Author: kiersten

Digital Communications Manager

Posted on by kiersten

Forward Montana (FMT) and Forward Montana Foundation (FMF) is dedicated to engaging and mobilizing young Montanans to help shape their democracy and to improve their lives and the lives of fellow Montanans. We put young people on the front lines of civic engagement statewide, basing our efforts out of our two offices in Missoula, Bozeman, and Billings.

Job Description:

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Digital Communications Manager is responsible for executing the communications strategy that supports programmatic and development efforts at Forward Montana and Forward Montana Foundation. If you have a knack for creativity or writing, a love of making data-driven decisions, and a desire to change the world, then this position might be for you!

Responsibilities:

  • Communications Strategy (20%): Suggest new areas of communications growth for the organization as determined by individual interest and organizational need. Ensure that digital content reflects the organization’s brand and vision. Track media coverage and identify media moments and response opportunities.
  • Social Media Management (20%): Manage the organization’s social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook), curate and schedule content, and identify creative opportunities to use social media to reach target audiences. Work with the Executive Director and Program Director to manage digital ads.
  • Email Communications (20%): Work closely with the Development and Program Teams to draft member emails and set up action pages, sign-up forms, and emails in EveryAction.
  • Website Maintenance (20%): Draft and post content to the website (we use WordPress) and improve website navigation and accessibility. This includes working with the Executive Director to measure, track, and optimize the effectiveness of digital communications including using Google Analytics.
  • Content Creation (20%): Create fun and engaging graphics, short videos, and social media posts that support the programmatic and development efforts. This position may manage a Content Creator and work with local graphic designers.

(Note, time spent on each category may shift depending on the skills and interest of the Communications Manager and needs of the organization during that time).

Qualifications:

Gotta-Have Skill Sets: Must be present in this position.

  • Familiarity with the basic HTML and WordPress or another similar website platform
  • Eye for creativity including experience in or interest in designing graphics (we use Canva) and short videos
  • Is quirky and funny (both broadly defined) and can communicate with the Forward Montana tone and voice on social media platforms
  • Love of building relationships and communicating organizational successes;
  • Experience in communications, public relations, digital organizing, graphic design, or a related field;
  • An understanding and desire to implement diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice frameworks in all aspects of work;
  • Commitment to a process of feedback, learning and personal growth;
  • Ability to independently and successfully manage and complete multiple tasks and projects accurately and by deadline; and
  • Comfort working remotely, including an ability to build relationships through travel and technology with remote team members and your manager.

Strength in any of the areas (choose at least one):

  • Skilled at designing graphics or short videos
  • Love of proofreading and ability to write compelling stories that communicate a vision and program
  • Comfortable with HTML, WordPress or another similar website platform, and / or Google Analytics
  • Comfortable with EveryAction, MailChimp, or another email communications platform

Strong Applications will be:

  • Enthusiastic
  • Team Player
  • Self Motivated
  • Funny (broadly defined)
  • Cool (broadly defined)
  • Focused
  • Flexible

Working Conditions:

  • Shared office space with regional field team or remote office space
  • Flexible and at times unusual work hours, including evenings and weekends

Logistics:

  • Compensation: $38,000 – $39,000 Non-Exempt
  • Benefits: FMT offers a competitive benefits package including health insurance, IRA match, professional development funds, and generous paid time off, including paid family and medical leave.
  • Location: Based anywhere in Montana; we have offices in Missoula, Bozeman, and Billings

Women, people of color, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply, submit a cover letter, resume, and either a 1-2 page writing sample or 1-2 graphic or website design examples to Kiersten Iwai, Executive Director, at kiersten@forwardmontana.org with the email subject line “Digital Communications Application”. In your cover letter please indicate an area of interest: social media management, email communications, website maintenance, or content creation.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Please note that we will start interviews on June 24.

Billings Field Manager

Posted on by kiersten

Forward Montana (FMT) and Forward Montana Foundation (FMF) are dedicated to engaging and mobilizing young Montanans to help shape their democracy and to improve their lives and the lives of fellow Montanans. We put young people on the front lines of civic engagement statewide, basing our efforts out of our three offices in Missoula, Bozeman, and Billings.

