Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE), a non-profit regional law firm that provides high- quality legal assistance to low-income people and groups in western Ohio, seeks a Community Organizer for its Agricultural Worker and Immigrant Rights Practice Group to build and support community-driven legal work in noncitizen client communities. This position will be based out of ABLE’s Dayton office.
About ABLE
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) is a nonprofit law firm established over 50 years ago to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities have the same access to justice as people and companies that can afford to retain an attorney. ABLE and its partner law firm, Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO), are the only law firms available for comprehensive legal representation in non-criminal matters for more than 425,000 people living, working, and raising their families in poverty in Northwest and West Central Ohio. ABLE advocates for – and with – financially disadvantaged individuals and communities to effectuate just and equitable policy changes that address the structural causes of poverty and to protect their right to fairness and justice in the legal system.
The Opportunity
The Community Organizer builds, maintains, and coordinates authentic grassroots relationships to ensure our legal work is community-led and builds power in local communities.
The Community Organizer will have a number of responsibilities, including to:
• Work within noncitizen communities in Montgomery County, Clark County, Allen County, and surrounding areas to identify and mobilize noncitizen community members eligible for ABLE’s legal assistance
• Plan and carry out events that build our organizing work, such as legal clinics, days of action, training, and other activities
• Work with community leaders to build campaign plans with identifiable goals and work with community members and ABLE staff to measure the success of the campaigns
• Effectively communicate with our network of noncitizen community members and ally organizations through one-on-one meetings, group meetings, phone conversations, email and digital organizing
• Synthesize information from the community to communicate to ABLE legal staff and help ABLE legal staff to communicate legal strategies to community members.
Issue areas could include supporting and organizing legal clinics and information sessions for resettled Ukrainian and other noncitizen populations; identifying systemic issues impacting noncitizen communities and building noncitizen-led campaigns to address those issues.
ABLE values an applicant’s ability to directly communicate with client communities in Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Swahili, or Kinyarwanda, but fluency in one or more of these languages is not required for selection.
Compensation, Benefits, and Work Location
ABLE is committed to providing an equitable work environment, including a commitment to pay equity. We are updating our salary scales, with expected completion by Fall 2024. The starting annual salary range for this position will likely fall between $50,600 and $59,500, depending on experience. Comprehensive fringe benefits, including health insurance, supplemental language compensation, annual leave, and paid parental leave.
The successful candidate must have the following skills and experience:
• Passionate about community organizing, movement building, and immigrant, racial, and economic justice
• Previous organizing experience is valued
• Excellent organizational and writing skills along with computer proficiency
• The ability to relate well with clients living in poverty and those who do not speak English
• Ability to empower people to work together for the good of the community
• Experience working with interpreters
• A strong commitment to equal justice
• This position requires significant travel to outreach activities with some evening and weekend work required. Applicants will need reliable transportation, must have a valid driver’s license, and must meet ABLE insurance requirements.
To Apply: Please visit https://www.ablelaw.org/careers-with-able to submit your application. Position will remain open until filled. Applications received by September 2, 2024 will receive priority.
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