Description
El Puente seeks a responsible, detail-oriented, and committed Environmental Justice Coordinator to join El Puente’s Green Light District team. This position reports to the Project Manager and will work with the program staff, members, and community. The ideal candidate will thrive in a fast-paced, flexible, team-oriented environment, and is motivated by the opportunity to assist in creating a dynamic culture. They will also have a passion for social justice and will understand how movement building is served by a strong leadership team.
Who we are
Founded in 1982, El Puente is a youth-centered organization that uses the arts and education to advance social and environmental justice. Our mission is to inspire and nurture leadership for peace and justice, working as a human rights institution in NYC and Puerto Rico with national and international impact. El Puente creates community-led movements of self-determination through a holistic leadership and membership program model, as a high-impact youth and community development organization.
El Puente integrates its activities and community campaigns within its six Youth Leadership Centers, and its nationally recognized public high school, the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. Organizing in North Brooklyn, Puerto Rico, and beyond, El Puente remains at the forefront of community & youth development, and as such, initiates /impacts social policy locally and nationally.
As a staff member of El Puente, the Environmental Justice Coordinator is expected to uphold and work within the mission, philosophy, and principles of the organization.
Position Overview
El Puente has received an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Change Grant, one of only a few organizations nationally to receive this award. With this new funding, El Puente will start a new initiative to create Community Advisory Boards in North Brooklyn which will facilitate the engagement of disadvantaged communities in North Brooklyn in governmental processes for environmental and climate justice. This initiative will amplify our historic GLD Initiative.
El Puente is looking for three (3) Coordinators who will assist in shaping and facilitating this project. The position requires organizing skills combined with an environmental justice background and culturally responsive practices. As a staff member of El Puente, the Coordinators are expected to uphold and work within the mission, philosophy, and principles of the organization.
Essential Job Functions:
Leadership Development:
- Provide leadership and support the direction of El Puente Community Change Project, including El Puente’s climate and environmental justice organizing work, through the establishment and development of community-led advisory councils. Connect to and support existing work that includes Air Pollution, Open Space, and Puerto Rico base building and resiliency work.
- Recruit, organize, and engage diverse community members in the community Advisory boards.
- Support, coordinate, and collaborate with fellow El Puente staff across program sites, neighborhood stakeholders, and community leaders. With GLD staff, create and implement projects focusing on environmental justice while building community, creating an organizing base, and meeting specific deliverables.
- Work to connect El Puentes environmental justice work to local, citywide initiatives and beyond.
- Actively create connections with residents, community organizations, and community boards as relevant to this role.
Management:
- Develop a Work Plan for advisory councils across Williamsburg and Bushwick, grounded by intersectional environmental justice framing and principles (informed by GLD priority areas and tenets)
- Provide guidance and support in the structuring of community advisory councils, adaptive and responsive to the leadership of local voices
- Work in coordination with El Puente’s Williamsburg and Bushwick Leadership Centers to identify focus areas specific to each locality and informed by community engagement and participatory processes. Research and publish annual reports on the climate agenda for each neighborhood.
- Support fundraising and project development for the Green Light District.
- Conduct 101 environmental justice training sessions for staff, partners, youth, and schools. These trainings will fold into El Puente’s frameworks.
- Management and tracking of engagement (i.e. attendance, recruitment, training, larger public reach) and overall program implementation
El Puente Programs and Community Relations:
- Work with El Puente Program Directors to ensure integration of advisory council priority topics within organizational programs.
- Build and maintain relationships with community stakeholders and partners, including local organizations and elected officials, Represent El Puente at public events, including press conferences, public meetings, and rally/organizing activities.
- Work with executive leadership to secure and sustain El Puente's strategic engagement in networks, coalitions, and associations related to GLD’s environmental justice work locally and across the City and State.
- Develop and manage recruitment and engagement strategies for advisory council participants.
- Co-lead the design and implementation of workshops, capacity building, and leadership development concerning the formation of advisory councils.
- Collaborate with artists and staff to create projects with youth and community members that amplify and address the key priority issues determined by community advisory councils.
- Represent the interests/ needs of the community on key issues of public policy as developed with the advisory councils.
- Work closely with El Puente in Puerto Rico to inform El Puentes environmental justice work and direction.
Interacts with: EPA project Manager, Program Directors, Line Staff, Senior Management
