Down Home North Carolina seeks a temporary, full-time Fellowship Manager to lead our 2024 political organizing fellowship program. This is a temporary role with the possibility of a permanent contract. 

A key responsibility of this role will be overseeing Down Home’s second fellowship program to train the next generation of working-class, rural movement leaders. This exciting new program will provide a paid training opportunity to people who may have no previous experience with organizing, and help them gain professional experience that can translate into long-term employment and leadership in our movements. The training program will include organizing skills, political education on power, race and class, campaign and electoral strategy, planning, and professional skills. The class of fellows will be embedded with Down Home’s Field team and will contribute to our statewide electoral work by running a paid canvass in the later months of the year. 

We envision a 6-month program for up to 6 participants who come from small towns and rural communities across North Carolina. Through focused and ongoing classroom training and coaching, combined with field experience gained by embedding with Down Home 2024 Field Program, the Fellowship Manager will establish a foundation of principle and practice to serve participants and our movements for the long haul. The program will also include professional development and resume coaching at the conclusion of the program. Down Home hopes to draw our future staff organizers from the alumni network we will build through our fellowship.

Fellowship counties will include Chatham, Harnett, Iredell, Rockingham, Rowan, and Transylvania counties. 

Who We Are

Down Home North Carolina is a growing statewide organization of rural and small-town communities that advocate for economic, gender, and racial justice. We will move North Carolina toward the values of dignity, safety, and inclusion through leadership development, strategic campaigning, multiracial movement building, and civic engagement that advances positive, life-changing reforms for rural communities.

We are unique in our focus on building permanent, statewide organizing infrastructure in North Carolina’s rural places. Through our growing network of member-led, county-based chapters, we are engaged in year-round organizing. Our member-leaders, deeply rooted in their communities, are the heart and soul of Down Home’s work. Our organizational mission includes a deep commitment to building multiracial and working-class member leadership, and our chapter culture inspires the deep and necessary commitment required to transform small towns and rural places.

Founded in 2017, Down Home has built a strong organizational track record, including:

• Led a years-long statewide campaign to Expand Medicaid, which was passed by the General Assembly in 2023
• Helping to elect the first Latinx state legislator in NC history
• Growing a statewide membership base that includes all 100 counties of North Carolina
• Anchoring the first southern, rural deep canvass and race-class narrative tests
• Driving statewide coalitions to fight for a just COVID-19 recovery

Responsibilities of the Fellowship Manager

1. Directly manage, coach, and train a team of Field Fellows

• Coach, train, and mentor Fellows on effective campaign strategies including but not limited to recruitment, door-to-door canvassing, and other necessary field tactics
• Build a curriculum that allows fellows to learn more about movement history in North Carolina and gives them a sound political analysis of the moment we are in 
• Support Fellows in all canvasser recruitment activities and ensure that recruitment goals are achieved throughout the duration of the program
• Organize at the “grasstops” level, building political leads early in the assigned turfs
• Oversight of the complete vetting, interviewing, and hiring of all successful applicants
• Ensuring the successful training and orientation of all Fellows and paid canvassers

2. Manage Down Home’s Field Fellowship in assigned regions 

• Implement and execute a robust outreach plan field plan encompassing voter contact, and volunteer recruitment 
• Provide fellows and canvass teams with the positive leadership culture, resources, guidance, and technical support required to succeed during each phase of the program 
• Ensuring that all canvasses are launched and completed in a timely, orderly fashion
• Promoting the continued development of canvass teams in their day-to-day duties and responsibilities over the course of the program

3. Provide accountability and support 

• Communicating all important on-the-ground information and providing timely responses to requests from Fellows, the Political Director, and Down Home leadership 
• Ensuring that canvass teams maintain accurate and reliable data
• Providing the Political Leadership team with daily quantitative and qualitative reports as part of an ongoing evaluation of the program’s success
• Help create a professional staff culture that is upbeat and empowering, with a mind toward greater inclusion, and a willingness to solve problems creatively

Who You Are and Keys to Success (the must-haves)

• Experienced organizer: Has shown the ability to organize large groups of people for a cause or a campaign; has a true understanding of organizing skills, including effective one-to-ones, making hard asks, building base, propositions, and building trust and credibility with communities in small amounts of time. Has experience working in elections, either through campaigns or other entities. 
• Exceptional manager: Has demonstrated experience leading multiracial teams to accomplish results; able to cultivate organizer’s development through direct feedback as well as strong, inclusive, and equitable management practices. Able to work through conflict directly and in ways that build trust and relationships. 
• Demonstrated ability to train/teach others and build curriculum: You have experience training or teaching others a new skill, particularly skills that require people to come out of their comfort zone or do something for the first time. You can take a complex task or project and communicate its parts to others in plain language. You have experience creating and delivering presentations/discussions/trainings that reach various audiences.
• Approach your work with a coaching and learning mentality: You help others grow. You use coaching, training, and feedback to develop others and support problem-solving. You see mistakes as learning opportunities. You seek and engage well with feedback. 
• Ability to build and sustain trust: You say what you mean. You can build authentic relationships across lines of difference, such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability, gender identity, citizenship status, or other identities. You follow through on commitments and set boundaries without burning bridges.
• Project management skills: Can build systems and projects quickly, and accomplish goals under tight deadlines and high-stress environments. Has the ability to inspire a team, build deep relationships, agitate organizers, and hold them accountable to their goals. Proven ability to manage complex schedules and responsibilities with minimal support or oversight
• Aligned with the mission and values of Down Home NC: Committed to the vision of a powerful, inclusive, rural, multiracial, working-class movement-building as a path towards liberation for all people. Is aligned with the idea that building power takes both election programs and long-term base-building and community investment.

If you were here now, this is what you would be doing today:

• Planning for training with new organizers and fellows, including training additional staff to support the fellowship.
• Managing the hiring process for a new class of fellows
• Working with the political team to plan and design the 2024 Field Program 

Compensation

Compensation for this full-time staff position is $72, 916 to $84, 134 annually and includes best-in-class health and retirement benefits. The location is flexible within North Carolina. Applicants must be able and willing to travel regularly for work. Some irregular hours are required, including nights and weekends. 

How to Apply

Down Home NC is committed to creating a dynamic, multicultural, diverse working environment. Candidates of color and diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Down Home NC is an equal-opportunity employer

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. We will still accept applications if this job description is posted on Down Home’s website (www.downhomenc.org.

Please send a resume and a short cover letter that includes your experience to: [email protected]