Civic Engagement Director
Organization:
LA Voice believes all people have power and a voice. Every day we amplify that power by uniting diverse faith voices and equipping grassroots leaders to organize for what their communities need, winning systemic changes that improve the lives of all county residents. We are an interfaith, multi-racial, multi-cultural organization of 70 faith and spiritual communities that represent more than 50,000 families in Los Angeles County. (See our Facebook page L.A. Voice or website www.lavoice.org). Our core strategic values are: exponential growth of grassroots leadership; bridging to belong across differences; and confrontation with power for social transformation leading to racial equity and inclusion.
Our diverse and experienced team works with communities across the county to create a Los Angeles with racial equity and abundant life for all.
LA Voice is a member of Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network, www.faithinaction.org), the largest grassroots spiritual and congregational organizing network in the U.S. and a member of PICO California, an effective, highly respected grassroots organization working to create a true state of belonging in California.
LA Voice and LA Voice Action have a track record of effective and data-driven voter engagement that build power for our communities. Our 2024 Faith Votes initiative reached more than 14,000 voters in partnership with 57 faith communities. Participating congregations committed to becoming 100% Voting Congregations, with grassroots leaders ensuring that their congregations and surrounding communities would turn out to vote.
LA Voice Action was founded in 2018 with a mission to turn the power of faith voices in Los Angeles County into transformative wins for our communities. To achieve this, we carry out year-round voter engagement efforts that are building a powerful, faithful voting bloc that turns out in every single election, no matter how large or small. Since our founding we have contributed to major electoral victories and ballot measure campaigns.
The Civic Engagement Director is a senior level leader whose role is to build LA Voice and LA Voice Action’s short and long-term power through civic and voter engagement strategies. This body of work includes year-round nonpartisan integrated voter engagement campaigns, lobbying campaigns focused on passing specific ballot measures, and electoral campaigns via LA Voice Action.
This role collaborates closely with the Director of Organizing and organizing staff to align civic engagement strategies with LA Voice’s issue campaigns, helping to educate, mobilize, and organize our base around collective priorities during both election and non-election years.
The ideal candidate will have significant experience with civic engagement campaigns and a track record of increasing voter turnout through strategic volunteer and paid voter engagement. This position reports directly to the Executive Director.
Responsibilities and Duties:
- Lead LA Voice’s civic engagement work, including election year voter engagement and ballot initiative campaigns, voter engagement between elections around our issue work, and engagement in redistricting processes. This includes both leading volunteer-led voter engagement efforts and overseeing paid phone and canvass teams. Civic engagement strategies must be integrated into LA Voice’s broader organizing priorities, strengthening our leadership development, issue campaigns, and institutional power.
- Lead LA Voice Action’s work, including: electoral campaigns and ballot measure campaigns; long-term strategies to grow our civic participation infrastructure; and building out LA Voice Action’s membership base, bringing in new individual members and leading collaborative endorsement processes to determine organizational priorities.
- Proactively lead research and analysis of the electoral landscape to facilitate decision making for our voter engagement programs and issue campaigns.
- Coordinate with allies locally, statewide and nationally including PICO California (our core network) and the Million Voters Project (of which we are members) as well as Working Families Party and other allied organizations.
- Work with organizing staff and grassroots leaders to integrate voter education and civic participation into ongoing leadership development and base-building efforts across member congregations and institutions.
- Collaborate with communications and organizing staff to ensure consistent messaging, storytelling, and narrative strategy across civic engagement and organizing campaigns.
Qualifications Required:
- Senior leadership experience in civic engagement or electoral campaigns—voter education, ballot measure, or candidate electioneering.
- Understanding of, and commitment to, grassroots community organizing as the core powerbuilding strategy that civic engagement campaigns arise from.
- Experience planning, leading and evaluating successful field programs.
- Knowledge of how to create effective campaign strategy and ability to use field organizing tactics including but not limited to canvasses, phone banks, texting and social media outreach with both volunteers and paid staff.
- Experience in the use of data and analytics to drive effective decision-making in organizing, issue, and/or electoral organizing, including PDI.
- Evidence of ability to work with diverse religious, racial, and geographic communities, and to bring a coherent racial, gender and class analysis to all projects and goals.
- Group development skills; experience nurturing, managing, and guiding teams of people successfully toward shared goals.
- Fluency in Spanish or other language related to our work
- B.A. or Masters degree
- Personal life experience with the issues we focus on: immigration status, affordable housing, homelessness, or the criminal justice system
- This is a full time, exempt position. Salary range is $110,000-$140,000 depending upon experience and demonstrated skill.LA Voice’s compensation structure was developed from best practices in equitable and transparent compensation, and includes a generous benefits package including matching 401(k); 15 days paid vacation increasing to 20 after three years of service and 25 after five years (plus holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year); and medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- Benefits include a comprehensive health plan, generous personal days, and 5% matching 401(k).
- The job includes evening and weekend work, as well as frequent travel across LA County.
LA Voice is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), or any other basis protected by law.