MassVOTE looking for a youth Co-Coordinator for Young Civics Leaders Program

The Young Civic Leaders program trains and supervises 8 high school youth ages 15-18 in an 11-month, transformational program to make them into promising civic leaders in their communities. Young Civic Leaders develop professional and leadership skills. They learn how to conduct trainings about voting and civics, they present those trainings to other youth in the community. They recruit and help train high school youth to become more civically active, register and vote. At the same time, the program works to make sure participating youth do well in school and life.

In 2011, Young Civic Leaders will be advocating for Pre-Registration, a bill to let 16 and 17 year-olds register early so they are ready to vote the day they turn 18. They will also be putting together a major event, the Civies, a Celebration of Youth Making A Difference.

Position Summary:

The Co-Coordinator will work directly with the youth to ensure they are achieving the program’s goals. Working as a partner with a Co-Coordinator, the new staff member will report to MassVOTE’s Director of Programs. This is a part-time position, approximately 25 hours per week, mostly 2pm-6pm Monday – Friday, with occasional morning, evening, and weekend events and meetings. This is a temporary position, funded from January to June 30, 2011. Salary commensurate with experience. The Co-Coordinator is a role model for the teens.

Activities:

• Organize young civic leaders to mobilize peers and other youth organizations to pass Pre-registration
• Help youth prepare to make presentations and give trainings about voting, Civics, and Pre-registration
• Help youth organize The Civies, a Celebration of Youth Making A Difference
• Participate in Bank of New York Mellon City Access Teen Ambassador youth trainings
• Set up educational fieldtrips, speakers, and events
• Evaluate youth school performance
• Build collaborations with other organizations serving youth
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the program
• Be present with youth on every Friday afternoon
• Work with staff on other MassVOTE activities

Qualifications:

• High School Diploma and some College
• Ability to work with youth
• Experience working with youth
• Ability to work on multiple projects
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Commitment to social justice and civic engagement
• Ability to develop relationships with diverse people and communities
• Enjoy meeting new people
• Familiarity with urban communities preferred
• Strong work ethic, sense of humor, and integrity

Teen Members of the Young Civic Leaders Program listed the following qualities for a good co-coordinator:

• someone who understands and is comfortable with youth
• confident
• outspoken
• not easily offended
• knows how to joke
• knows when to be serious and how to keep the group on task
• responsible
• organized and prepared
• college-minded
• flexible and ok with doing things outside of their job description
• people-person
• easy to relate to
• good listener
• someone who sends text reminders

About MassVOTE

MassVOTE works to register, educate and mobilize voters, with a focus on historically underrepresented communities in Massachusetts, especially people of color. We are working for a government that is accountable to all of us. Our work for electoral justice is one part of a larger infrastructure for social change...a movement for social, economic, and racial justice.