LA Senior Community Organizer

Overview

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) is an environmental justice organization with deep roots in California’s Asian immigrant and refugee communities. Since 1993, APEN has built a membership base of Laotian refugees in Richmond and Chinese immigrants in Oakland, and more recently, Asian Americans in South Bay LA. Together, we have fought and won campaigns to make our communities healthier and just places where all people have the resources we need to live full, dignified lives.

We are growing our local roots and building power to make decisions at the state level that have real local impact. By building an organized movement, we’re leading a transition away from an extractive economy based on profit and pollution and toward local, healthy, and life-sustaining economies that benefit everyone.

The Los Angeles Senior Community Organizer is a member of our organizing team working towards APEN’s vision of building healthy, fair and just neighborhoods. The Los Angeles Senior Community Organizer plays a crucial role in building an effective base-building program to organize and develop the leadership of Asian immigrant and refugee community members. This role will support in developing their leadership to engage in advocacy, campaign, and electoral actions, and providing interpretation and translation to make these processes accessible to monolingual members.

The position reports to the Los Angeles Organizing Director and works within the Local Organizing (POPStars) Component of APEN, which strives to integrate bold and authentic Asian immigrant and refugee leadership throughout the organization.

APEN’s organizing work in Los Angeles (more specifically in Carson and the South Bay/ Harbor Gateway region) focuses on organizing a Just Transition away from an extractive fossil-fuel based economy towards a regenerative economy. We engage in strategic campaigns that “fight the bad” like targeting oil refineries, as well as campaigns and projects that “build the good” like creating local community-governed clean energy.

• Base building:
  Outreach, Organizing, Sustaining & Leadership Development (60%)
  • Contribute to setting organizing goals and plans for recruitment of adult working-class Filipino members, high school Filipino youth and working-class Asian adults in Carson (and the South Bay/ Harbor Gateway region)
  • Conduct outreach and various activities to gain new adult working-class Filipino members, high school Filipino youth and working-class Asian adults in Carson (and the South Bay/ Harbor Gateway region)
  • Build relationships with Asian community institutions and leaders
  • Ensure member participation in various leadership development and campaign activities
  • Contribute to developing organizing systems and methods
  • Interpret and translate activities & materials when needed
  • Coordinate & implement logistics for various activities, including providing transportation, arranging childcare, communicating with interpreters
  • Document & track the participation of members
  • Support members to improve needed skills (e.g. public speaking, grassroots fundraising, critical thinking & analysis, campaign strategy, electoral phone-banking)
  • Work with members to deepen political consciousness (e.g. critical analysis of political context; understanding of the importance of transformative organizing; shared commitment to vision; exposure to different social justice issues)
  • Lead member engagement in meetings and activities
  • Educate Asian community members about Just Transition
  • Building systems of collective & community care for families in the Filipino community in Carson (and the South Bay/ Harbor Gateway region)
• Project Development and Management (15%)
  • Leverage relationships with existing resources and models
  • Engage our members in furthering the just transition strategies and local economic alternatives, such as forming cooperatives and developing community solar
• Campaign & Alliance Building (15%)
  • Work with members to identify counter-hegemonic campaign demands and move our Carson Phillips 66 Refinery Closure campaign forward
  • Plan and implement campaign goals & activities
  • Support members to lead campaign…