Advocacy Coordinator

AURA: An Austin For Everyone; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 52,000 - 74,000; Part time

Job summary

AURA: An Austin For Everyone is seeking a part-time Advocacy Coordinator in the Austin area. You will support organizing efforts, develop volunteer infrastructure, and translate community interest into policy momentum for pro-housing and pro-transit initiatives.

You will build systems, coordinate coalition activities, and help drive campaigns with a hands-on approach to mobilizing volunteers and engaging diverse Austin communities.

Qualifications

• Experience in political and/or policy campaigns and grassroots organizing, with preference for local Austin area involvement.
• Experience planning and executing public-facing events, from small meetups to larger gatherings.
• Experience developing or executing organizing strategy with existing base of supporters.
• Experience recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers toward campaign goals.
• Familiarity with government processes at City/County/Regional/State levels and translating input into policy.

Responsibilities

• Develop relationships with community members whose work aligns with AURA goals.
• Coordinate communication to AURA members and the public, craft newsletters and social content.
• Plan and execute events across neighborhoods in Austin.
• Identify collaboration opportunities to broaden coalitions for housing and transit policy.
• Advocate for AURA priorities and coordinate coalition efforts to pass policy changes.

Skills

Listening to community

Organizational skills

Cross-cultural engagement

Critical thinking

Project management

Tools

CRM/Volunteer Database

Email Campaigns

SMS Campaign Tools

Social Media

Job description

AURA is an all-volunteer, board-led grassroots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.AURA advocates for more homes, more transit, and more bike lanes, sidewalks, and shade trees across Austin. AURA has active work spanning housing policy (land development code and zoning reform, engagement on major development and infrastructure decisions, etc.) and transportation policy (opposition to highway expansion, support for transit infrastructure, etc.).

AURA is hiring a part-time Advocacy Coordinator in the Austin area. In this capacity, you will support and resource both broad organizing efforts and targeted advocacy campaigns designed to cultivate and maintain community interest and translate that interest into long-term policy change.

This role is an opportunity to build organizing infrastructure for one of Austin's largest and most active urbanist communities, developing the systems and strategy that turn a broad volunteer base into a coordinated, effective advocacy force. Working closely with the AURA team, your efforts will help local advocates drive the movement for pro-housing, pro-transit, walkable, bikeable, and accessible city policy in Austin.

Key Responsibilities

AURA is seeking a candidate who can handle a variety of responsibilities that empower effective organizing. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with community members whose work or interest could align with AURA policy campaign goals (e.g., city staff, elected officials, advocates, industry leaders, community leaders, developers, potential partners, etc.).
• Coordinating communication to both AURA members and the general public. Helping to craft newsletters, social media, graphics, and other communications.
• Planning and executing events that are both tactical and informative for the public, stakeholders, and/or policy leaders in neighborhoods across Austin.
• Identifying openings for collaboration and making connections between stakeholders to build a broader and more robust coalition for pro-housing, pro-transit, and walkable and bikeable city policy change at the local and regional level.
• Advocate for AURA policy priorities and assist in coordinating coalition efforts to pass policy changes.
• Supporting the AURA board in executing fundraising efforts, including individual donor outreach, membership drives, or event-based fundraising, to support organizational sustainability and campaign capacity.
• Create digital content that is accessible to a wide variety of audiences and levels of familiarity with housing, transportation, and urban design as policy issues.
• In coordination with other AURA volunteer members, collect and analyze relevant data and use digital tools to measure and improve engagement with AURA's work.

Qualifications

Experience

While AURA is looking for organizers with interest in housing, transportation, and urban design as policy issues, we welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds who are aligned with our values and eager to learn more about these issues.

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• Prior experience in political and/or policy campaigns and grassroots organizing, with a preference for candidates with a history of effective local housing, transportation, or urbanist advocacy, and/or organizing experience in the Austin area or with local partners.
• Experience planning and executing public-facing events, from small community meetups to larger gatherings, including logistics, venue coordination, volunteer staffing, and outreach to drive attendance.
• Experience developing or executing organizing strategy or campaign plans, with a preference for candidates with a history of working with organizations with an existing base of supporters.
• Experience recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers toward specific campaign goals.
• Familiarity with government processes at the City, County, Regional (e.g., CAMPO, CTRMA), and State level, and how community input translates into policy outcomes.
• Basic understanding of housing, transportation, urban design, and related policy issues and demonstrated ability to learn.
• Experience with digital organizing tools (CRM/volunteer databases, email or SMS campaign tools, social media) to track engagement and coordinate outreach.

Skills

The ideal candidate has basic proficiency in a variety of skills, listed below:

• Strong listening skills, with the ability to understand, connect, and direct learnings from diverse community members and organizations into pro-housing, pro-transit, walkable and bikeable action and advocacy.
• Self-directed, well-organized, and the ability to drive projects to completion
• Ability to build trust and work effectively with people across Austin's diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural communities.
• Critical thinking for both longer-term strategic campaign planning and near-term solutions that contribute to the broader strategy.
• Flexibility to contribute to a growing, all-volunteer team with some shifting responsibilities across different phases of campaign cycles.
• Organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.

Availability and In-Person Requirements

This role requires regular in-person presence in Austin. Specifically, the candidate must be able to attend:

• AURA's volunteer social, on-site and in-person, held monthly on a weeknight.
• Austin City Council meetingsor Committee/Commission meetings relevant to active campaigns, on-site and in-person.
• Board meeting working sessions, on-site and in-person, held monthly on a Sunday afternoon.
• AURA's board meeting, held monthly on a weeknight.

The pay range for this position is $25-$35 an hour. This is a 1099 position.

In addition, the candidate should expect occasional weekend availability for social event coordination and campaign-related activities. This list is not exhaustive but is indicative of the types of events this position will be responsible for assisting in coordinating.

Generally, outside of these commitments, work can be done remotely, but the role overall requires a combination of remote work and in-person attendance at community events, both during business hours and during evenings and weekends.

Regarding the use of AI: We understand that AI is a tool that is growing in popularity and is widely available. While we do not prohibit the use of AI in polishing your written materials in your application, please ensure that your work expresses your original thoughts and accurately reflects your abilities, skills, knowledge, and problem-solving capabilities. We want to get a feel for you! We maintain the right to disqualify any candidate who we feel has plagiarized and/or misrepresented their skills via the misuse of AI generators and other tools. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out for clarification.