Job Description

Work for a cleaner, greener, healthier Oregon

If you’re looking to make a meaningful, long-lasting impact on the environmental challenges we’re facing today, apply to be the Environment Oregon Preservation Associate, part of the Environment America Fellowship Program.

You can learn more: here.

You’ll work to protect the Pacific Ocean, preserve Crater Lake, and promote clean, homegrown renewable energy.
Whether it’s exploring our rocky coast, hiking around Crater Lake, or enjoying a special place closer to home, Oregon’s natural wonders enrich our lives in countless ways. Yet the places we love and the values we share are too often threatened. When decisions are being made about our environment, our elected officials hear plenty from the oil companies, developers and other powerful interests. We speak up for our environment, making our case to public officials and helping you make your voice heard when it matters most. From environmentalists to outdoor enthusiasts, clergy to scientists, families to business owners, we all have a stake in a cleaner, healthier future.

The Preservation Associate will lead our efforts to win votes on our top priority environmental campaigns and to expand and deepen our political network. You’ll learn how to research and identify effective solutions to critical environmental problems and how to build and mobilize powerful local constituencies to get behind your campaigns. You’ll lobby lawmakers; publish opinion pieces in major newspapers and on key websites; set up and speak at news conferences; organize town hall meetings and rallies; and run canvass campaigns to educate the public, build membership and raise money for our work. You’ll recruit interns, activists, and staff to work alongside you.

You’ll work with one of the leading environmental groups in Oregon

Environment Oregon is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy group. Our professional staff combines independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for Oregon’s environment.

Environment Oregon draws on 30 years of success in tackling top environmental problems. We have led efforts to protect our beaches from offshore drilling, increase our use of clean, renewable energy, and much more. Learn more about the changes we’ve made at www.environmentoregon.org.

Environment Oregon is a part of the Environment America federation, a federation of 29 state-based environmental advocacy groups. Each year, Environment America hires passionate, talented and committed college graduates to join our two-year Fellowship Program. If you’re hired to be the Environment Oregon Preservation Associate, you will be a member of the 2012-2014 Fellowship Program. Over the last decade, fellows have worked side-by-side with our most experienced advocates and organizers to make a real difference for the environment.

You’ll make an immediate impact

If you’re hired, you’ll learn to plan and run strategic campaigns. You’ll learn how to identify effective solutions to the state’s biggest environmental problems, and organize public support for your campaigns. You’ll organize town hall meetings and rallies; get your message out by writing opinion pieces and getting them printed in major newspapers and on key websites; set up and speak at news conferences; lobby lawmakers; and run citizen outreach campaigns to educate the public, build membership and raise money for our work. You’ll recruit interns, activists, and staff to work alongside you. Bottom line: You’ll make a real difference.

You’ll get great training

You’ll learn by participating in classroom-style trainings throughout the year. You’ll get guidance and feedback from your staff director, and work alongside some of the state and nation’s top environmental advocates and organizers. Past fellows will tell you, though, that you will learn the most through hands-on experience.

The Fellowship is only the beginning

After just two years of hard work, you’ll have the skills and experience to take on even more leadership here at Environment Oregon– running your own program or leading the charge on a new issue – or elsewhere in the Environment America federation or the broader environmental community.

Location

Portland, Oregon

Qualifications

Environment Oregon is seeking candidates who are ready to commit their time, skills and passion to political action on behalf of the environment. We’re looking for people who understand that we need to build and wield political power if we’re going to make a real difference for the planet. Our Fellowship Program is not for everybody. It’s tough, demanding and the challenges never stop coming at you. We look for smarts, academic excellence, leadership experience, top-notch written and verbal skills, and an eagerness to learn. If you’ve worked with an environmental or political group before, even better.

Salary and Benefits

As a recent graduate, you’ll earn $23,750 in your first year and $24,250 in your second year of the Fellowship. You’re eligible to opt into our group health plan. You accrue two weeks of paid vacation over the course of your first year, and an additional three weeks in your second year. You’re eligible to apply for college loan assistance after your third month, and to participate in our 401 (k) plan at the end of your first year. 

How to learn more and apply

You can learn more: .

You can complete our online application: here.

Application deadline: February 17.
Contact Sarah Higginbotham, State Director, with any questions, at (503) 231-1986 x318 or sarah@environmentoregon.org.

Environment America and all Environment America-affiliated organizations are equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, gender, handicap, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

This is a Work for Progress recruitment campaign conducted on behalf of Environment Oregon.