whom are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants.
This year, the Life Together fellow is working at a Office manager and Support Staff. This is a dynamic position that incorporations a wide range of responsibilities. The responsibilities include supervision with Najma, receiving and processing phone, email and mail correspondence and inquiries, record keeping of minutes from staff and advisory boards meetings, regular mailings and community updates, maintaining BYOP monthly staff calendar, assisting with management of chapter & citywide meeting materials , assisting with management of BYOP campaign maintaining materials, assisting with BYOP web site & maintaining website & social media, support 1 BYOP school or community chapter, and assisting with fundraising and grant writing.
Church of the Good Shepherd Watertown Social Justice Minister
Church of the Good Shepherd is a community of welcome. We seek to live into this vision by achieving these goals: (1) develop an intensive program to seek out and welcome newcomers in partnership with the national church, (2) identify and serve a new generation of families and young adults in the Watertown community, with intentional outreach to children with special needs (3) foster community gardens, in partnership with Watertown community groups, to provide low income residents with healthful food, and (4) be a “laboratory for mission” for wholeheartedly exploring new forms of worship and formation. CGS serves the Watertown community, which is diverse economically, culturally, and religiously. We are using community organizing to build relationships with people and organizations in the community in order to build capacity for both justice work and deepening the impact of all our ministries.
The fellow’s duties are to help the parish explore ways to offer pastoral outreach and learning opportunities for persons with disabilities; to create and lead programs for children focused on celebrating the goodness of creation, learning about hunger and food justice, and joining in God’s work of feeding the neighbor; and to support the parish’s call to serve the community and the church as a “laboratory for mission” through administrative and communications work. For this position resourcefulness, creativity, and a sense of humor are required. CGS is a redeveloping parish. It is more Outward Bound than Swiss Chateau.
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation Youth Force Youth Organizer
Dorchester Bay was founded to enhance housing, business, and leadership opportunities for the residents of Dorchester. Youth Force was founded in 2004 with the mission of developing teen leaders living in Dorchester, Roxbury and the surrounding neighborhoods of the city of Boston. The vast majority of teens involved in Youth Force are low income, people of color. The organizational culture of Youth Force is teen led and focused on justice. We seek to create a culture where teens feel welcomed, supported and pushed to grow as leaders. Youth Force’s approach to social change is community organizing—defined as building relationships with people in your community in order to build power for the goal of creating concrete and long lasting change.
The fellow is working as a Youth Organizer. This role has two distinct components-working with guidance counselors, teachers, parents, youth workers and others to recruit teens to join Youth Force, as well as working directly with Youth Force’s current teen leaders to create change in their communities and develop new teen leaders. Experience working with teenagers is preferred and commuting between different schools will be required (note: commuting can happen on public transportation).
Essex County Community Organization Community Organizer
ECCO is a congregation-based organization on Boston’s North Shore made up of a diverse group of 12 religious congregations, community groups, and the North Shore Labor Council. Our strongest congregation is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Lynn, whose membership is about 50% African American and 50% working class white. ECCO is guided by a belief in the religious and democratic principle that all people have the right to make decisions about important issues affecting them as residents and people made in the image of God. We work to fulfill this belief by using community organizing principles of leadership development and action for justice. To carry out this mission, ECCO organizes around a variety of issues affecting families on the North Shore, including activities directed at affordable housing, public safety, quality education, workforce development, health care, and youth activities. ECCO is part of the MCAN state network and the PICO National Network.
The Life Together fellow is working as a community organizer this year. The focus areas for their job description include: leading the ECCO citywide youth organizing project; building adult organizing teams at three congregations; and leading ECCO’s communications and media strategy. This is a second year position and in the first year, the Life Together fellow built the first ever youth led organizing coalition in Lynn, MA—called LYON. In their second year, the fellow is working with 30 youth leaders to build out this initiative. Ten primary leaders from four different youth organizations will be trained this year. The fellow will also be the primary staff person working with three adult organizing teams. She will help identify and engage faith leaders in the congregations. She then will build a team of leaders who will be trained in community organizing, and will engage in justice work with ECCO congregations across the North Shore. Lastly, the fellow will continue to be the lead staff person on the ECCO communications and media strategy. This entails maintaining and updating ECCO’s website and facebook pages, and developing a quarterly newsletter.
