Narrative & Communications Strategist
Applications Due: July 27th, 2024
Hours: 32 hours/week
Compensation: Salaried, non-exempt, $64,000 annually (approx. $38/hr)
Location: Approximately half of this position may be carried out virtually via email, phone, and video conference; however, this position requires weekly, regular in-person work in or near Wenatchee or Omak.
The Opportunity
Rural People’s Voices (RPV) seeks a Narrative & Communications Strategist to develop the narrative power of our working people’s movement and expand RPV’s capacity to connect with our people through communications and media. Now in our third year and second full year of programming, RPV is in an exciting moment of growing our staff, infrastructure, and operating model. We are purposefully growing our base and engaging voters through deep organizing, narrative leadership development, winning elections, and seizing policy opportunities. We are committed to building a sustaining, multi-racial base of working- and middle-class power, one that can advance the leaders, actions, and policies our rural communities need.
The Narrative Strategist will come out charging: establishing our communications plan and calendar and immediately competing for hearts and minds in rural Washington. They’ll join our team as we imagine and iterate on narrative strategy, working with RPV leadership to develop the infrastructure we need to learn, create, broadcast and immerse our narrative in a sequenced and integrated way. The Strategist will take the lead in rolling out projects that map to these long-term shifts in the rural narrative landscape, including bringing narrative campaigns to full fruition. In running a great communications game for RPV, they will embody the practice of organizing through our communications and narrative work, looking for narrative leverage points and ways to bring more people together at the intersection of issues and our shared values.
The Narrative Strategist will have rock-solid skills in basic communication tools, including social media, email design, and website development “101”. They will thrive with the task of organizing a project and seeing it through from beginning to end. They will have high acumen around the forces driving our rural narrative, and real ambition for the work to reclaim the story of rural Washington for everyday working families.
This position reports to RPV Senior Director, Corey Troiani.
Essential Responsibilities
Project Management and Facilitation: Use project management software (Asana) to monitor team progress e in completing tasks and working toward larger objectives; help plan agendas and occasionally facilitate Narrative team meetings.
Digital Organizing Strategy: Research best digital organizing practices, develop strategies to build and engage our multi-racial base virtually, and use digital tools for feedback and participation. Bridge the Narrative and Organizing teams by turning online followers into engaged leaders.
Workshops and Training: Support and participate in narrative workshops. Develop facilitation skills and cultivate leadership across our base, partners, and candidates.
Media Engagement: Develop and implement communications plans, create materials for media engagement, coach staff, and manage press relationships.
Design: Collaborate with designers to create canvassing materials, candidate designs, and outreach materials.
Think and Plan Great Strategy: Co-design the short- and long-term strategy plans with program directors and staff to help us shift the dominant narrative, redefine “common sense” in rural Washington, and position RPV to develop narrative messengers.
Manage Powerful Narrative Campaigns: Oversee the design and implementation of narrative campaigns, including managing contractors, design, content creation, and roll-out.
Plan & Manage Communications: Build communications plans, metrics, and calendars, and become an expert on the rural media landscape. Identify priorities and opportunities that get us press and get our story out.
Program Evolution: Regularly reflect with staff and members to innovate and improve narrative and communication work.
Contribute to a Great Comms Game: Contribute content to emails, social media, and website, ensuring alignment with the overall Comms plan.
Grow Organizational Alignment: Support us in communicating with discipline and clarity about the work in writing and public speaking to various audiences, including members, funders, decision-makers, and coalition partners.
Embody RPV Values: Model inclusive values, including hope, deep joy, and an accountable culture in all communications and interactions.
Required Qualifications
At least 3 years of relevant experience in communications and narrative, preferably in the context of grassroots organizing, labor organizing, and/or electoral politics
Acute political savvy and excellent analytical skills, a sophisticated understanding of the current political and economic landscape, and a desire to do work with a clear short- and long-term strategy
Demonstrated ability to plan, manage, and execute media projects, utilizing project management tools (like Asana) for efficient workflow.
High acumen for social media and communication practices, with a love for learning and research around the media landscape and narrative orientation of communities.
Love for learning and research around the media landscape and narrative orientation of communities.
Strong commitment to racial, social, economic, and gender justice and building working-class power guided by strategy.
Ability to see the “big picture” while attending to the day-to-day details.
Strong self-awareness, ability to recognize when you need support, and capacity to receive feedback as part of growth.
Ability to work independently, set and meet personal goals, and work collaboratively as part of a team – both in leadership and as a respectful peer.
Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
High confidence with digital tools like Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Drive, etc).
Experience or comfort with conflict management and confidential/sensitive issues.
A personal and shared stake in the mission, understanding why we need to build power together to win!
Our Ideal Candidate
A good storyteller
A great listener
A clear communicator
Thinks creatively about how we build power
Can toggle between short and long-term thinking
A digital native
Rooted in rural life
Desired (but not required)
Bilingual in both Spanish and English.
Experience working with power-building grassroots organizations, including those involved in 501(c)(4) electoral work.
Experience running or leading within a comprehensive communications program.
Expertise in narrative development, analysis, and deployment.
Creative skills in visual design (Canva, video editing, etc).
Familiarity with housing, workers and immigrant rights, and environmental issues
Experience working on communications for political campaigns or candidates
Additional Details
Location: Approximately half of this position may be carried out virtually via email, phone, and video conference; however, this position requires weekly, regular in-person work in or near Wenatchee or Omak.
Schedule: This is a full-time (32 hours/week) salaried, exempt position supervised by RPV Senior Director, Corey Troiani. This position requires very limited weeknight and weekend hours for RPV events. Exact start-date is negotiable, but we seek to start this position as soon as possible.
Travel: This position will occasionally (rarely) require driving for events, logistics and coordination, meetings, and events. This position must own or have full-time access to a car as a licensed, insured driver. We cover mileage reimbursements. We also provide per diem and lodging for all required overnight travel. Where possible, we carpool and encourage the use of public transit.
Employer: This position is split between Rural People’s Voice, a 501(c)(4), and Rural People’s Platform, a 501(c)(3).
Salary and Benefits: This is a non-exempt, salaried position with a starting salary of $64,000 at 32 hours per week (approx. $38/hr), with opportunities for raises/advancement over time. We offer an ICHRA health insurance stipend, generous paid time off, holidays and sick time, and a retirement account with matching employer contributions. RPV values a healthy workplace, worker rights, and worker respect, as well as family and kid-friendly work options.
How to Apply
Please submit a cover letter and resume to the form below. If you have questions, contact andria@ruralpeoplesvoice.org, Operations Manager.
We strongly encourage applications from those who live, work, and contribute to rural North Central Washington. We invite people of color; immigrant, bilingual, and multicultural individuals; d/Deaf people and people with disabilities; members of LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming communities; and people with other diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply.
About Rural People’s Voice
Rural People’s Voice (RPV) started in 2021, and working people are our fabric. We are business owners, community organizers, teachers, social workers, electricians, immigrants, city council members, young people, nurses and so much more. We are rural North Central Washington. We envision a North Central Washington economy that works for all of us: jobs that support a family, housing and healthcare we can afford, great schools for every student, health land and water for generations to come, and a rural region where all our people have a fair shot. Together as Rural People’s Voice, we’re calling for real living-wage jobs and an economic future where every person has enough, in the community they call home.
Calling on the best thinking from across the state and country, Rural People’s Voice invests in four core strategies:
Elect rural leaders our communities need and deserve
Advance key policies and initiatives that support working people and families
Reclaim the rural narrative of who we are, where we come from, and what a better future for all of us looks like
Organize with our neighbors for a multi-racial working- and middle-class majority