Job Description:

FMT is seeking a Field Manager in Billings, MT. The Field Manager will lead our grassroots campaigns, direct our voter engagement and leadership development programs (including facilitation of our internship program), and lead issue advocacy work in the greater Billings area. Applicants should have initiative and be self-reliant, and have a passion for making real, tangible change in their communities. The Field Manager will split time between both political and civic projects that fit within the statewide strategy of FMT.

Responsibilities:

  • Program Implementation: Responsible for meeting and developing goals around voter registration, voter mobilization and issue advocacy, often requiring creative, strategic modes and methods. Should not be afraid to hold a clipboard, talk to strangers, and occasionally wear costumes.
  • Relationship Building: Responsible for building and deepening relationships with Billings donors, partners, members, elected officials, and volunteers. Including volunteer recruitment and development and empowering our generation to grow as community leaders and strengthen their investment in FMT. Must be committed to building the skillsets, networks, and power of both young Montanans and allies of young Montanans.
  • Leadership Development: Responsible for the management and implementation of FMT’s grassroots organizing internship. This includes both field training and classroom sessions. Must be comfortable with managing and training peers.
  • Admin & Management: Responsible for the management and development of all Billings field staff including, but not limited to, field fellows, field organizers, and interns. Responsible for cleaning, stocking and organizing the Billings office.

Qualifications:

Gotta-Have Skill Sets:

  • Must be present for a candidate to move forward in the hiring process.
  • Passion for grassroots organizing and building youth power, including experience with field work
  • Ability to independently manage and complete multiple tasks and projects accurately and by deadline
  • Demonstrated ability to manage and empower a diverse team of peers at varying levels of experience to achieve necessary metrics and qualitative outcomes
  • Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders, including community partners, volunteers, donors, and elected officials

Nice-to-Have Skill Sets: Not required, but having these skills would make a candidate’s transition into the job more seamless for the individual and the organization.

  • Experience creating and maintaining accurate databases
  • Experience in planning and facilitating successful goal oriented events & meetings
  • Demonstrated ability for proactive thinking
  • Comfort with frequent change and urgency

Strong Applications will be:

  • Enthusiastic
  • Team Player
  • Self Motivated
  • Funny (broadly defined)
  • Quirky
  • Cool (broadly defined)
  • Focused
  • Flexible

Working Conditions:

  • Field hours will be completed in all weather conditions
  • Shared office with Billings Voter Registration Organizer, Field Fellows and Interns
  • Comfortable conducting field work, including voter registration, canvassing, and street teaming, for up to 4 hours at a time, often in a stationary position
  • Will have to work some nights and weekends and expected to travel for statewide programmatic events and regional field events (1-2 times per month).

Logistics:

  • Compensation: $36,000 – $39,000 per year depending on experience. This is a non-exempt position.
  • Benefits: FMT offers a competitive benefits package including health insurance, IRA match, professional development funds, and generous paid time off, including paid family and medical leave.
  • Location: This is a full-time position based out of Billings, MT.
  • Direct Reports: Billings Field Manager will be responsible for managing the Billings Voter Registration Organizer, Field Fellows, and interns.

Women, people of color, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply, submit a cover letter and resume to Amara Reese-Hansell, Program Director, at amara@forwardmontana.org with the email line “Billings Field Manager Application”.

Unsure how to support racial justice in Montana?

Posted on by kiersten

Here’s some things you can do.

In our experience, we have found that many (well-intentioned) white people often conflate Montana’s whiteness with a lack of diversity and racism. This harmful rhetoric erases the thousands of years Indigenous peoples who have stewarded the land and communities of color who call Montana home. It also ignores the changing demographics of our state. That’s why it’s deeply important we support actions that center and are led by the people impacted most.

