Community Canvasser & Outreach Strategist

Job Title:
Community Canvasser & Outreach Strategist

Organization:
Alabama Center for Employee Ownership (ALCEO)

Project:
Legacy and Opportunity Campaign

Location: Birmingham, AL (Focus on 4th Avenue Business District)

Compensation: $20 per hour

Schedule: Part-time (15 hours/week) for a 5-month duration

The Alabama Center for Employee Ownership (ALCEO) is hiring Community Canvassers to serve as the "ground game" for the Legacy and Opportunity campaign. This role combines direct outreach with strategic planning to connect with local small business owners about employee ownership as a succession plan.

Unlike typical canvassing roles, you will act as a strategist for your assigned territory. You will be responsible for mapping business corridors, identifying key targets, and building deep, trust-based relationships with legacy business owners to help preserve good jobs and build wealth in Birmingham.

• Create Territory Maps: Develop a "Business Map" of the Ensley or 4th Avenue business corridors and divide them into strategic zones for outreach.
• Develop Action Plans: Leverage insights from focus groups to create a canvassing plan, including identifying specific target businesses and refining the outreach script.
• Target Identification: Identify a path to survey businesses within the timeframe and select key target businesses for high-touch relationship building.

• Business Engagement: Conduct on-the-ground outreach to businesses in target areas, distributing marketing materials and building relationships
• Surveying: Conduct surveys with business owners to gauge interest and gather data
• Trust Building: Execute a "social capital based" outreach strategy, returning to businesses multiple times to build trust rather than just one-off interactions
• Event Recruitment: Invite and confirm business owners for conference and local focus groups

• Certification: Complete a training program covering employee ownership basics and canvassing best practices
• Focus Group Participation: Ensure 10 business owners are able to attend focus groups and help secure key supplies for these sessions

• Local Knowledge: Deep familiarity with the 4th Avenue/Civil Rights District neighborhood
• Experience: Previous experience in canvassing, community outreach, or sales is preferred
• Tech Literacy: Comfortable learning and using tablets/iPads for data entry and tracking
• Communication
  
  Skills:
  
  Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust with business owners and discuss complex topics like business succession
• Reliability: Ability to identify blockers and assign resolution owners during weekly team meetings

• The Local Legacy campaign works to turn the "silver tsunami" of retiring small business owners into an opportunity for workers—particularly minority and women workers—to build wealth. By helping legacy businesses transition to employee ownership, we aim to keep businesses open, retain jobs in Birmingham, and close the racial wealth gap.