Job Descriptions
Each fellow is placed in a host site organization where they work for 32 hours a week during their ten months with Life Together. Fellowship sites are selected based on their organizational culture (and commitment to social justice), a clear and engaging job description, and their potential for being a positive learning environment for fellows. Our host sites and fellow projects change each year and are determined by a competitive grant review process. Below is a list of the 2014-15 program year site placements. Click on the organization's name to visit their website, and view corresponding position titles and descriptions.
2014-15 Program year Site Placements
Boston-Area Youth Organizing Project | Organizing Fellow
BYOP is an organization of youth, led by youth, supported by adults, and united by a common purpose: to increase youth power and create positive social change. To do this we identify values, build relationships across differences, train and develop leaders, identify key issues of concern, and take action for justice. BYOP seeks 1) to help young people develop into active and engaged citizens who have a respected voice in the public arena and 2) to help make the Boston-area a more hospitable and equitable place for young people to live, be educated, and work. BYOP is a place for youth of color from low-income communities in the Boston area: a constituency that traditionally does not have an organized voice and therefore has limited power to influence policies and decisions that affect their everyday lives. BYOP seeks to engage and activate middle & high school students, ages 12-20 years old, most of whom are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. At BYOP youth leadership + youth mentorship + youth-led campaigns = positive social change.
This year, the Life Together fellow is working as an Organizing Fellow with BYOP. This is a dynamic position that incorporates a wide range of responsibilities. The responsibilities include supervision with the Lead Organizer/Director; receiving and processing phone, email and mail correspondence and inquiries; recording minutes from staff and advisory boards meetings, regular mailings and community updates; maintaining BYOP monthly staff calendar; assisting with management of chapter & citywide meeting materials; assisting with management of BYOP’s campaigns and maintaining materials; maintaining BYOP’s website & social media; supporting 1 BYOP school or community chapter; and supporting BYOP actions, forums and events held all over the city. A willingness to understand and advocate against young people’s oppression, or adultism, is a prerequisite for this position.
City Mission Society | Program Coordinator, Boston Urban Outreach
City Mission Society is the second oldest multi service agency in the country. Based on the three principles of Education, Empowerment and Mutuality, CMS programs will now focus on homelessness prevention. We offer “A Lift Up” to serve the needs of single mothers who are facing the possibility of becoming homeless. Our Emergency Needs Network provides financial assistance to individuals and families to help keep them housed. Through our Faith and Community Engagement area, we offer several programs. Boston Urban Outreach offers meaningful service opportunities for groups to engage in projects that help prevent homelessness, including Public Voice—a program that trains formerly homeless and incarcerated people in public speaking and storytelling as tools for social justice. CMS engages in direct service, legislative advocacy, and public education around social justice. CMS prides itself on being an open and inclusive organization. Our fellows and student interns participate fully in staff meetings and decision making.
The Coordinator of the Boston Urban Outreach Program is responsible for the operation and oversight of BUO. Boston Urban Outreach, a program of City Mission Society, offers hands on group service experiences for people of all ages. Day long, weekend, and extended stay opportunities are available for church groups, school groups, corporate groups and college groups. Responsibilities include: establishing and maintaining relationships with partner agencies and churches; planning service projects; booking community groups and serving as their primary liaison; providing logistical support, maintaining accurate bookkeeping and contracting with consultants, speakers, and other vendors to support the implementation of BUO activities; assisting with the creation and production of outreach materials to promote BUO and engaging in outreach/marketing efforts; ensuring the collection of ongoing evaluation data including both quantitative and anecdotal to be used in annual reports and maintain database.
Christ Church, Cambridge/The Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard | Fellow for Social Justice and Outreach*
Christ Church Cambridge is a historic congregation of active, energetic and younger-growing Episcopalians, located in the heart of Harvard University. The church has an active relationship with Harvard Square communities, welcoming everyone from students seeking higher education at an ivy league institution to people who panhandle and sleep on the streets around the Square. This placement is shared with the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard (ECH), an increasingly diverse group of students interested in pursuing their education in the context of faith-exploration.
At the Chaplaincy the fellow will have primary responsibility for assisting the Chaplaincy in the development and coordination of social justice and outreach programs, with a particular focus on four projects: helping us to (1) organize our student participation in established interfaith service projects sponsored by the Harvard Chaplains, (2) develop our relationship with Phillips Brooks House, a Harvard-based, student-led, social justice ministry, and identify those projects and activities that might be a natural fit for our students, (3) coordinate the Harvard Interfaith Prison Education project, helping to facilitate scheduling of student prison visits, communications with prisoners, and regular team meetings; and (4) to find collaborative social justice opportunities with Christ Church. The fellow will be expected to participate in the Chaplaincy’s worship life and weekly supper conversations (Sundays from approximately 5 to 8 p.m.), and to spend the remainder of his/her time during the week working with the Chaplain, Kellogg Fellow and other students in developing the foregoing social justice programs, as well as other parts of the chaplaincy’s work, as desired.
