Join the Honesty Team!

Job Title: Organizer
Type: Part-time employee
Location: Based in Southwestern Ohio (Adam, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Preble, Hamilton): Remote + travel as needed
Reports to: State Organizing Director
Compensation: $25-27K/year, dependent on experience; Part-Time Employment
Availability: Monday-Friday, weekends and evenings as needed

About Honesty for Ohio Education

Honesty for Ohio Education is a nonpartisan statewide coalition that believes every Ohio student deserves high-quality education grounded in truth, facts, and diverse perspectives, regardless of background or zip code. The coalition serves as a centralized network to educate, advocate, and build community around honest and fully funded education that affirms and protects the rights and safety of all students, families, and educators. Our mission is guided by shared values and rooted in understanding of the Race-Class Narrative.
We do this important work at different critical access points to education, advocating in your local school district, the Ohio Statehouse, Washington D.C., and everywhere in between. Born from a 2021 grassroots coalition effort to combat extremist censorship legislation imported into the Ohio Statehouse, Honesty quickly grew and became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization built to fight for strong, inclusive public schools.
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With collaboration at the core of our foundation, we work with thousands of students, families, educators, local grassroots advocates, school board members, more than 70 Ohio organizations, and national campaign partners Public School Strong and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools.

About The Organizer Role

Since its inception, the Honesty Coalition has grown into a statewide education movement while prioritizing pro-public education and pro-student policy fights taking place in the statehouse, state board of education, legislature, or local school districts. To further the work, our effort to organize and connect with organizers in all 611 districts, called Honesty Teams, launched in 2024. We’ve worked on issues like holding private school vouchers accountable, making sure that LQBTQ+ students are supported, and fighting extreme religious movement efforts to infiltrate public schools. Honesty Organizers listen to our communities to identify priority concerns and develop grassroots leaders to build campaigns that collaborate with our 80+ expert coalition partner organizations.

The Organizer position will work in close partnership with the State Organizing Director and Organizing Team to grow the Honesty Teams network in local school district communities across Ohio. Experience in local and/or statewide organizing or advocacy is desired, but a demonstrated record of concern for strong public education, collaboration, networking, and team-building skills are the essentials for this role. 

On the organization level, the Organizer will work with the State Organizing Director, fellow Organizers, Executive Director, Communications Director, other members of the Honesty Core Team, and key Coalition partner organizations.

On the grassroots level, the Organizer will work with local parents, teachers, students, administrators, activists, board members, and more. Building authentic local relationships and developing opportunities for collective action around Honesty issues in local school districts is the priority responsibility. The Organizer can expect to build relationships through in-person one-to-one meetings as well as utilizing Zoom to interact with busy parents, teachers, and others who care about strong, inclusive public education in Ohio.

Hours are flexible, but evening/weekend work is often needed to organize in local education communities. Examples would include attending a local school board meeting with a local activist team 30 minutes away on a Tuesday evening, or conducting a training for two hours on a Saturday afternoon, because that’s when parents were available. Outside of meetings, work hours are flexible.

Parents and educators are particularly encouraged to apply for the position. Because the Organizer will need to build and maintain relationships with advocates in neighboring districts or counties, reliable access to transportation is important.

This organizer must be based in Southwestern Ohio (Adam, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Preble, Hamilton).

Essential Duties

Contribute to Honesty Teams Network’s hybrid organizing efforts to develop state-wide and locally-relevant campaigns

• Work closely with the Statewide Organizing Director and Organizing team to develop and execute Organizing strategy

• Operate in a hybrid statewide-local/distributed-relational community organizing plan in districts across the state

• Provide ongoing leadership, campaign development, counsel, and strategic direction that ensures the viability and sustainability of the Honesty Teams Network organizing plan

• Participate in Teams Network leadership events (usually over Zoom) and in the Signal chat community

• Elevate local-level concerns to facilitate prioritization of statewide Honesty efforts including campaigns, trainings and programming

• Work with the State Organizing Director, fellow Organizers, Executive Director, Communications Director, other members of the Honesty Core Team, and key Coalition partner organizations.

Provide on-the-ground support, leadership development,  and strategic direction for local school district teams by working with local parents, teachers, students, administrators, activists, and board members.