Episcopal Diocese of MA, Office of Youth Ministries Youth Missioner
The Office of Youth Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts is charged with supporting the youth of the Diocese by providing opportunities for formation, fellowship, and resource sharing. Since the Office of Youth Ministry is called to serve all the churches of the Diocese of Massachusetts, the programs and resources that come from our office must be equally diverse. The programs we develop are created with the hope that they will reflect a dream for a different and better society than the one we currently live in.
The Life Together fellow is working to facilitate a new ministry program for the Office of Youth Ministry, while also using their talents to improve the existing programs. The new ministry that the fellow is creating comes out of an extensive listening campaign that has unearthed a desire for a more de-centralized youth ministry program at the Diocesan level. In working with the Youth Leadership Academy, the fellow serves as a coach and mentor to one of the groups of teens, providing the youth support and direction as they develop and implement a community organizing project addressing some need in the Diocese. The fellow also serves as a mentor to the teens in the Diocesan Youth Council. This position requires the fellow to work an average of 1.5 weekends per month facilitating youth overnight retreats.
Grace Episcopal Church in Medford Pastoral Fellow
Grace Episcopal Church is a multigenerational, diverse and welcoming Christian community that values shared leadership, service to those in need, and nurturing all in the love of God. Grace Church is home to over 200 families with different racial, social, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, and has grown by about 50% in the last four years. The church is committed to community, outreach, service, diversity, and Christian spiritual formation. To work for positive community change in Medford, Grace Church has used the methodology of community organizing and direct service. The parish has begun to explore advocacy, especially in the areas of environmental justice.
The fellow’s responsibilities include co-teaching a class on Wednesday nights, serving as part of the Wednesdays at Grace leadership team, being a community organizer for a parish program to be developed with that years Leadership Development Initiative class, organizing and assisting the GraceWorks Afterschool program with a service or environmental project, and possibly planning and co-leading a youth mission trip during the summer of 2013. Other opportunities abound, including adult teaching (on Sundays and Wednesdays), participating in church leadership, worship planning, preaching, pastoral care, and assisting with our college outreach to the Tufts University community. There is a lot of flexibility within the position and room for the fellow to shape the position according to their interests. Some evening and weekend meetings and events required for this position.
Health Care For All (HCFA) Health Reform Campaign Organizer
For more than 25 years, Health Care For All (HCFA) has worked to build a consumer-centered health care system that provides comprehensive, affordable, accessible, culturally competent, high quality care for all Massachusetts residents, especially the most vulnerable among us. Health Care For All’s principal focus is on the needs and concerns of low and moderate income older adults and children, individuals with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses, immigrants, recipients of publicly funded coverage, and individuals with limited English proficiency. HCFA bases its work on the fundamental principle that health care is a basic human right for everyone. Through our Help Line, we both connect consumers to health care and into our advocacy work to improve the health care system for everyone. Through collaboration with partners, allies and consumers, HCFA builds strength, credibility and the consumer voice. Our organization’s approach to social change includes consumer outreach, enrollment and education, community organizing, policy advocacy.
The Life Together Fellow is organizing low-income seniors, students, community leaders, HelpLine callers, and health advocates on the South Shore to advocate for Health Care For All’s Legislative Agenda. Some of their responsibilities include: following up with HelpLine callers each week, arranging 1-1 meetings, building an organizational network of community allies on South Shore, and organizing trainings at community centers. The organizer will also participate in statehouse and advocacy activities and will help the rest of the organizing team with rallies, hearings, and community events. The Fellow works up to 15 hours a week in the field with people in the South Shore communities with a particular focus on underserved populations. The position includes driving, working some evenings and weekends, and requires someone who is a self-starter and can keep their own schedule.
Hyde Square Task Force After-School Teacher Specializing in Academic and Behavioral Support
The mission of Hyde Square Task Force is to develop the skills of youth and families so that they are empowered to enhance their own lives and build a strong and vibrant urban community. HSTF accomplishes by engaging young people using a unique Youth Community Development model: youth design and participate in community-building projects, building critical thinking skills and communication skills. Simultaneously, participants receive mentoring and support which prepares them to succeed in college and future careers.
The Life Together Fellow work directly with Barbara Civil, Manager of School-based and Cultural Programs. This year the fellow will work as one of three after-school teachers in the after-school program at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School, and they will pioneer a new effort to incorporate one-on-one behavioral and academic support into HSTF’s existing school-based programming. With support, the fellow will develop a curriculum for one-on-one sessions, which may include providing extra help with homework or study habits, playing games that emphasize concentration and improve focus, or simply taking time away from other distractions to do schoolwork. The Fellow will also investigate potential avenues of support provided by the school. Finally, the Fellow will schedule and conduct these individual behavioral support sessions as needed, and make suggestions to parents and teachers based on progress made in these sessions. Additionally, there is flexibility within the position for the Life Together Fellow to develop an individual project or focus for their time working as an after-school teacher. Some Spanish and experience working with elementary-aged children is helpful, but neither is required.
