Job Description

CALPIRG Campus Organizer positions 
available in Irvine.  If you’re looking for a powerful opportunity to change California for the better, consider CALPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group). CALPIRG is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works for the public interest on a range of issues.

With CALPIRG, you could work to protect the oceans by building support for a ban on single-use plastic bags in your city. You could promote cheaper alternatives for textbooks and protect the Pell Grant to reduce the cost of higher education for students. You could strengthen our democracy by making sure the young people of California exercise their right to vote.

Our professional staff focus on finding good ideas and pushing for real change, even when a powerful interest stands in the way. We’ve built a nearly 40-year track record of overcoming these obstacles to achieve real results, due in part to the fact that we hire smart, talented people each year and give them plenty of responsibility—from day one on the job. CALPIRG CAMPUS ORGANIZER Job Description

Traditionally, it has been students standing on the front lines of important social movements, from civil rights to gay rights to antiwar efforts. CALPIRG campus organizers tap student idealism and energy, and help student volunteers and activists turn their concerns into effective action.



Campus organizers work on three to six campaigns in a term, which could include: working to pass a clean energy bill in the legislature; increasing youth voter turnout in an upcoming election; or fighting hunger and homelessness in the local community. The role of a campus organizer is two-fold: Achieve concrete social change and develop the next generation of leaders. Through this approach, campus organizers build the kind of power it takes to solve our country’s current problems while ensuring that legacy continues well into the future.



Campus organizers build active, cohesive and visible campus chapters that are recognized by faculty and student leaders as assets to the campus community. During the academic year, campus organizers learn to canvass door-to-door, and during the summer months, campus organizers run our highly effective citizen outreach campaigns.



Consider these recent examples of victories from our campus chapters:
*At UC Berkeley, Campus Organizer Jess Stein and student leaders stopped Texas oil companies from killing California’s clean air laws by defeating Prop 23. Jess recruited 120 student volunteers who together collected over 9,000 Berkeley student pledges to vote no on the deceptive measure. On Election Day student turnout increased and young people resoundingly voted No on prop 23, helping to protect California’s landmark environmental bill.

  *Last year at UC Santa Barbara, campus organizer Cliff Whitlock worked with student interns to organize a relief concert for Haiti. Cliff and the CALPIRG students recruited over a thousand people to attend the concert and they raised thousands of dollars for much needed aid in Haiti. The students who attended the concert were educated about their ability to stand up and make an impact on real problems in the world around them.

  *As a UCLA CALPIRG student, Coreen Weintraub worked with campus organizers to pull off an alternative Spring Break trip to build support for a statewide ban on plastic bags. Fifty students spent their spring break holding beach cleanups and press events in each city along the way. The trip culminated in a lobby day in Sacramento in support of the ban. Now LA County, San Jose County and over 40 municipal areas have banned plastic bags or Styrofoam and Coreen is a full time campus organizer passing on those same skills she was taught to new students!



Training & Experience

A key part of CALPIRG’s mission is to train leaders who are capable of organizing and winning results that improve people’s lives. CALPIRG conducts an intensive paid training program for campus organizers including classroom training, hands-on field work experience, and ongoing regional conferences and staff meetings.

As a Campus Organizer you will learn how to effectively organize campaigns to win real results. You will be trained to recruit other people to work with you, manage a set of interns and volunteers, generate media attention for important issues, plan a variety of effective events, and build coalitions with like-minded organizations. This experience will give you the basic skills to be an effective social change activist and organizer. 
Salary & Benefits: 

Recent college graduates earn the equivalent of $33,400 annual salary with CALPIRG. In addition, CALPIRG full-time staff can opt into our health care plan, and are eligible for paid sick days and holidays. After one year of work, CALPIRG staff are also eligible to join our 401(k) plan.


 Qualifications

We are looking for motivated individuals who are willing to work hard and commit themselves to getting results. We value experience with campus groups or student government, academic achievement, and outstanding verbal, written and leadership skills. But most of all, we look for people who find a way to make a difference.


Locations

CALPIRG is currently hiring for positions in: Irvine and San Diego. We also have a select number of opportunities across the state starting in August.



If you are only interested in particular locations, you will be asked to identify those locations during the interview process.



Apply Today: 

Please email a cover letter and resume to samantha@calpirgstudents.org. We’ll carefully consider your application, and if we think you’re a good fit we’ll get in touch.



CALPIRG and all PIRG-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 CALPIRG