Community Care Organizer

COMMUNITY CARE ORGANIZER (PART-TIME)

ABOUT MAAP
The mission of the Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) is to support and empower unhoused and underhoused community members, through material aid, access to resources, organizing support and advocacy opportunities. Working with unhoused community members and movement allies, we seek systemic solutions that address the root causes of homelessness, poverty, and inequality. Housing justice, racial justice, ending the racist war on drugs, prison abolition, decriminalization of homelessness, accessible and comprehensive healthcare for all are our work.

MAAP core philosophies and beliefs guide our work and hold us accountable to our values and the community members we serve, support, and work alongside. These include trauma-informed community care & healing centered engagement, harm reduction, transformative & restorative justice, unconditional positive regard, and abolition. We respect and honor the autonomy, expertise, and experiences of our community members. We believe our community members are doing the best they can with what they have and honor the choices they are making for their survival. We have an ethic of non-judgement. We know the police and carceral systems and entities that coerce and criminalize people surviving poverty create greater harm and must be abolished.

JOB SUMMARY
MAAP is hiring a part-time Community Care Organizer to offer direct support to unhoused and underhoused community members at our drop-in space. This person in this position will also offer other community care as needed; organize and support volunteers; and engage in organizing, advocacy, and community education. This position recognizes that community organizing led by directly impacted people is not possible when people’s basic needs are not met and seeks to dismantle the false binary between direct services / support and community organizing.

The Organizer will work collaboratively with the Executive Director, MAAP Board Members, and unhoused community leaders on tasks, projects, and long-term goals. As a small organization we offer flexibility, leadership opportunities, and the chance to be creative and learn (as we learn), and build community with us. This position is fully in person and has the potential to become full-time in the future.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
DIRECT SUPPORT & COMMUNITY CARE
The core of MAAP’s work is providing a twice-weekly drop-in space where community members can spend time; access hot and freshly made food, water, coffee; and “shop” in our free store for clothing, hygiene and survival supplies such as tents, sleeping bags, and tarps. People take naps in this space, meet with our housing navigation partner, use laptops and phones, charge their devices, dress wounds, and care for each other. We also engage in sweep support and encampment / street outreach as requested or needed.

Brief outline of responsibilities related to direct support and community care:

• Assist in running our drop-in space on Tuesdays and Thursdays alongside our Executive Director
• Meet unhoused community members’ material and survival needs, and connect people to resources responsive to their goals or needs, such as healthcare, insurance, housing, legal aid, and benefits
• Maintain a strong and safe community space through relationship-building and community agreements, and community member rights and responsibilities
• Respond to crisis and high-intensity situations, when necessary
• Support community members in de-escalating themselves and safety-planning around overdose, law enforcement interactions and engagement with the criminal legal system, and other crises
• Create programming, projects, and workshops that meet the self-identified needs or goals of community members that are not currently within MAAP’s scope
• Engage in sweep support and encampment / street outreach as requested or needed. Help people move and replace belongings, act as a liaison with police and DPW, share know your rights information, work closely with our legal partners, offer resources and connection to medical and legal support
• Manage existing volunteers and oversee continuous development of a volunteer onboarding process
• Coordinate material and food donations

 

ADVOCACY, ORGANIZING, COMMUNITY EDUCATION & OUTREACH 
MAAP joins with, amplifies, and supports unhoused people in sharing their experiences, needs, goals, and vision in advocacy and education efforts. We host weekly organizing meetings at our drop-in, providing support and skill building opportunities so our unhoused organizers can lead our organizing and advocacy work. MAAP and our community members collaborate in coalitions and partnership with other grassroots social justice organizations towards our members co-created vision of collective liberation and evidence based solutions including housing as a right, expanded healthcare and harm reduction, and ending systems of harm. MAAP staff, leadership, and members also sit on task forces, committees and participate in meetings to elevate and amplify the self-identified needs and goals of our community.

MAAP offers workshops and teach-ins to the community as well as training, safety planning and support in developing programmatic policies specifically tailored to the needs of organizational partners that are rooted in the experience, expertise, goals, and needs of community members and are based on our core philosophies and practices of harm reduction, trauma informed care, autonomy and self-determination, and abolition.

