Lead Organizer

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Dane County United (DCU), a broad based organizing effort in Dane County, Wisconsin is seeking a Lead Organizer.  Dane County United is affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) network of 63 citizen participation organizations in the U.S., Canada, England and Germany.  Dane County is home to the City of Madison, the State Capitol and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Over its history DCU has had significant successes protecting and increasing childcare subsidies for low income families, working with childcare providers to ensure that Madison’s four year old kindergarten program was created and implemented collaboratively with childcare providers, and working with the school district to develop teacher training for closing the achievement gap.  The organization has developed a track record of being able to regularly turn out 300-400 people to public actions.  Over the past three years, DCU has operated with a highly active Steering Team and without an organizer.  The past year and a half have been focused on raising the funds to support a lead organizer.

Dane County United’s current situation provides an exciting opportunity for an ambitious organizer.  The polarization in state politics including the recent and upcoming recalls leave a significant opening for an organization that can build local citizen power across some of the lines that have divided people.   With a strong sister organization in Mliwaukee and an organizing effort underway in southwestern Wisconsin, there is the potential over the coming years to build a citizen voice that covers a significant swath of southern Wisconsin.

Dane County United is looking for an organizer who

•             has significant organizing experience or experience building something in a way that demonstrates organizing skills

•             can grow DCU from 13 member organizations primarily in the city of Madison to a diverse, county-wide organization of 30-40 member organizations

•             can develop DCU as an experiential learning lab for citizens building the skills to “do democracy” over the long term and for the common good, while being pragmatic enough to build a citizen power organization that gets real, on-the-ground results in a reasonable timeframe

•             is deeply drawn to the work of building relationships, common ground and leadership with people from very different ideological, theological, racial, and geographic backgrounds (please no ideologues or issue-only mobilizers)

•             has the energy and stamina to initiate, conduct and follow up on 20-25 quality relational meetings per week

•             has excellent written and oral communication skills and relational abilities

•             can connect with leaders in both religious and secular organizations

Compensation:

Salary: $45,000 plus, commensurate with experience

Health insurance and retirement benefits

To apply: Submit a completed application form to dennis.collier@hotmail.com or Dane County United, 814 Atlas Avenue, Madison, WI 53714.  First consideration will be given to applications received by November 15, 2011. Resume and cover letter accepted with our application, BUT NOT in place of it.  To request an application form or to ask questions about the position, please contact Dennis Collier at 608-516-1656 or dennis.collier@hotmail.com. 

Dane County United is an Equal Opportunity Employer.