We’re looking for someone passionate about housing justice to build public understanding, engage member organizations, and create educational materials on affordable housing and homelessness.
About Housing Action Illinois
Housing Action Illinois is a statewide coalition that has been leading the movement to protect and expand the availability of quality, affordable housing and end homelessness in Illinois for more than 35 years. Our 160+ member organizations include housing counseling agencies, homeless service providers, developers of affordable housing, and policymakers. We bring everyone together to work toward an Illinois where everyone has a stable, good home.
Our AmeriCorps VISTA will build awareness and understanding of affordable housing and homelessness through creating educational materials, auditing and updating our website, and contributing to print and digital communications. They will foster relationships with our member organizations, create learning opportunities for housing professionals, and help us grow our annual conference. Finally, they will gain an in-depth understanding of chosen housing policy issues and create related educational materials to help explain the issues to the public and key stakeholders.
To accomplish all of this, we’re looking for someone who is passionate about housing justice, interested in communications, and eager to foster collaboration among housing organizations throughout Illinois. A competitive candidate will have strong writing skills, be well-organized and eager to learn, take initiative, be ready to balance a wide variety of projects.
Since this position is a part of the larger network of VISTAs serving within Housing Action’s VISTA Network, you will receive training, support, guidance, and networking opportunities, in addition to the traditional opportunities for AmeriCorps VISTA positions. This position can start in July or August of 2023.
Responsibilities:
- Build awareness and understanding of homelessness and affordable housing and our coalition’s role in addressing these issues in Illinois. Projects include updating issue and resource pages on our website and creating content for bimonthly newsletters.
- Engage and educate Housing Action member organizations through regular communications, helping grow the 2023 Housing Matters Conference, and planning more creative programming for the conference.
- Develop deeper understanding of two issue areas and develop educational materials such as memos, fact sheets, and graphic explainers to help lay the groundwork for policy solutions.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s Degree strongly preferred.
- At least 6 months to one year of professional, volunteer, or internship experience in a non-profit or agency setting preferred; previous communications and project management experience preferred.
- Education background in communications, journalism, marketing, political science, or English preferred.
- Excellent computer skills, including proficiency in web-based research and Microsoft Office. Open to learning website content management and other website training.
- Excellent writing skills, strong attention to detail, and good interpersonal skills.
- Familiarity with social media channels desired; familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop) a plus.
- Knowledge of or experience in fundraising and event planning a plus.
- Knowledge of or experience in affordable housing and homelessness a plus.
Compensation and Benefits:
This is a one-year position. Full-year AmeriCorps members serving in Illinois in 2023-2024 will receive a living allowance of $17,552 per year.
Housing Action Illinois will also provide $110 per month as a housing stipend and will provide reimbursement for a monthly transit pass.
Benefits funded by AmeriCorps VISTA include:
- Forbearance or deferment of student loan payments during term of service
- Non-competitive eligibility status for federal jobs
- Healthcare allowance
- Leave Days: 10 personal & 10 medical
- If Eligible: Relocation payment (up to $750)
- If Eligible: Child Care Assistance
- After successful completion of the term, the choice of an Education Award ($6,895) or an End-of-Service Cash Stipend ($1,803)
Hybrid:
At the moment, we expect that this position will be remote for 3 days per week and in the office 2 days per week.
To Apply:
Please apply to this position via the AmeriCorps portal; you can find the posting in the portal here.