Who We Are & What We Stand For
Are you angry about the injustices your community faces? Do you want to learn how to build the people power necessary to fight those injustices and make real, local change? As a community organizer with FAST, you’ll learn how to bring together our area’s diverse faith community to address the root causes of serious community problems.
FAST is a constituent-led, grassroots organization that is part of the Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART), one of the largest faith-based community organizing networks in the country. At DART, we stand against narratives of fear, scarcity, and division, and instead bring people together across lines of difference to take action off our shared values of abundance, love, hope, and promise. We believe that fighting for racial and economic justice is fundamental to our identity as people of faith, and we know that winning justice requires having power in the public arena. We’ve been organizing interfaith coalitions to build that power and win since 1982.
What We Do
Organizers in the DART network go beyond the symptoms of community problems to change the unjust systems that cause these issues in the first place. A few of our victories include:
- Over $1 billion invested in affordable housing
- $950 million invested in public transportation
- More than $22 million secured for communities to address the climate crisis and increase resiliency
- Criminal justice reforms resulting in 50,000 fewer arrests of children
The Work
As an organizer in the DART network, you’ll spend most of your time in the community, building relationships of trust with everyday people of faith. Through one-on-one conversations, you’ll invite people to be part of something bigger than themselves, moving them from solitary struggle to the pursuit of collective power. You’ll engage them in claiming their own powerful voice and developing their leadership as you guide them through conducting research into community problems. You’ll organize direct action assemblies involving hundreds or even thousands of people to demand action and hold decision makers accountable, winning changes that will greatly impact your community. You’ll also recruit new congregations, organize local trainings, and coordinate an annual fundraising drive.
Who You Are
- You have a passion for justice, and have acted on it.
- You can build strong relationships with people from all walks of life.
- You may or may not be personally religious. Either way, you have a genuine respect for all faith traditions and are excited about uniting faith communities to live out their call to “do justice.”
- Organizers should be comfortable working with people with whom they may have deep disagreements, be able to hold their own beliefs without being restricted by them, and be willing to invest in overcoming differences and finding common ground.
- DART organizations are diverse coalitions that include communities of color, low-to-moderate-income communities and immigrant communities. We strongly encourage people from these backgrounds, as well as fluent speakers of Spanish, to apply.
Other Requirements
- Ability to work some evenings and weekends to accommodate community members who work during the day.
- A valid driver’s license and access to a reliable car.
- No prior organizing experience is necessary, as we provide the training you’ll need to be successful.
- Ability to travel for several training events throughout the year.
Training and Development
DART invests heavily in training and development of our team members. During your first year, we provide comprehensive professional development through an initial five-day classroom-style training; five-months of intensive, on-the-job training; one-on-one mentoring from experienced DART consultants; and three multi-day trainings with organizers across the country. Ongoing professional development continues through individualized coaching and mentoring, as well as local, regional, and national staff trainings.
Compensation and Benefits
We value organizers as whole people and want to ensure that they are compensated for the incredible work they do. Benefits include:
- Starting salary $55,000
- Generous annual employer retirement contribution of 10% beginning after two years of employment – no match required
- Health insurance reimbursement: $500 for an individual; $750 for a family
- Flexible scheduling
- Parental leave
- Generous vacation leave
- Mileage reimbursement
- Relocation assistance
- Comprehensive, on-the-job training through the DART Organizers Institute
Learn more
Visit www.thedartcenter.org to learn more about the work of DART and FAST.
