What is BostonCAN?
BostonCAN is a group of Boston residents taking action in political, personal, and social ways to achieve climate justice. Our organization is comprised of a 7-member Board, an approximately 30 member “action team” which implements our campaigns, and a contact list of approximately 500 activists. Find out more on our organizational website.
BostonCAN seeks a consultant to serve as Campaign Coordinator for our campaign to expand access to renewable energy for Boston residents via Community Choice Energy. Community Choice Energy (CCE) is a program towns and cities can use to switch everyone in the town who is on basic electricity service over to cleaner energy. An energy broker helps the community purchase the energy they need. Residents are automatically opted in to the municipal plan but may opt out at any time. The energy is still distributed and billed through the town’s original utility (i.e. Eversource or National Grid in Boston). CCE is the single most impactful step the city of Boston can take to lower greenhouse gas emissions and take action on climate change, and has been adopted by many other towns and cities in MA. For much more information on CCE, please peruse our CCE website.
Responsibilities
- Educate city councilors, mayoral candidates, and administrative officials about Community Choice Energy
- Build relationships with current BostonCAN and CCE supporters, providing opportunities for them to better understand CCE and to educate and mobilize their peers, city staff, city councilors, and mayoral candidates to take action on the issue
- Recruit new volunteers to BostonCAN’s action team and build a broader base of supportive residents, by coordinating tabling, house parties, and other outreach events in different Boston neighborhoods
- Strengthen relationships with partner groups such as Mother’s Out Front, Sierra Club, and 350MA, and continue to develop a shared action agenda
- Coordinate and help to facilitate bi-weekly steering committee calls and action team meetings
- Organize and attend campaign-related events, including occasional public speaking
- Document activities and expenses regularly for BostonCAN board and treasurer
Qualifications
- at least 2 years community organizing or campaign experience, including creating and implementing campaign strategies, recruiting new members, facilitating meetings and developing organizational leadership with a diverse group of activists
- familiarity with, and passion about the issues of energy policy, climate change, and /or environmental justice, especially as they relate to decisions about energy pricing and provision at the city level
- excellent verbal and written communication skills, including strong ability to use Google applications (Drive, Groups, etc.)
- ability to work independently and at flexible hours, including some evenings and weekends, and ability to attend events throughout Boston
- experience working with small, grassroots organizations
- experience working with diverse constituencies, such as low-income communities of color, public officials, private sector partners, and non-native English speakers
- ability to methodically track data, and experience with database software such as CiviCRM, Salesforce, etc. is a plus
- ability to juggle many tasks simultaneously, while maintaining attention to detail
- knowledge of Boston neighborhoods and the diverse array of groups working on climate change from a variety of perspectives preferred (Boston residency strongly preferred)
- experience working on city-level political campaigns preferred
- experience using social media and digital organizing tools preferred
Compensation
Rate and hours per week are to be decided collaboratively between the consultant and board upon hire, but the Board anticipates the need for a full-time coordinator until the end of 2017 and a rate per hour between $25 and $30. The need for a coordinator will potentially continue into 2018, but the board would like to assess that need with the coordinator at the end of the calendar year, due to different potential campaign outcomes by the end of 2017.
Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to BCANBoard@gmail.com and should title the e-mail “Application for Coordinator Position.” We will review applications on a rolling basis, beginning July 22, until the position is filled, and we expect the new coordinator to begin work in August.