Brief outline of responsibilities related to advocacy, organizing, community education & outreach:

• Facilitate regular community organizing meetings and opportunities to increase the collective organizing capacity of community members
• Implement strategies to support MAAP community members engaging in organizing and advocacy work, and build leadership capacity among participant organizers, including support at regular organizing meetings
• Build out our existing movement campaigns and create actionable organizing campaigns based on self-identified goals of community members
• Create actionable organizing campaigns based on self-identified issues and concerns brought forth by unhoused community members, alongside the Executive Director and unhoused organizers
• Expand our current community training offerings and build out training and workshops as needed for community partners
• Contribute to MAAP events (ex. Semi-Annual Tag Sale) and community events (ex. tabling, marching)

 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
We know that many applicants may possess some of the skills we need, but not all. That’s ok. We are looking for someone who has worked with unhoused people, and who has the required skills listed, as well as some of the possible skills and most importantly, the desire to learn new ones.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Ability to support and be in community with people who are unhoused including people in shelters and people living unsheltered, including people who may have been incarcerated and/or involved in the criminal legal system, may use drugs, may be in recovery, may be sex workers, and may have survived forced treatment. Must be able to work alongside our community, who organize and shape our space;
• Problem solver with skills to creatively addressing issues in a fast paced and sometimes stressful environment;
• Excellent communicator by text, email, on the phone, and in person with many kinds of communicators;
• Ability to incorporate diverse perspectives from community members and team into approach and work;
• Well versed in using Mac computers and G-Suite, including showing others how to use technology;
• Work independently and collaboratively within a small, close-knit team in a mission-led space;
• Exhibits the flexibility required in a small organization, openness to change, and seeks out resources for personal and professional growth;
• Understanding and commitment to harm reduction principles, practice, and movement; restorative and transformative justice practices; and trauma-informed and person-centered care;
• Commitment to the rights of people who are surviving poverty in public and in shelter; ending the war on people who use drugs; the decriminalization of poverty, mental illness; and substance use; the abolition of jail/prison and systems of policing; racial justice and dismantling white supremacy.

 

POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Experience organizing and supporting volunteers;
• Organizing experience;
• Policy or legislative work;
• Using social media (twitter / X, instagram, facebook, tiktok, bluesky) for education, awareness building, organizing or base building, and fundraising;
• Ability to speak a language that is spoken by some of our community (Spanish, Haitian Creole).

 

EXPERIENCE
We know people gain experience in many ways; through life experiences, paid work, and unpaid work which could include supporting, caring for, or responding to crises involving family, friends, community members or more formal internships or volunteer experiences. Some people have formal education and some people don’t; this job doesn’t require it.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
Must be able to read and write in English at a proficient level. Must be able to speak with, understand and have clear communication with MAAP community members, volunteers, donors, partners, and individuals and organizations who may not be aligned with our work or community. Must be able to stand for at least two hours and climb stairs daily. Must be able to lift and carry 30 lbs. Must be able to be outside in all weather conditions.

POSITION & COMPENSATION DETAILS

SALARY
$25.00 per hour

HOURS
20 – 26 hours per week. Tuesday and Thursday required. One regular additional workday is ideal as well as some nights and weekends to be decided in collaboration with the Executive Director. This position may have the potential to become full time in the future.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING

Completed applications should be one PDF including the following:

• A cover letter that summarizes what skills you have (above) and answers the following three questions (no more than 2 pages)
  • Why do you want to join the Material Aid and Advocacy Program team?
  • What qualities and skills do you bring to supporting and working with unhoused people?
  • Tell us about a time you organized with people towards a common goal. Describe what happened, what your role was, what you accomplished, and what lessons you learned.
• A resume (no more than 2 pages)
• Sent as a single PDF (no more than 4 page) to jobs@maapma.org
• Please label them as Your Last Name_Your First Initial_Organizer

 

Hiring Timeline & Process

MAAP is accepting applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled. It is MAAP’s goal to hire for this position to start as soon as possible, knowing we must find the right person. After the first review, we will notify candidates if they will be offered an interview, and set up a time via email. Final candidates will participate in a shadow session with staff at our community drop-in space. We will continue accepting applications as long as this document is posted on our website.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement 
MAAP does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, national origin, disability, political belief, marital status, age, sexual orientation, class, housing status, veteran status, or other legally protected status. MAAP complies with all Equal Employment Opportunity and Americans with Disabilities Act laws and regulations in the areas of hiring, compensation, benefits, and job assignment.

MAAP strives for our team to reflect the communities we serve, support, and organize alongside. We encourage people of color, people with experiences of houselessness or extreme poverty, substance use, sex work, and/or people directly impacted by the criminal legal system to apply.