U.S. & Canada Communications Coordinator

Overview

GAIA seeks a creative, collaborative, and nimble Communications Coordinator for the U.S. & Canada region. This position will play a pivotal role in GAIA’s work to shift national narratives about the connection of waste and plastic to the climate crisis, while supporting our members’ communications about their campaigns to shut down the toxic facilities in their backyards.  

GAIA is an umbrella organization for a network of over 500 organizations in 93 countries. Using a bottom-up organizing strategy, we follow their leadership as they direct local campaigns to change policy and build community power. Working at the intersection of zero waste, environmental justice, and systems change, we shut down incinerators, expose the fossil fuel industry’s pivot to plastic production, and support frontline communities in a just transition to zero waste. Our work and research educates the public, supports campaigns, and shapes policy to address the true climate, community, environmental, and economic impacts of incineration and other quick-fix approaches to our disposable-dependent system. 

As incinerators across the U.S. and Canada reach the end of their life cycles, this is a crucial turning point for communities to shut down aging facilities. It is also a turning point for polluting industries, who are responding to public pressure to answer for their creation of the climate crisis by expanding their production of plastic and other harmful products. The Communications Coordinator will play a key role in tapping into the potential for this moment to help shift the world away from an extractive economy, and toward justice and sustainability. 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

This position is responsible for developing and executing a high-impact communications program to uplift the work of GAIA and our members in the U.S. and Canada. Balancing the needs of grassroots members with our policy goals as an organization, the Communications Coordinator will create messages and assets that center frontline organizers in narratives about solving the climate crisis and combat the misleading messages of the waste and fossil fuel industries. 

The role requires working with both internal and external stakeholders, including grassroots organizers, technical consultants, scientists, and GAIA staff and leadership, who have varying levels of comfort and familiarity with communications campaigns. Successful applicants will demonstrate an ability to adapt messaging to a variety of audiences, from mainstream media to industry publications, legislators, municipal agencies, movement allies, and our member network. They will also show facility in translating highly technical reports into approachable language, as well as identifying grassroots campaigns and victories that will resonate with broad audiences and move people to action. 

A limited but crucial element of the role is serving as a member of our global communications team, where regional and global communications staff collaborate to amplify regional work and identify cross-regional communications alignments (e.g. stories about waste shipped from the U.S. and Canada to countries in the global South). As the staff member representing the nation most responsible for the climate and waste crises, sensitivity to de-centering the U.S. in conversations about solutions, while uplifting U.S. environmental justice communities, is essential to the role. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead development and execution of an integrated communications strategy focused on shifting the narrative on waste and climate for the U.S. and Canada program.
• Implement a work plan that builds and connects the stories of GAIA’s program work across the waste space to engage a variety of audiences to uplift movement work.
• Manage and develop blog content for the U.S. and Canada region to grow our presence.
• Foster new media relationships and serve as an occasional spokesperson.
• Monitor the media landscape for rapid-response opportunities, highlighting trends in the waste industry and policy to relevant US team members, and creating responsive media strategy and messaging. 
• Write and produce the monthly newsletter, including occasional features such as GAIA’s Member of the Month interviews.                       
• Represent the U.S. and Canada region in GAIA’s global communications working group to bring forward needs and requests from the region, use and contribute to shared infrastructure like images and other communications assets, and plan and implement regional participation in global communications projects.  
• Grow GAIA US/Canada’s online presence through social media platform management, marketing, and analytics.   
• Develop communications plans for report releases, including creation of press kits, press releases, and social media guides
• Write, edit, and produce communications materials for GAIA’s report releases, including designing layout for fact sheets and other collateral; drafting press releases and op-eds, coordinating exclusives with reporters, and managing media coverage; blog posts, photo stories, memes, and infographics. On occasion, oversee consultants to produce these materials.
• Deliver materials to allied organizations and movement spaces to amplify GAIA’s work.
• Support GAIA’s regional members by providing communications support, as needed.
• Regularly consult with GAIA members on messaging and narrative development.
• Recruit and train GAIA members to serve as spokespersons for the movement.
• Provide communications support to GAIA members, as needed.
• Coordinating rapid-response moments with members and staff 
• Oversee consultant work and manage communications project budgets.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• 2-3 years of experience preferred in strategic communications, science communication, journalism, or a related field
• Strong writing and communications skills, including the ability to translate technical information into powerful messages that resonate with organizers, movement allies, and the media.
• Demonstrated ability to secure earned and traditional media with a demonstrated understanding of the U.S. media landscape.
• Ability to distill stories and other content into short copy for a social media audience.
• Ability to employ and move between a variety of organizations’ voices in writing.
• Experience working as part of a team to integrate and deliver web content and/or social media results as part of a larger integrated campaign strategy, and familiarity with online audience-building tools
• Familiarity with at least one content management system (e.g. WordPress).

 STRONGLY PREFERRED SKILLS:

• Spanish language skills.
• Existing relationships with journalists who cover the environment and justice issues.
• Experience working with database management and online forum software, such as Salesforce and Asana, and G-Suite platforms.
• Personable and enjoys interacting with people from different places.
• Willingness to travel domestically is required, with at least 4 trips per year, and likely more in the coming years.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills. Good listener.
• Familiarity with waste, pollution, and climate issues.
• Corporate campaign experience is a plus.
• Systematic and goal-oriented – in it to win it!
• Basic photo/image editing and graphic design skills, using Adobe, Canva or a similar platform(s), primarily centering around digital communications strategy development.

 LOCATION, COMPENSATION, AND WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• This position will ideally be based out of GAIA’s New York City office or Berkeley, CA, although we are willing to consider applicants with strong qualifications in another major city.
• Benefits include employer-covered health/dental insurance, paid family leave, and approximately 30 days of paid time off each year (including vacation, holidays, and the last week of each calendar year), retirement plan, and an opportunity to qualify for a sabbatical.
• The salary range for this position is $70,000-80,000, depending on experience.
• We are seeking candidates who are excited to make an initial commitment of at least two years to this work. Willingness to travel is required. Remote workers should expect more frequent travel to participate in team meetings.
• Full COVID-19 vaccination is required for employees who travel and attend meetings for GAIA – this job post includes responsibilities that include regular travel and meetings.

 

GAIA is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages people of color, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQI persons to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or belief, disability, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by law.