Communications Officer, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy-ACLU of Northern California
January 13, 2012
Communications Officer, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy
Application Deadline: February 13, 2011
Inquiries will be accepted after the deadline until position is filled.
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 our San Francisco office. The office is collegial; the work is challenging, varied, and rewarding.
pplications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
The Opportunity:
This position provides a unique opportunity for candidates who are passionate about civil rights and civil liberties.
The ultimate goal of our criminal justice work is to achieve a criminal justice system that operates fairly, with transparency and accountability, treating all who come into contact with it equally and respectfully regardless of race or wealth. We seek to increase public safety and reduce over-incarceration by reserving prison for serious and violent crimes; prioritizing restoration of harm and alternative solutions to the criminalization of non-violent and victimless behavior; and reducing recidivism with evidence-based rehabilitation and reentry programs.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and California is home to one of the largest jail and prison populations in the country. California also has one of the nation’s highest recidivism rates. Prison overcrowding in California is so extreme that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ordered the state to significantly reduce our prison population to comply with Constitutional standards. In response, the state enacted criminal justice realignment legislation that represents California’s most significant criminal justice reform in decades.
The ACLU-NC seeks to seize this historical opportunity to significantly change California’s approach to crime and punishment.
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, flexibleplans 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 stateAssist 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.
- 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.
About the ACLU of Northern California:
As the largest regional affiliate of the ACLU, the ACLU-NC has legislative, legal, policy, organizing, communications and development departments, and uses these combined resources in pursuit of its strategic objectives.
The ACLU is a nationwide, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the defense and expansion of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) was founded in 1934. It is the largest ACLU affiliate in the nation, with over 50,000 members, 22 all-volunteer chapters and a staff of approximately 50, including a legislative office in Sacramento.
The ACLU-NC is proud to be an affirmative action employer. All interested individuals, including people of color, women, persons with disabilities and persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex are particularly urged to apply.