LEAD TENANT RIGHTS ORGANIZER

Position: Lead Tenant Rights Organizer

Program: Housing Rights Program

Reports to: MSROC Program Manager

Compensation: $25-$27 per hour, Full-Time, commensurate with experience. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, life insurance and optional retirement, flexible spending account, commuter benefits, and generous vacation with Summer Recess and Winter Recess.

To Apply: Visit https://dscs.isolvedhire.com/jobs/ to apply. Resumes submitted without a cover letter will not be considered.

Deadline: Interviews conducted on a rolling basis until position is filled.

Organization:

Founded in 1983, Dolores Street Community Services (DSCS) is a multi-issue, multi-strategy nonprofit organization, with an annual budget of over $19 million, based in San Francisco's Mission District. Our mission is to nurture individual wellness and cultivate collective power among low-income and immigrant communities to create a more just society.  We provide direct services to meet immediate needs, as well as affect broader change by engaging in advocacy and community organizing, working on a wide range of issues-from homelessness to housing to immigration to employment.  We believe deeply that these issues are interconnected and that solidarity and the linking of these issues is core to our work in our efforts to create a more just society. 

Position Description:

DSCS is seeking a Full-Time Lead Tenant Rights Organizers to work with our Mission SRO Collaborative Program (MSROC). MSROC combines outreach, education, and direct services to organize and improve living conditions for tenants in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct tenant outreach in SRO buildings and provide educational materials to individuals and families
• Perform intake on and provide housing counseling to low-income tenants (including monolingual. Spanish-speaking) by assessing housing problems, answering questions, and providing relevant information.
• Advocate for SRO families and individuals by coordinating with outside agencies regarding code enforcement and general eviction prevention support in an effort to help tenants housing stability, including maintaining a line communication with building inspectors
• Ensure information regarding a client's housing situation is updated in the database in a timely manner, and all supporting documents are filed in accordance with DSCS policies and procedures.
• Provide warm referrals to other programs for financial assistance, counseling, or other supportive services based on the tenants'/clients' individual needs.
• Coordinate and facilitate leadership development opportunities, educational KYR's workshops, outreach and preventive programming in SRO hotels.
• Help plan and ensure tenant participation in tenant associations, at weekly and monthly meetings, legal clinics, community events, mobilizations, or other activities by conducting outreach and timely follow-up.
• Participate in advocacy and organizing campaigns related to the needs of SRO families, including organizing tenants to choose winnable goals, strategize to win concrete victories, make public comment in local government spaces, and be spokespersons for SRO issues.
• Work with other DSCS staff to coordinate MSROC tenant input and support on other community related issues such as land use, civic engagement, immigrant rights, and economic justice.
• Attend weekly/monthly meetings with supervisors to report on outreach, problem-solve, and plan upcoming work.
• Work with Program Manager to create workplans and provide guidance for other organizers and outreach workers in the program
• Plan for and attend weekend or evening community events as needed.

Other Organizational Duties:

• Conduct business in accordance with the DSCS Employee Handbook, exercising sound judgment and serving the best interests of the agency and the community.
• Commit yourself to treating each community member with respect and dignity.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Background in and passion for working with low-income and immigrant communities around issues of affordable housing, land use, and/or immigrant & worker rights; familiarity with these issues in the Mission District and San Francisco, highly desired.
• Commitment to a larger vision for immigrant, housing, and economic justice.

• Ability to interact with a wide range of clients with cultural humility, kindness, and patience.
• Ability to delegate tasks and assign responsibilities to larger team under supervision of Program Manager.
• Ability to assume responsibility quickly and work independently and as part of a team.

• Ability to use good judgment, multitask and meet deadlines.
• Ability to read, understand, and apply language from manuals, policies, technical procedures, and instructions.
• Ideal candidates will have experience working and building trust with low-income immigrant families/individuals, including at least two years' experience as an organizer, tenant rights advocate, and/or paralegal.
• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends to design a flexible schedule.
• Bilingual in spoken and written Spanish, highly desired

Dolores Street Community Services (www.dscs.org) is an equal-opportunity employer and seeks applicants of the greatest diversity possible, including women, people of color, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender individuals, persons with disabilities, and formerly incarcerated individuals.