Job description
PIRG Food Waste Campaign Associate
PIRG is hiring a campaign associate to help drive our End Food Waste campaign to pass federal policies that make it easier for consumers, restaurants, and others to save food and prevent waste.
American politics is too often dominated by special interests. PIRG’s mission is to focus attention and action on the public interest. We work on problems that affect everybody, not just one group or another. And we’ll work with anyone, Democrat, Republican or independent, who agrees with our positions and supports sensible solutions.
At PIRG, we focus on the quality of our lives, not the quantity of stuff we produce and consume. We aim to improve the quality of our health, our environment and our well-being.
Food Waste Campaign
Our End Food Waste campaign aims to address the absurd problem of food waste, starting by eliminating the worst sources, such as perfectly safe food that is thrown away simply because of confusing date labels.
Food is for eating. Yet instead of getting eaten, nearly half of the American food supply — 40% — gets wasted every year. That means all the resources that were used in the course of growing that food — the fresh water, nutrients in the soil, and fossil fuels, not to mention the taxpayer dollars — are all wasted as well. To make matters worse, when food becomes waste and ends up in landfills, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
Instead of spending precious resources to do something that ultimately is just wasted and harmful, we could choose to do something different. We could make sure that all through our food system, from farm to fork, waste is minimized. We could make sure that food that isn’t used gets redistributed to people who can use it. Then we could right-size our food system, and produce just what we need.
PIRG is calling on Congress to pass a strong food waste agenda in the 2023 Farm Bill, a major bill package that comes around every five years. From standardizing and clarifying date labels to prevent the disposal of perfectly safe food to removing barriers to food donation, the Farm Bill presents an opportunity to tackle various causes of food waste, and we need to make sure that these opportunities are prioritized in the final bill package.
Qualifications
We are seeking a Campaign Associate who will spearhead this campaign and work with our experienced team of advocates, researchers, and digital and communications experts.
Entry-level candidates are encouraged to apply; we provide training on advocacy and organizing skills, as well as oversight and on-the-ground training by an experienced advocate. Ideal candidates will have leadership experience, top-notch written and verbal skills, an eagerness to learn and be ready for a challenge. We value organizing experience, including building campus or community groups.
Representative Responsibilities
- Build powerful coalitions: Reach out to like-minded organizations and affected constituency groups to demonstrate support for our campaign goals.
- Earn traditional media and social media attention: Organize news conferences and write opinion pieces. Build a following on Facebook and Twitter for your campaign.
- Lobby elected officials: Coordinate strategy with champions in Congress. Make a convincing case to legislators who are undecided on a particular vote. When a critical vote is happening on your campaign, work to demonstrate the support you’ve been building on the ground to help line up the votes needed to win.
- Research and write reports: Catalogue and analyze data relevant to the issue and our policy proposals to help influence public debate and earn media attention for our cause.
- Identify and cultivate donors: Reach out to foundations and major donors and ask them to fund your campaign.
- Recruit new people to your team: Help build your team by recruiting volunteers, interns and full-time staff.
- Run a grassroots campaign office each summer: Run a campaign office for the summer to raise money to support our campaigns, build our organization and membership, and help build critical and timely grassroots support to win key campaigns while honing your organizing and management skills.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
The target annual compensation for this position is $30,000-32,000 in the first year. PIRG offers a competitive benefits package. We also offer an excellent training program and opportunities for advancement.
LOCATION
Chicago, IL
We’re also hiring campaign associates to work on other campaigns in locations across the country. We accept applications on a rolling basis. The position starts in August 2023.
TO APPLY
Fill out our online application: https://pirg.org/jobs/food-waste-campaign-associate/
Why work with PIRG? Check out 10 reasons: https://pirg.org/why-work-with-us/
Things To Know When You Apply
PIRG is part of The Public Interest Network—a group of organizations that share a vision of a better country, a set of core values, and a coordinated strategic approach to getting things done. Click here for things you should know about our network when you apply.
PIRG is an equal opportunity employer.
COVID-19: We take COVID-19 safety very seriously. Employees must follow our COVID safety protocols and be fully vaccinated and boostered. Accommodations are provided to the extent required by law.