Massachusetts Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Fellow
Founded in 1902, the Massachusetts Council of Churches is an ecumenical partnership of seventeen Orthodox and Protestant denominations in the state, with approximately 1700 partner congregations. The Massachusetts Council of Churches works with the denominational structures of our 17 denominations, our partner church agencies engaged in direct service, local councils of churches, ecumenical associations, and local congregations. The Massachusetts Council of Churches approaches social change through legislative advocacy. As an ecumenical representative body, we work to create resources and opportunities to educate local Christians on public policy issues of common concern.
This year, the Ecumenical Advocacy Fellow at the Massachusetts Council of Churches is assisting the 17 Protestant and Orthodox member denominations and 1700+ congregations in their common Christian witness in state and federal policy. This fellowship includes opportunities to: learn professional development skills; visit and worship with a wide range of Christian traditions; practice research, writing and public speaking; participate in conversations about organizational life and strategic planning implementation; and observe high level religious leadership. The fellow will research, write, plan, and organize lay and clergy Church leaders on justice and advocacy issues.
MassEquality Community Organizer
The MassEquality Education Fund (MassEquality) was founded in 2001 to build and lead an expansive coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and allied social justice organizations to promote and protect marriage equality for same-sex couples in Massachusetts. MassEquality organizes and engages in advocacy on behalf of all LGBT people across the lifespan, across the state, and across lines of class, race, religion, age, political orientation and more. MassEquality is team-oriented, reflective, and committed to a climate of learning that fosters individual and organizational leadership development. MassEquality is the only LGBT organization in Massachusetts that combines organizing, policy advocacy, coalition building, and public education to ensure equal rights and opportunities for all LGBT people from cradle to grave.
The Organizing Fellow will work with the MassEquality organizing team to advocate for passage of public accommodations protections for transgender people in Massachusetts. Responsibilities will include: recruiting, organizing, and training volunteers; planning and executing phone banks, in-person volunteer recruitment and canvassing campaigns; participating in local community events and/or town hall meetings; organizing meetings between policymakers and local community members, business, labor, faith and civic leaders; conducting field research on LGBT issues throughout the state; partnership building with LGBT organizations; and participating in the production of multiple Social Justice Lobby Days.
Project Bread FoodSource Hotline Counselor
Project Bread is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to alleviate, prevent, and ultimately end hunger in Massachusetts. As Massachusetts’ primary anti-hunger organization, Project Bread serves all hungry people in Massachusetts—with a particular concern for low-income seniors, adults, and families, unemployed workers, persons with disabilities, immigrant communities, and communities of color. Project Bread’s approach to social change includes direct service, education, and research targeted to identify the root causes of hunger in Massachusetts.
The fellow’s duties are to screen callers to determine their eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and provide them with application materials; provide information to current recipients, applicants, and social service agencies, regarding SNAP procedures, regulations, and rights; refer those in immediate need to food resources such as food pantries, as well as other agencies that can assist with food and non-food related needs. They will also help with the training and supervision of college interns and volunteers; take part in Project Bread activities related to our major fundraising effort – The Walk For Hunger – as well as our Grant Ceremony for funded agencies. Spanish language skills are preferred and occasional evening hours are required.
St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church Pastoral Assistant for Parish Life
St. Chrysostom’s (St.C’s) is a Christian community rooted in historic faith, formed by liturgical worship, and motivated to serve our community. In everything, we do, we embrace the motto, “Show them Jesus.” The St.C’s congregation draws from the neighborhoods of Quincy, Weymouth, Milton, and Dorchester. The parish is primarily working class, with several generational legacies. The organizational culture at St.C’s is characterized by a sense of pride and legacy, as well as a genuine sense of urgency. The church is fortunate to have a solid core of long-time members (as much as 50+ years in attendance!) who carry forward a sense of tradition and careful attention to our ongoing institutional life. St.C’s primary approach to social change is direct service. Our Thrift Shop is the longest running outreach program in the parish (30+ years) and our Job Club is the newest outreach program (12 months). This weekly program features guest speakers, workshops, and job listings to support job seekers by creating networks with job resources and job leads. St.C’s also shares a large portion of its property with the Episcopal Quincy Chinese Center (EQCC)
The Life Together Fellow works as a Pastoral Assistant with a wide range of responsibilities including: serving as a team member for the EQCC after School program, reviewing student homework and participating in the operations of the program; teaching Sunday School and helping recruit and train additional teachers; helping to plan and develop seasonal activities for families; and planning, promoting, and attending community events with young adults. An interest and ability to work with children is required for this position.
