Progressive States Alliance now hiring

[eridani]

Broadband and Green Jobs Advocate
Goal: The Progressive States Network (www.progressivestates.org) seeks a highly motivated individual to work in a team approach in our New York office as a policy advocate working on Broadband and Green Jobs issues, our key state economic growth and job creation policy areas. The Progressive States Network is a state-based organization, the mission of which is to pass progressive legislation in all 50 of America's state legislatures.

Job Description: Progressive States is looking for an individual to help coordinate our broadband and green jobs policies with state legislators and allied state advocacy groups across the country as component of economic recovery, long-term economic growth and equity for our communities. We see facilitating universal broadband access and adoption, including digital skills training, as a key to economic and racial equality in the modern era. And such "smart" technologies are intertwined with energy-saving policies tied to green buildings, teleheath and smart grids needed to end our nation's dependence on oil and stop climate change. We are looking for someone who can not only help support policies across these areas of broadband and green energy, but can also help build the new political alliances supporting these policies to bridge the concerns of environmental activists, health care advocates, labor unions and community groups working for economic development and environmental justice.

The goal of this position is to build those alliances and take on corporate lobbyists in statehouses across the country and help spread policies that democratize access to the tools of democracy, economic empowerment and a sustainable economy. These policies fall into three broad categories:

Promoting Universal and Affordable Broadband through encouraging broadband investments, supporting education and job training programs to connect low-income communities to technology jobs, and encouraging economic job creation tied to technology investments.
Encouraging "Green Jobs" Policies, such as retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, deploying solar and other alternative energy sources; and supporting higher-density, affordable housing policies to discourage urban sprawl.
Leveraging Technology for Energy, Health Care and Education Savings in ways that link programs promoting energy-efficient "smart buildings" and tele-medicine into broadband, clean energy and health care coalitions.
The role of the policy advocate will be to coordinate policy development with national allies, help build our network of state legislators and state-based allies committed to these issues, and provide rapid response policy support throughout the legislative sessions. This will entail everything from helping draft legislation to writing op-eds to providing tailored fact sheets as needed by different states.

The position will be located in PSN's New York office.

Additional Qualifications: While policy experience on all these issues would be ideal, we recognize that many candidates will come in with experience more in one area and will need to develop expertise in other policy areas over time. But what any candidate will need is to be self-motivated and an innovative thinker and organizer with a dedication to economic and racial justice. Excellent verbal and writing skills are an essential requirement. Relevant experience includes (but is not limited to) working in political, policy, legal, journalistic, or government settings. Advanced degrees, including a JD or masters in related fields, may count toward a candidate's professional experience.

Background: The Progressive States Network works with legislators and organizations across the country to advance legislation at the state level that rewards work, values families, promotes justice, increases democracy and grows the economy. Backed by labor unions, community leaders, environmental groups, grassroots organizations and other individual supporters, Progressive States blends analysis and action and is working to establish a cohesive network and support system for progressive legislators in all 50 states, while building a concerted movement dedicated to grassroots social and political change across the nation. See www.progressivestates.org for more information.

Salary and benefits for this position is commensurate with the amount of relevant professional experience that a candidate has. Opportunities for advancement, travel, and additional training are available.

Progressive States Network is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage and value a diverse workforce, and we seek diversity among applicants. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply: Email a compelling cover letter, resume and writing sample to [e-mail]. Please identify which policy position you are applying for in the subject line. Please demonstrates your ability to write about policy issues in a manner accessible to the public.


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Health Care Policy Advocate
Goal: PSN seeks a highly motivated individual to work in a team approach as a policy advocate working on health care issues with state legislators and organizations around the country. The Progressive States Network is a state-based organization, the mission of which is to pass progressive legislation in all 50 of America's state legislatures, strengthen progressive alliances, and challenge rightwing forces in each of those states.

