WE’RE HIRING: Maryland Organizer 

Can you turn enthusiasm into action? Do you love connecting people to their power? Do you have experience working with coalitions to win legislative and budget victories?

WABA is looking for a Maryland Organizer. This is a one-year position to accelerate our efforts to make Maryland’s streets safer for all road users. 

Position Overview

The Maryland Organizer will advocate for safer State roads for people biking and walking in Maryland. The Maryland Organizer will work with coalition partners to build political pressure and critical state-level relationships in the executive branch in addition to the legislature to win a reimagined network of bikeable, walkable state roads in MD.

The Maryland Organizer will be part of WABA’s supportive and collaborative Advocacy Team, and report directly to the Advocacy Director. The WABA Advocacy team includes: the Advocacy Director, Organizing Manager, the Trails Coalition Manager and Trails Coalition Coordinator, a volunteer organizer, and the Vision Zero Campaign Manager. 

Maryland Organizer Job Responsibilities:

  • Collaborate with advocates and other community coalitions in Maryland to build deep support among state-level elected officials for bikeable, walkable State roads in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County;
  • Build a neatly-packaged Montgomery County infrastructure and funding proposal for advocates and elected officials to rally around. This will include:
    • Evaluating the existing state roads against Montgomery county’s crash risk rubric; 
    • Identifying key corridors in Montgomery County for improvement (certainly to include MD-190 (River Road), MD-97 (Georgia Avenue), MD-650 (New Hampshire Road), MD-185 (Connecticut Avenue), for example); 
    • Defining appropriate and feasible countermeasures, such as narrowing travel lanes for motor vehicles, lowering speed limits, widening sidewalks, and installing cement-protected bike lanes;
    • Identifying potential funding sources at the state, county and Federal levels for such countermeasures/infrastructure on state roads.
  • Educate individual community advocates and community leaders on key issues through community meetings, walking tours, and bike rides in Montgomery County and  Prince George’s County; 
  • Support the expansion of WABA’s grassroots organizing work in Prince George’s County, where traffic fatalities outpace much of the region.
  • Cultivate new supporters in Maryland through grassroots outreach and coalition building;
  • Communicate and build relationships with relevant local and regional press members to ensure coverage of transit issues in news media;
  • Draft compelling action alerts, blog posts, and campaign materials;
  • Coordinate action alerts, blog posts and other campaign communications;

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

(Consider applying if you meet 75% of these requirements) The ideal candidate will demonstrate experience or background in the following:

Core Skills:

  • 2-3 years of experience in advocacy, community organizing, and/or political campaigns
  • Event planning
  • Manage projects from start to finish
  • Experience building and maintaining diverse coalitions or direct experience working with underserved communities
  • Commitment to equity and social justice
  • Familiarity with the legislative process, particularly at the county and state in Maryland
  • Strong communications skills, both written and verbal
  • Technological fluency. The organizer will create and maintain spreadsheets, run reports, and communicate with our members and the public via a myriad of online organizing tools, including WordPress and Salesforce. The advocacy team uses Google office tools (G-Suite) and Microsoft Office tools to collaborate on work.

Useful Skills and Experience

  • Familiarity with safe streets issues in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County strongly preferred
  • Experience engaging and navigating government agencies
  • Applying creative thinking to organizing 
  • Ability to quickly digest and distill complicated information
  • Comfort speaking in front of large groups, leading meetings, and working with diverse stakeholders

Compensation and Benefits

This is a full-time (40 hours per week), 12-month position with a monthly salary of $4,333. The position may be extended, depending on further funding. Benefits include employer covered health/dental insurance, generous flex and comp time policy, vacation, sick and personal leave, committed colleagues, and fun working environment.

The candidate must be located in the Washington, DC area — while the majority of our staff are working remotely, this position will require attending some in-person events. Occasional evening and weekend work is required.

WABA requires all staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. DC grant funded staff must comply with Mayor’s Order 2021-147, section VI, part 2, or be eligible for an exemption as defined by the District of Columbia Mayor’s Order 2021-099, Section III.

WABA is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, sex, or age.

About WABA

WABA empowers people to ride bikes, build connections, and transform places. We envision a just and sustainable transportation system where walking, biking, and transit are the best ways to get around.

Visit our about page to read about our values, theory of change and more.

How to Apply:

Submit a cover letter and resume in one PDF to Jeremiah Lowery at jobs@waba.org with “Maryland Organizer” in the subject line. In your application materials, please help us understand your suitability for the role, how you would contribute to the diversity of WABA’s staff, and let us know where you learned about the position.

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday, January 6th, 2022. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Please, no phone calls.

Page last updated by Jeremiah Lowery on December 22, 2022.