The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) seeks applicants with strong writing skills, media relations experience, and new media/video production skills to focus on the ACLU-NC’s criminal justice and drug policy and work from its San Francisco office. The office is collegial; the work is challenging, varied, and rewarding.
Deadline: February 13, 2011 Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
For more information visit ACLU - San Francisco.
Job Description:
The Communications Officer will report to the Communications Director and work closely with the Criminal Justice and Drug Policy team, including colleagues at the ACLU of Southern California and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. S/he will use communications strategies to advance the organization’s statewide criminal justice and drug policy reform goals, including reducing over-incarceration in prisons and jails and sentencing reform for drug and low-level property crimes.
Responsibilities:
* Communications planning: creating well-conceived, flexible plans to reach priority audiences effectively at key junctures in the policymaking process;
* Framing and messaging: taking the lead to set powerful memorable language in place to convey why changing the way the criminal justice system works is necessary, viable and promising;
* Media relations: setting meetings with newspaper editors; drafting and placing opinion editorials; pitching stories to TV and radio outlets, bloggers and news sites;
* Crafting blog posts that are thoughtful, “punchy” and accessible;
* Helping to produce short, grassroots-style videos that can help to humanize policy discussions;
* Maintaining and expanding a statewide media database for the criminal justice realm;
* Using Facebook, Twitter and new media tools to engage people with high quality content produced by the ACLU and our allies;
* Spearheading the marketing of web-based applications about CA’s prison system to facilitate public engagement;
* Working with the ACLU-NC’s Organizing and Community Engagement team to help drive efforts to influence local decision-makers in counties across the state; and
* Assist with media, communications, and organizational strategies on other issues as assigned.
Qualifications:
* Strong support of the ACLU mission and familiarity with civil rights and civil liberties issues;
* Outstanding written and oral communication skills;
* Experience in communications campaigns in the context of community organizing, political, public education campaigns;
* Ability to synthesize complex information from a variety of sources, including attorneys, scholars, and policy makers;
* Ability to manage multiple priorities and projects in a fast-paced environment with excellent attention to detail and accuracy;
* Basic familiarity with FileMaker Pro a plus; and
* Bilingual skills in Spanish a plus, but not required.
Compensation:
Salary based on experience. Excellent benefits include four weeks paid vacation; medical, vision and dental insurance for staff members and their dependents and spouses/ domestic partners; life and long-term disability insurance; defined contribution plan with employer match; and thirteen paid holidays.
To Apply:
Applicants should mail a resume and cover letter describing the applicant’s interest in this specific position to the attention of:
Communications Officer Search
ACLU of Northern California
39 Drumm Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
or e-mail to HR-Communications@aclunc.org.