Job Description: Progressive States Network has built a network of over 750 state legislators in forty-eight states who support fundamental progressive health care reform and the task of the health care policy advocate, working with both national and state organizational allies, is to help translate that legislative network into concrete changes in both federal and state policy. That work will include a few key policy goals:

Mobilize legislators and allies in support of federal health care reform;
Help implement the law in the states in the most progressive way possible once passed;
Work to assure transparency and equity in the stimulus spending in states across the country.
The organizational tools we use in pursuit of these legislative goals include a combination of broad policy support in the form of reports and weekly updates on best practices, combined with rapid-response technical support for legislators and advocates in particular states. We work to strengthen cross-state legislator peer-to-peer education and coordination, while deepening coordination of legislators and organizational allies in each state.

Because PSN works across multiple issues, any advocate should be prepared to work in a multi-issue framework and track some policy issues beyond health care.

PSN State Campaign Support: A core part of the PSN staffer's responsibility will be to support campaigns on these issues in each state, working with local allies and legislative allies we have developed from other campaigns to find sponsors and help move the bills in more states. This help will range from drafting legislation and amendments during the sessions, writing op-eds, developing fact sheets and other resource sheets, promoting grassroots public education in support of these health care reform initiatives, and helping legislators educate their fellow lawmakers on the need for the bills.

Building National Health Care Legislative Network: A key role for the PSN health care advocate will be to strengthen and deepen our national network of state legislators and allied organization that can work consistently to expand health care for all. By encouraging more legislator-to-legislator communication across state lines, we help legislators to see a policy proposal not as some radical new innovation but as a tested policy which has strengthened the political position of their peer legislators in other states. Strengthening legislator-to-legislator coordination also encourages legislators to think more seriously about the national impact of their actions and their role as leaders in the progressive movement, instead of just narrowly concentrating on their role as legislators in their own state.

Qualifications: The candidate for Health Care Advocate must be self-motivated, as well as an innovative thinker and organizer with a dedication to a progressive, anti-racist vision of our economy and society.

Excellent verbal and writing skills are an essential requirement. Background in health care advocacy is strongly desired. Relevant experience includes (but is not limited to) working in political, policy, legal, journalistic, or government settings. Advanced degrees, including a JD or masters in related fields, may count toward a candidate's professional experience. But most of all, we are looking for smart, creative thinkers and doers who can help build and strengthen the progressive movement in this country. Position based in PSN's national office in New York, NY. Occasional travel required.

Salary and benefits for this position is commensurate with a senior-level position based on the amount of relevant professional experience that a candidate has. Opportunities for advancement, travel, and additional training are available.

Progressive States Network is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage and value a diverse workforce, and we seek diversity among applicants. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply: Email a compelling cover letter, resume and writing sample identifying which policy position you are applying for and which shows your ability to write about policy issues in a manner accessible to the public to: [e-mail]. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.


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Press and New Media Specialist
Job Description: The Communications Specialist will manage PSN's day-to-day press activities, work with state legislative leaders across the country, oversee the production and distribution of its self-generated media materials, and contribute to the organization's growth through formulation and implementation of long-term media strategy that helps promote an anti-racist, social justice agenda covering a range of issues on behalf of working families.

In helping to build long-term progressive power in the states, the position's primary long-term strategic assignment will be to design and execute a comprehensive new media outreach initiative in close collaboration with PSN's Executive Director and Online Technology Manager. The Communications Specialist will be tasked with identifying key stakeholders in the states, from policy organizations to blogs to legislators who are writing about state-level policy, and recruiting them to contribute their work to an evolving online community hosted by PSN and dedicated to the development of a 50-state grassroots advocacy and media movement.

Through this initiative, PSN intends to construct a site that not only provides a definitive source of information on state policy and politics, but that also actively facilitates collaboration between bloggers, legislators, and advocates in devising and implementing strategy for the furtherance of the broader progressive movement.

The daily responsibilities of the job will include the drafting and distribution of op-eds, press releases, blog posts, and media advisories. Close collaboration with PSN's Policy and Outreach staffs will be necessary to translate multi-state legislative drives into messaging campaigns that move the national political narrative. In addition to the maintenance of these internal relationships, the Communications Specialist will be charged with initiating and cultivating relationships with a broad array of local, regional, and national reporters as well as managing partnerships with allied alternative media organizations such as GRITtv, Creative Counsel, and American Forum.