For white folks who want to move towards active allyship, think about the space you’re taking up. Are you centering your feelings and your guilt? It doesn’t matter if you have good intentions if you’re ultimately causing harmful impacts. There are many ways to show up during this time:

  • If you’re in Bozeman, join the rally THIS Friday, June 5. We will keep our pages updated with Black-led rallies across the state.
  • Give your money to BIPOC-led organizations, directly to protestors, and to bail funds.
  • Clean out your Instagram feed by thinking about the profiles you consume. Follow BIPOC accounts like @rachel.cargle, @melaninbasecamp, @earthtoneoutsidemt, @blkandgrn, @tsalani, @thegreenevan, @mvmnt4blklives, and @outdoorafro.
  • Read the books and watch all the films. Here are some must reads:
    • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
    • How to be an Anti-Racist, Stamped from the Beginning, or anything else by Dr. Ibram X Kendi
    • Anything by Angela Davis
    • White Fragility by Robin D’Angelo
    • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • If your finding yourself still confused questioning if white privilege is a thing, check out Peggy McIntosh’s Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack and Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person by Gina Crosley-Corcoran
  • Most importantly — call your neighbors, peers, loved ones, and family members when they make a racist joke, tone police, or deny their own participation in racism and racist structures.

#BlackLivesMatter

Posted on by kiersten

Forward Montana and Forward Montana Foundation denounces the white supremacy and police violence that is killing Black lives. We proudly support the #BlackLivesMatter uprisings and actions across the nation and state of Montana

In 2004, the founders of our organization believed in an equitable Montana where all people could thrive. They believed Montana would be stronger, more just, and a better place to live if the diverse voices of our generation were elevated across our state. Our own organization has had to deal with its own inequities and harmful behavior and we remain deeply committed to this journey of anti-racism. Some steps we are taking include working with a consultant to integrate anti-oppression into every aspect of the organization, creating space for our team to be involved in local racial justice efforts in their communities, and providing staff and Board members with anti-racism training.

We are deeply disappointed by elected leaders inciting terror in the communities they claim to serve by allowing state-sanctioned violence against peaceful protestors. From the enslavement of people from Africa to the genocide of Indigenous peoples, this state-sanctioned violence built our nation. As a country, we must come to terms with this violent racism and recognize how that trauma continues today. We must recognize that slavery and Jim Crow laws have taken on a new form of life. We must recognize that this is our generation’s chance to pave a different reality for ourselves and for our children. This is our moment to take a stand for what is right.

Sometimes the traditional ways of doing things no longer work. Sometimes the traditional ways of doing things never worked. The simple truth is that when our country’s Founding Fathers drafted our founding documents, they purposefully ignored non-White landowning men and purposefully declared Black slaves as not human enough. By layering in white supremacy to our nation’s founding, they ensured that racism would be ingrained into all our nation’s systems, allowing it to stand the test of time.

For too long many of us have been complicit and ignored this truth. And like many truths that are buried deep within, there comes a time when we have to face it head on. We must recognize that we can still hold onto the values of a democracy while reckoning with this past.

As a civic engagement organization that deeply believes in our democracy and the rights the Constitution guarantees, we know that the health of our republic is only as strong as the people who can fully participate in it.

And so the other simple truth is that while voting is one of our greatest tools to create change, it isn’t enough. Our society’s biggest transformations only came after intense periods of mass mobilizations and yes, even riots and civil disobedience.

The uprisings are a response to the centuries of oppression Black people have faced and are currently facing. The uprisings are a response to the racist policies that oppress Black people, Indigenous peoples, and people of color.

Now is the time to reimagine a society that truly works for everyone. Young people represent the most diverse generation in our country’s history. The strength of our generation not only lies in this diversity; but it lies in our unwavering belief in equity and justice.

At Forward Montana and Forward Montana Foundation, we are committed to supporting solutions that create a safer and more equitable society. We are committed to supporting racial justice organizations and affinity spaces for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

If you are a non-melanated person wondering what you can do, check out this link.

As a start, we suggest giving to the Montana Racial Equity Project, University of Montana’s African American Studies department (indicate the Diana Riley Fund to go directly to the Black Solidarity Summit), Montana State University’s Black Student Union and Western Native Voice.

When the media attention dies down, when the Instagram stories fade away, how will you actively continue to show up? Will you?