Black text and image of bullhorn reads "We're hiring! Open Doors Program Associate." With two star cut outs.

OPEN DOORS PROGRAM ASSOCIATE

Title: Program Associate

Reports to: OPEN DOORS Associate Director

Status/Rate: Part-time; $26/hr; avg. 15 hrs/wk (with potential for expansion)

Schedule: Hybrid, primarily remote; Hours spread across Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; respond to occasional time-sensitive email; in-person approximately one day/wk primarily on Roosevelt Island, NYC

Start Date: January/February 2024

About the Position

The OPEN DOORS Program Associate will work to keep OPEN DOORS, the Reality Poets, and the Nursing Home Lives Matter movement organized and up to date. The Program Associate will work closely with Director and Associate Director to target support areas (mainly: administration logistics, communications management, and programming and funding calendar) and fulfill or delegate tasks to Program Assistant. Additionally, the Program Associate will coordinate with the Reality Poets and FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS Film Impact team to build processes for future appearance requests around FIRE, and expand the reach of the NHLM movement through FIRE-related programming.

The Program Associate will support the larger, working OPEN DOORS vision: A world where nursing home lives matter and people who live in nursing homes have access to their full civil rights.

Responsibilities

General:

  • Report to OPEN DOORS Director and Associate Director regarding team comms and operations

  • Attend and facilitate two weekly remote team meetings (Week Ahead and Big Picture)

  • Work closely with Program Assistant, scheduling and holding weekly (or biweekly) calls to manage workload

  • Build relationship with OPEN DOORS Reality Poets and prioritize Poet goals and interests regarding nursing home resident rights, disability justice, gun violence prevention, and other advocacy

Communications:

  • Create timeline/schedule for 3-5 weekly social posts, maintain social stories/feeds, monthly newsletter, and website updates for OPEN DOORS and NHLM in collaboration with Program Assistant and FIRE Impact team

  • Identify and build new contacts and communities for OPEN DOORS and NHLM growth and impact events (ie. poetry slams, arts workshops, podcasting, social campaigns)

  • Collaborate with Reality Poets Manager to maintain contacts and relationships from NHLM Community Council and Freestyle Fridays (adding to newsletter, engaging on socials etc)

  • Keep up to date OPEN DOORS Outreach / Contact list

Operations

  • Maintain OPEN DOORS programming calendar and Reality Poet schedules, including FIRE Impact events/interviews/appearances

  • Track and share information between OPEN DOORS and FIRE teams

  • Handle transportation and travel logistics for OPEN DOORS and Reality Poets in collaboration with OPEN DOORS Associate Director and Program Assistant

  • Ensure Poets can access Zoom/remote interviews and speaking appearances

  • Support OPEN DOORS Associate Director with grant/funding deadlines and general document administration/data entry

  • Update and organize OPEN DOORS Google Drive and streamline document/file saving processes

Experience/Skills/Qualifications

  • Possess strong analysis of anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices

  • Knowledge and/or interest in disability rights and disability justice movements

  • Understand that organizing is about building meaningful connections

  • Demonstrated experience using social media to create social change 

  • Fluent with Squarespace, Canva, Google Workspace, Drive, and Excel

  • Familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud (preferred, not required)

  • Proficient with managing and implementing operations and admin systems

  • Strong organizational, time management, and administrative skills

  • Excellent virtual, verbal, and written communications skills

  • If you say you’re going to do something—you get it done on time!

About OPEN DOORS NYC

OPEN DOORS NYC invests in the creativity and leadership of Black and brown people who use wheelchairs and takes action for safer, more just communities. We are led by the Reality Poets—an artist collective of current and former residents of Coler, a long-term care facility on Roosevelt Island. Guided by the Reality Poets’ lived experience and vision, our work focuses on disability justice, community building, and gun violence prevention. We’re currently sharing our documentary film, Fire Through Dry Grass, which follows the Reality Poets’ harrowing year on lockdown during the pandemic, fighting for their lives and freedoms, and working on our Nursing Home Lives Matter (NHLM) campaign in tandem with the film’s release. 

OPEN DOORS is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA), a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational organization. The successful applicant will be an employee of CTA. 

HOW TO APPLY

If you are excited about this opportunity, email support@opendoorsnyc.org with “Program Associate” in the subject line, and include 1) your resume and a 2) a brief paragraph cover letter in the email body. If you have not heard back from us in two weeks, feel free to follow up. Good luck!

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

CTA is an equal opportunity employer. Employees are hired based on their merit, ability, experience, and training without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, familial status, marital status, age, mental or physical disability, size, religious affiliation, genetic make-up, military/veteran status, domestic violence victim/survivor status, sexual and other reproductive health decisions, or past participation in the discrimination complaint process. We are committed to being an inclusive organization and encourage people from diverse communities to apply.