Qualifications: Applicants should have a minimum of 2 years experience in the non-profit communications and media field and a history of commitment to progressive social change. Above all, the applicant must be an effective people person with strong writing skills, a voracious appetite for keeping up with the news, a passion for progressive politics, and a tenacious work ethic.

More specifically, he or she:

Must be a strong independent researcher who can quickly master large amounts of complex technical information on a diverse set of issue areas and create succinct and compelling summaries for dissemination to the press, online media and the general public.
Must be familiar with current trends in online advocacy journalism and social media web applications and be able to generate innovative ideas for incorporating those trends into PSN's organizational growth strategy.
Must be able to collaborate closely with other members of the staff in order to coordinate publicity efforts with the short- and long-term strategic goals of the organization.
Must be able to meet hard deadlines and manage multiple overlapping projects in coordination with ideologically and geographically diverse set of partners.
Must be an imaginative thinker capable simultaneously of generating fresh and locally-specific "hooks" out of the national news cycle and of interesting local reporters in national, multi-state narratives.
Must present her- or himself dynamically and speak well in public.
Must be proficient with HTML and general computer skills. Basic knowledge of graphic design and/or video production is desirable but not required. Basic knowledge of Drupal is also desirable but not required.
Must have at least two years experience in the progressive communications or advocacy fields.
Note that, given the centrality to this position of mobilizing a large movement of online advocacy journalists, this position will be as much an organizing job as it is a traditional media job. Although experience with communications, and specifically online communications will be highly valued, a knack for the craft of organizing will be given high priority in assessing which candidates to consider for the position. Position based in PSN's national office in New York, NY. Occasional travel required.

Salary and benefits for this position is commensurate with a senior-level position based on the amount of relevant professional experience that a candidate has. Opportunities for advancement, travel, and additional training are available.

Background: The Progressive States Network seeks a highly motivated individual to work in a team approach as a policy advocate working on health care issues with state legislators and organizations around the country. The Progressive States Network is a state-based organization, the mission of which is to pass progressive legislation in all 50 of America's state legislatures, strengthen progressive alliances, and challenge rightwing forces in each of those states.

Progressive States Network is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage and value a diverse workforce, and we seek diversity among applicants. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply: Email a compelling cover letter, resume and writing sample identifying which policy position you are applying for and which shows your ability to write about policy issues in a manner accessible to the public to: [e-mail]. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.


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Outreach and Communications Intern
Progressive States Network is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the work of progressive state legislators around the country and the passage of state legislation that delivers on the issues that matter to working families: strong wage standards and workplace freedom, balancing work and family responsibilities, health care for all, smart growth and clean energy, tax and budget reform, clean and fair elections, and technology investments to bridge the digital divide.

PSN blends analysis and action to provide coordinated strategic support for a network of state legislators, their staffs and advocacy groups, in order to equip them with coherent logistical and strategic advocacy tools necessary for advancing key progressive economic and social policies. PSN is working to establish a cohesive network and support system for progressive legislators, while building a concerted movement dedicated to grassroots social and political change across the nation. Please see www.progressivestates.org for more details about our work.

PSN seeks an Outreach and Communications Intern to support work on our 2010 Shared Multi-State Policy Agenda. This year, PSN will be working with legislators from a majority of states to promote six bills that will help shape the progressive message across the country. While at PSN, the intern will learn about the inner-workings of a political non-profit, by supporting outreach and event planning projects, researching a broad range of policy issues, attending staff meetings, and helping to keep our database current. Interns will finish their time at PSN with a broader range of knowledge about progressive policy and political organizing and students are welcome to use this opportunity to receive credit.

Any candidate must show dedication to creating positive change in the states and experience in political or community organizing is a plus. Excellent verbal and writing skills and general computer proficiency are essential. But most of all, we are looking for smart, creative thinkers and doers who want to learn how to help build and strengthen the progressive movement in this country.

Progressive States Network is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage and value a diverse workforce, and we seek diversity among applicants. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to Outreach Associate, Julie Bero, at [e-mail].

[rucky]

1. Thank You!

[mojowork_n]

2. All of these positions are in NYC?

Sorry, I know several are, but are there any vacancies in state organizations, for other locations?

[eridani]

3. Looks like it.

You might try calling them to see if they have anything other than their national headquarters.