St. James’s Episcopal Church + Harvard University Campus Ministry Fellow for Social Justice + Outreach
St. James’s Episcopal Church is a Christian community whose primary philosophy is “not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). In the way of our patron saint, we too follow Jesus’ example and keep our focus on the needs of our neighbors both near and far. St. James’ serves the people of Cambridge, most notably those in the North Cambridge neighborhood. St. James’s is a richly diverse community, across socio-economic, racial, cultural and linguistic lines. A recent study revealed the following: 61% White, 24% Black, 6.5% Hispanic, 6.5% Asian with the rest Native American & Middle Eastern. St. James’s is an accepting, spirit driven, and outwardly oriented place. The Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard is part of the network of Harvard University Chaplains and has an historic connection with Christ Church Cambridge. It’s mission is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed in the University community.
This is a joint position between St. James’ and the Harvard University Campus Ministry that involves a mix of direct service, advocacy, and community organizing. At St. James, the fellow supports the Newcomer, Welcome, and Young Adult Ministries while helping the community grow in it’s call to work for social justice in Cambridge. At Harvard, the fellow is responsible for organizing interfaith service projects, developing a relationship with Phillips Brooks House, a Harvard-based, student-led, social justice ministry, and furthering a relationship with Epiphany School, a tuition-free independent Episcopal School in Dorchester that serves low-income children and their families in South Boston.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Lynn, MA Christ-like Hospitality Coordinator
At St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Lynn, we identify our mission as “crossing lines of color, class, culture, and generation, we gather as God’s people committed to making Christ’s Gospel of love, compassion, and justice known in our lives and in our community.” Our current mission priorities focus on: nurturing and forming the congregation; showing Christ-like hospitality especially to children and youth, young adults and East African immigrants; and deepening community engagement. Lynn is a mill city with limited economic vitality in the 21st century. The English language congregation is about 50-50 white people and people of color; the East African (Kiswahili) congregation is 100% African. The whole congregation is about 50-50 immigrant and US born. As people of faith, we believe that prayer is central to the work of social change and our common worship sustains us in all we do.
The Life Together fellow works with program specific staff to strengthen existing programs and to create new initiatives that emerge from our goal of being a congregation that shows Christ-like hospitality. The position includes pastoral, programmatic and advocacy oriented engagement in the parish and community. Some of the responsibilities include: building relationships with local community colleges and running the young adult fellowship; engaging in liturgical planning and leadership; supporting community building and spiritual formation in the Kiswahili congregation; serving as Program Coordinator for “Kids in Community” Summer Camp; and working to strengthen young adult participation in the St. Stephen’s local community organizing committee. Regular access to a car is required for the position. Spanish language skills are helpful, but not required.
Still Harbor Community Engagement Coordinator
Still Harbor is a Boston-based non-profit organization that works at the local, national, and international level providing spiritual formation for a very diverse network of individuals and organizations (the majority of whom are social justice organizations, many of which are involved in global health, the environment, and economic justice). Founded in 2008, we organized as a group of individuals engaged in the movement for equity and justice who had became acutely aware of a growing need for space to encourage individual and collective exploration of identity, belief, purpose, and connection. We cultivate community by creating an open, neutral space for all, where folks are able to dream together and take decisive action. We believe that social change needs to tap spiritual practice as an essential element of what is needed to unleash the creativity and imagination needed to transform an unjust world.
The Life Together fellow is working this as the Community Engagement Coordinator. Some of the fellow’s responsibilities include: co-developing and implementing a comprehensive partnership strategy; assisting in cultivating the Center’s sense of hospitality and warm welcome for all guests; participating in, and facilitating evening spiritual formation programs; assisting with curriculum development; helping design and facilitate retreats; helping team with administrative tasks like photocopying, filing, banks runs, etc as needed; and finally, co-creating, developing, and launching a project that culminates that galvanizes a broad coalition of groups engaging in spiritual formation and spiritual activism—including a city-wide gathering focused on Spiritual Capital, a topic specific gathering (like Food, Farming and Spirituality in a Social Justice Context), or organizing a conference for the leaders & practitioners of this work in the Greater Boston Area. The fellow should be comfortable engaging with the public and be open to helping with facilitation of meetings, events, etc.
