Community Engagement Lead

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEAD

WOEIP is a resident-led, environmental justice nonprofit helping West Oaklanders achieve healthy homes, healthy jobs, and healthy neighborhoods for all who live, work, learn and play in our community. We have a twenty-year track record of using participatory research and collaborative problem-solving techniques to drive policy change, community development, and coalition-building in West Oakland and beyond.

We’re looking for an outgoing, technically-minded Community Engagement Lead responsible for ensuring that our diverse West Oakland community is able to engage with and inform the work we do. Working closely with program and communications staff, and reporting to WOEIP’s two Co-directors, this highly interactive role is critical to WOEIP’s environmental justice mission and the success of a variety of technical projects. The Community Engagement Lead will develop and nurture relationships with local community members and groups, helping them understand and interact with community resilience and green infrastructure projects that have a heavy focus on air quality, renewable energy, electrification, and transit. 

The person filling this role will be knowledgeable of Environmental Justice and enthusiastic about applying our principles of participatory decision making and power sharing, and be adept at working with diverse communities with different lived experiences and perspectives. Because this role will likely require some evenings and weekends, it has the flexibility of adjusting work schedules accordingly to maintain work-life balance.

Goals and outcomes

• Community members and partners understand WOEIP’s role in the community, feel connected to WOEIP’s project work, and understand how to get involved in different ways.
• WOEIP has an active and growing pipeline of community members and partner organizations moving through various stages of engagement with our work.
• Project partners and community members feel supported and included in WOEIP’s programming at appropriate levels.
• WOEIP staff maintains an ongoing dialogue with community members and partners, and understands and responds to community needs and concerns as they evolve.

Responsibilities

Steering Committee coordination for the West Oakland Community Action Plan (40%)

• Plan, coordinate, and support the facilitation of monthly Steering Committee meetings (currently remote but potentially in-person), including agenda-setting and speaker support, supporting technical and accessibility needs, and facilitating discussion among diverse participants with sometimes competing interests, priorities, and communication styles.
• Onboard Steering Committee members to the WOCAP principles, historical context, processes, and activities to ensure inclusive and equitable participation.
• Support the Steering Committee membership pipeline through community outreach and education (with the support of Comms staff).
• In collaboration with Comms staff, amplify WOCAP activities and outcomes throughout West Oakland.

Engagement, Outreach and Organizing (40%)

• Identify and cultivate relationships with community-based organizations, community partners, and neighbors.
• Introduce individuals and groups to WOEIP principles, processes, and project activities.
• Inform the community about WOEIP’s ongoing work in the neighborhood (with the support of Comms staff), and serve as community liaison for often technical or engineering-driven projects.
• In collaboration with project staff, develop program content and messaging that supports community needs, and makes complex issues and technical language understandable and compelling. 
• Conduct community listening sessions and facilitate community dialogue through in-person and remote events, one-on-one meetings, surveys, and other modes of understanding. 
• Organize orientation and education for leadership development of residents of West Oakland.
• Help translate community feedback into actionable priorities for WOEIP and our partners.
• Support communications staff with social media outreach and community content development.

Volunteer management (20%)

• Manage the volunteer pipeline and cultivate opportunities for community members to get involved in the environmental justice movement and WOEIP programs.
• Ensure volunteers feel supported and successful in their role.

A good fit…

• Has at least 3-5 years of experience engaging communities within highly technical project contexts.
• Rooted in Oakland and preferably, has existing connections and lived experience in West Oakland.
• Has experience building trust across and within communities with differing perspectives and experiences. 
• Has experience community organizing for justice for the underserved  
• Cares deeply about every detail and is fiercely committed to accuracy and transparency.
• Understands how to balance complex project management with the urgency of responsive execution and deadlines.
• Has a firm grasp of the general structure, cadence, and communication needs of technical and/or engineering-driven projects within a community context.
• Excels at equitable and inclusive meeting facilitation, including agenda-setting and managing technical logistics, designing and facilitating participatory exercises, managing conflict, and creating supportive environments.
• Is extremely comfortable with public speaking and tailoring audience-centric communications for diverse groups.
• Has experience cultivating self-directed community leadership through task delegation, education, and incentivization.
• Knowledge of, or commitment to learn, and apply Environmental Justice principles when working with community members and vendors, administrative staff in multiple levels of government, business representatives, allies, and our team.
• Has experience using social media and other digital channels for outreach and engagement.
• Is extremely proficient in Google Workplace and Microsoft Office Suites, project management software, Zoom and other video conferencing software, and is comfortable selecting and setting up software and systems to support our work.
• Bonus: Is fluent in one or more languages other than English, such as Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Mon-Kmer, Vietnamese, Arabic, etc.

Compensation and organizational culture

• This is a full-time exempt position, beginning immediately. Salary range is $55,000-$65,000 annually, with generous PTO, health benefits, and access to a 403b retirement plan. This role is a hybrid remote position with on-site work in our West Oakland office required 2-3 days per week. 

• WOEIP is  an equal-opportunity employer. We are a small team that values direct and open communication, power-sharing and leadership development, acknowledging our own and each others’ unique lived experiences and relationships to privilege, and centering the voices of those most impacted by our work. We especially welcome candidates who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ+, or other underrepresented or historically marginalized groups, as well as those with connections to West Oakland. If you need accommodation for a disability during the application process, please let us know.

How to apply

Send a letter explaining your interest in the role, along with a resume, to [email protected].

Due to limited capacity, we cannot accept phone calls, personal emails, or walk-ins. We appreciate your understanding.

Deadline to apply is February 3rd.