• Identify, recruit, and train local leaders who prioritize education-related issues and are passionate about strong, inclusive public education in Ohio through in-person and 1:1 Zoom meetings

• Prioritize local school districts for outreach efforts to grow network and influence

• Buld informal relationships with local grassroots leaders and strategic partners

• Develop opportunities for collective action around Honesty-prioritized issues in local school districts, 

• Serve on the Honesty Teams Leadership Network by attending monthly Zoom and interacting with members in Signal channel

• Assist in management of state-level organizing technology platforms and data collected from Honesty Teams

Build awareness of Honesty for Ohio Education in the five priority Southwest Ohio counties.

• Attend local school board meetings

• Identify local events to attend

• Look for partnership and sponsorship opportunities and speaking opportunities

• Develop and maintain authentic local relationships with civic organizations and both formal and informal community groups 

Job Responsibilities

• Works closely with the State Organizer Director, other Honesty Core Team members, key organizational partners, and support team to operate the Honesty Teams distributed organizing infrastructure, including technology platforms, communications platforms, and organizing resources

• Trains leaders on organizing tactics, issues, technology platforms, relationship-building with local groups and/or launching local Honesty teams, and power mapping local communities 

• Provides ongoing, hands-on support for Honesty Teams Network and local education advocates

• Assists in management of state-level organizing technology platforms and data collected from Honesty Teams

• Provides ongoing support to leverage digital outreach & engagement, coalition partners, and in-person outreach for local Honesty Teams (attending local organizing meetings, local school board meetings, one-to-ones with grassroots leaders)

• Provides thought leadership, counsel, support for organizing around community advocacy, actions, and events addressing school district issues

• Works with organizing staff to ensure Honesty Teams are upholding the mission and values of the organizing manual including the importance of honest education, Whole Child framework, student rights and safety, diversity, equity & inclusion, affirming policies and best practices, civic engagement, GOTV for school board races, and fair and safe elections

• Assists in providing regular reporting and updates about Honest Teams, and local-level trends and patterns to the Honesty Core Team and Honesty Coalition

• Collaborates with other Honesty Core Team members/Honesty departments to respond to state-level issues, as appropriate

Desired Qualifications

If you think you’re suited for the role, don’t worry if you don’t meet every requirement. If you believe that you could excel, we encourage you to apply.

• Deep and active commitment to Honesty values and community agreements

• Experience with and understanding of local public schools and their function

• Parent, student, political/electoral, labor, or community organizing experience

• Experience working with grassroots leaders and/or other organizers

• Experience implementing an organizing program

• Experience training and supporting grassroots leaders 

• Experience building diverse and inclusive teams and organizations

• Experience working across intersectional groups (race, class, gender, orientation, religion, ability, national origin, culture, etc.) to achieve common goals

• Experience in or knowledge of the Ohio public education system

• Experience in or knowledge of the Ohio state government and its processes

• Knowledge of hate and extremist groups and their impact on public education

• Strong understanding of the internal, interpersonal, and institutional impacts of oppression, especially as they relate to educational institutions and a demonstrated commitment to equity  

• Digital platform proficiency and experience, including voter databases, communication platforms, and social media

Desired Qualities

• A Leader Who Develops Others: You take responsibility for motivating others, coordinating effective collective action, and building powerful teams—even in the face of obstacles. You are a force multiplier who wants to unleash leadership in others, igniting responsibility and ownership in those around you.

• Courageous and Determined: You draw from deep values and beliefs so you continue to take action towards goals, even in the face of change, fear, loss, conflict, and uncertainty. 

• Ambitious and Creative: You are someone who takes initiative, and someone willing to try, fail, learn, and try again. When things get difficult you get creative and continue trying and learning until you succeed.

• Emotionally Intelligent: You connect with people naturally and are able to see people as full human beings. Your understanding of others’ needs, desires, and interests makes you an effective organizer.

The Organizer will be a part-time employee, working 60-80 hours per month. This position will report to the Honesty for Ohio Education State Organizing Director and work in partnership with our Core Team, Executive Director, Communications Team, Advocacy Team, and Honesty coalition partners.

How to Apply

Interested applicants should submit a job-specific cover letter highlighting their skills and interests, an updated resume, and a list of three current references (name, role & contact information) in an email to info@honestyforohioeducation.org
Please indicate “Organizer” in the subject line. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
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Honesty for Ohio Education is committed to providing equal opportunity and building an inclusive and equitable work environment. All qualified candidates will be considered without regard to race, religion, sexuality, gender, national origin, disability, or age.