JALSA, a membership based social justice organization located in Boston, MA, is devoted to the pursuit of social, economic, environmental, and racial justice. Our organization focuses primarily on state legislative campaigns, working closely with many grassroots organizations and coalitions. JALSA uses many approaches to accomplish its mission, including advocacy, community organizing, education, amicus briefs and legal strategies, and coalition building.

JALSA’s Jews of Color Leadership and Engagement initiative, launched a year ago, seeks to address the numerous barriers Jews of Color face to equitable inclusion and leadership --- particularly within those spaces dedicated to Jewish social justice activism. Our objective is to create a safe and sacred space for Jews of Color to act with passion and intent on the social and policy issues they care most about through the lens of their unique intersectionalities as Jews and members of BIPOC communities. Through this initiative, JALSA intends to serve as a bridge for Jews of Color to fully engage with Jewish social justice work in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, and throughout the country.

We expect this work to spark critical dialogue about how Jews of Color address socio-economic, environmental, immigration, and health care issues through their Jewish values. JALSA’s primary goal is to create a JoC centered movement that will both amplify JoC voices around the critical policy issues JALSA is working on at the state level, and connect JoC beyond Massachusetts to opportunities to take action. This initiative is aimed at supporting JoC leadership in our movement as a whole, promote voices of JoC, and inform and influence JALSA’s work.

As our JoC Initiative Coordinator, some of your responsibilities will include:

• Working with JoC Advisory Committee and JALSA staff to develop themes, organize, and implement plans for virtual issue-based roundtable events;
• Outreach to JoC in Massachusetts and beyond, introducing people to the Initiative and involving them in the work;
• Organizing skills-based workshops on legislative and issue-based topics
• Assisting in building, updating, and maintaining communications channels about JoC initiative activities, including advertising programs on social media, and updates for the JALSA website, social media accounts, e-mail communications, and printed materials.
• Working with the Development Team to research and write grants to support the JoC work.

Ideal candidates will have:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to connect with Jewish social justice activists and community leaders, and a connection to the JoC community.
• A passion for social justice and making positive change in the world, a commitment to working in a collaborative team setting, and cross-cultural sensitivity.
• Experience in organizing, community outreach, and/or community building.
• Ability to be in touch with colleagues and supervisors remotely through email, phone calls, Zoom and other technology.
• Understand how to use G-suite and graphic software for invitations.
• Ability to think and act independently, be organized and responsive, and manage deadlines.
• Strong organizational and event planning skills and attention to detail.

JALSA is an equal opportunity employer. We carefully consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status. All JALSA employees are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

This is a part-time consulting opportunity, approximately 8 hours a week for $35 an hour. Please send a cover letter and resume to office@jalsa.org. At this time JALSA is primarily working remotely (in-office one day a week) but we will return to our downtown Boston office in the future (although this position can be fully remote, if located outside of the Boston area or Massachusetts).