The Center for Death Penalty Litigation (CDPL) in Durham, North Carolina seeks to hire a Campaign Director to support its mission to end the death penalty and address racism in the criminal legal system.
CDPL is a non-profit law firm and advocacy organization that works to provide the highest quality representation to people facing execution. In addition to representing individual clients, CDPL spearheads litigation and public education campaigns that address systemic injustices and cast light on the arbitrariness and unfairness of our state’s capital punishment system.
CDPL is committed to exposing and challenging the racial bias inherent in the death penalty and to building an organizational culture of racial equity in all aspects of our work, from litigation and investigation to public education advocacy, and employment. CDPL is an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome qualified applicants of all races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations. Our racial equity statement can be found here.
The position will involve local and state organizing to mobilize opposition to the death penalty. This work will continue CDPL’s efforts to draw attention to the wide ranging injustices in our capital punishment system, including racial disparities in the state’s death penalty through raising the voices of the African-American community, other people of color, and those directly affected by the criminal legal system. To support the campaign and CDPL’s broader work, the organizer will build and expand relationships with state criminal and racial justice organizations and media outlets. The ideal candidate will have a commitment to ending the death penalty and to racial justice, expertise in outreach to communities of color, and an organizer’s instincts.
Duties:
- Acts as point person for the campaign to end the use of the death penalty in NC through developing strategy, goals, and plans for this work.
- Develops relationships and partnerships with local and state organizations doing criminal justice and racial equity work in NC. Coordinates with national partner organizations.
- Identifies needs in the field for the NC campaign and provides assistance and support in addressing those needs.
- Builds and expands relationships with state racial justice organizations and media outlets through outreach, presentations, attendance at state/local conferences and events, and mobilization around specific cases, campaigns, and other movement-wide actions.
- Designs and leads strategic planning sessions and trainings that help local organizations develop and implement their strategies.
- Stays abreast of political opportunities and threats both at the local and state level, and helps the NC campaign consider the political climate and position itself accordingly.
- Helps develop written materials for NC, including briefing documents, fact sheets, etc.
- Builds consensus around developing and implementing campaign strategies.
Qualifications:
- Minimum 1-3 years’ experience organizing on issue-based advocacy and/or political campaigns.
Direct experience and comfort working with communities of color and/or organizations that represent people of color, and directly affected individuals. - Excellent interpersonal communication, networking, and social skills; ability to connect authentically with diverse groups of people, especially across political and religious ideologies; comfort and excitement about reaching out to and building relationships with new people.
- Strong writing and oral communication skills.
- Strong organizational ability, including ability to juggle multiple projects, meet deadlines, work hard, keep things moving, and maintain attention to detail. Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Experience with facilitation, training/leading workshops, and/or developing strategy.
- Knowledge of NC political landscape is important.
- Experience and comfort speaking with the media is a strong plus.
- Experience creating content for various social media platforms.
- Strategic thinker; flexible and tenacious; creative and entrepreneurial.
- Passion and commitment to repealing the death penalty, criminal just reform, and racial justice.
Salary $50-75,000, depending on experience, with generous benefits package.
Applicants should send a cover letter by January 31, 2021, detailing interest, as well as a resume and the names of two professional references to Ms. Barrie Wallace at barrie@cdpl.org. For additional information, please contact Barrie Wallace at barrie@cdpl.org.