The Crossing Minister for Mission
The Crossing is the emergent Christian community rooted @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Boston. Our congregation is led primarily by people in their 20s-30s but we seek to gather a much wider community to share worship, community and healing action in the footsteps of the ancients. We’re committed to intentionally live and share the life-changing, world-changing, healing and transforming Way of Jesus. And we’re linking with emerging voices, cultures and communities to engage what God is saying and doing beyond the church walls (and bringing that wisdom back in to help transform the life of the wider church). As a part of the larger Cathedral community, we have a particular calling to welcome creative, curious, hungry people within the Episcopal Church to gather, learn and serve with us. As a radically welcoming community, we have also made a particular effort to cultivate leaders who have been marginalized by conventional churches, or whose leadership rarely shapes the life of the mainline church, especially young adults, LGBT people and African-Americans. Our organizational culture is shaped by a common commitment to four “emergent” principles: contextual worship, authentic community, collaborative leadership and serious discipleship.
The Life Together fellow is working as the Minister for Mission. The Minister for Mission is responsible for helping lead the outreach, partnerships, and advocacy and action ministries. Through “Outreach and Evangelism,” the fellows responsibilities include: establishing connections with new communities including artists, young adults, families with children, downtown working people and LGBT people; and using social media to build relationships and communicate the story of The Crossing community. Through the “Partnerships” ministry, the fellows is crafting and nurturing partnerships with ministries, congregations and organizations that share The Crossing’s values and interests, including: radical welcome, liturgical renewal, LGBT youth and allies, and transgender inclusion. Through “Advocacy and Action Team,” the fellow conducts 1:1 meetings with community members and facilitates justice work around key issues where we have resources and ability to make a real impact (usually, homelessness, LGBT issues, youth work), helping the whole community connect their faith more deeply to social action.
Tutors for All Program Coordinator + Assistant to the Director of Programs
Tutors for All bridges the achievement gap one student at a time. Through the creation of partnerships between colleges, public schools, and community agencies, we offer under-served students the systematic one-on-one instruction they need in order to thrive. Tutors for All currently provides individualized instruction to over 400 Boston students at five charter schools, two district schools, and through a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Community Health Improvement. We work with students from 5th grade to 10th grade (ages 10-17). The majority of the students Tutors for All works with are from low-income communities of color, including Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.
The Life Together fellow works as both a Program Coordinator and the Assistant to the Director of Programs (ADP). As Program Coordinator, the fellow’s responsibilities include: collaborating with the program manager to hire lead tutors and tutors; assisting with training and curriculum development; holding tutors accountable for professionalism, promptness, and job requirements; managing the development of curriculum for the program as the semester progresses; tracking program data; managing progress reports; managing student behavior during tutorial; and managing special projects, including parent outreach, positive reinforcement for students, etc. As ADP, the fellow’s responsibilities include: researching, purchasing, and developing new curriculum; adjusting purchased or designed curriculum to fit with Tutors for All’s structure in terms of lesson plan, length of tutorial, etc.; managing the organization’s calendar; participating in the recruiting and hiring committee; and supporting the Director of Programs with other tasks as assigned. This role involves some travel around Boston, Cambridge, and the surrounding suburbs, but it does not require access to a car.
Youth of Massachusetts Organizing for a Reformed Economy (YMORE) Youth Organizer
YMORE, Youth of Massachusetts Organizing for a Reformed Economy, is a youth-led community organizing coalition, that brings teens together across a variety of boundaries, to develop them as leaders and to engage them in community organizing campaigns around issues they care about. YMORE rests on the three pillars of: relationships, power, and leadership. As YMORE stretches across urban and suburban boundaries, it serves teens from a variety of different backgrounds. YMORE has a very collaborative, leadership based culture. YMORE is interested in collaborating with people from a diversity of backgrounds. YMORE is also motivated to develop everyone that participates in its work as leaders, and believes that building power is the most effective way to create long-term change.
The Life Together fellow is working as a Youth Organizer. Their responsibilities include: coordinating and attending regular meetings with the core organizing team; coordinating Coalition communications; supporting development efforts; coordinating and supporting local and regional actions, including public official meetings, community actions, teen meetings, and creative actions. This particular position requires supervision by multiple individuals, and accountability to a broad array of teen and adult leaders. While there is a primary supervisor, this position requires a flexibility and willingness to take and give direction to many different stakeholders.