At Christ Church, the fellow have three primary areas of responsibility: they will be involved in the liturgical life of the parish, they will help coordinate Christian formation and Sunday school, and they will help coordinate “Walking in Love”—a fellowship program at the church practicing the arts of community organizing and social justice discipleship. S/he will serve as a liaison to other organizations in the community which Christ Church Cambridge supports, particularly the Harvard Square Coalition for the Homeless. This position is one of creativity and flexibility: it may be that a key project the Micah fellow will take on is one that will emerge organically from the fellow’s talents and gifts and from the collaboration of the fellow with the parish staff, congregation, and outside community.
*joint position
Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan | Director of Youth Programs
Church of the Holy Spirit (CHS) was originally founded to transform the community by engaging the Gospel in concrete action. CHS continues this mission and retains its roots in surrounding urban neighborhoods, serving with Christ’s unconditional love and care for all people. A primary focus of CHS is to have a visible and robust presence in local communities with an emphasis on social, recreational, and educational support programs. Part of our mission is to help transform social injustices and inequalities in our communities in the context of peace and reconciliation. The culture of CHS is dynamic, multicultural, progressive, lay-driven, and is anchored in loving and caring relationships for each other. We also take seriously our calling to rise up new generations in faith and service, and view the Life together fellow as helping us in this particular area by nurturing the spiritual gifts of our youth and young adults. Our goal is to build a “culture of generations” where our youth are trained to assume more leadership responsibility in both spiritual and programmatic aspects of the Church.
The primary role of the Director of Youth Programs is to develop youth programs that include weekly youth group meetings, Sunday school classes, and fun outings. Meetings will be a forum for youth to learn about God in a respectable, friendly way. The Fellow, thus, must be able to prepare messages, provide biblical instruction in accordance with Episcopal precepts, and establish strong relationships with youth. This might involve mentoring youth who are struggling with academic and/or behavioral challenges. The Director will also advocate for youth and educate the congregation about the hopes, concerns and needs of youth at CHS as well as the wider communities that CHS serves. The Director will create, mentor and lead two youth groups: middle school (5th, 6th, 7th) and upper grade levels (8th –12th). This position will also engage youth in the Church’s Tutoring Program. The fellow is expected to appreciate how culture, gender, ethnicity, and class contribute to youth development within a spiritual context.
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation | Youth Force Youth Organizer
Dorchester Bay was founded to enhance housing, business, and leadership opportunities for the residents of Dorchester. Youth Force was founded in 2004 with the mission of developing teen leaders living in Dorchester, Roxbury and the surrounding neighborhoods of the city of Boston. The vast majority of teens involved in Youth Force are low-income people of color. The organizational culture of Youth Force is teen-led and focused on justice. Dorchester Bay Youth Force seeks to create a culture where teens feel welcomed, supported, and pushed to grow as leaders. Youth Force’s approach to social change is community organizing—defined as building relationships with people in your community in order to build power for the goal of creating concrete and long-lasting change.
The Micah fellow works as a Membership Development Specialist. This role has two distinct components: 1) working with guidance counselors, teachers, parents, youth workers and others to recruit teens to join Youth Force, as well as 2) working directly with Youth Force’s current teen leaders to create change in their communities and develop new teen leaders. The core of this work is the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), a three-week training program in which teens are recruited and trained to be leaders. The Micah fellow will assist with YLI recruitment, including developing and leading trainings and other logistical aspects of YLI. YLI grads automatically become Youth Force members who engage in Youth Force’s campaigns and who continue to develop as leaders after YLI is over. Experience working with teenagers is preferred and commuting between different schools will be required (note: commuting can happen on public transportation).
Episcopal City Mission | Public Policy Associate
Episcopal City Mission is a faith-based ministry which promotes social and economic justice. ECM works with congregations, community-based organizations and people within the Diocese of Massachusetts, with special emphasis on the urban poor and oppressed. Although ECM began as an institution directed toward charity and direct social work, its mission evolved in the 1960’s and afterwards into a focus on social structural change. Through its programs, ECM advocates, funds and partners with organizations and parishes who are working to alleviate injustice in our communities. ECM’s Anglican identity informs the way it approaches social change: “The mission is not ours; we are invited into God’s mission.”
The role of ECM’s Public Policy Associate is to deepen and expand upon ECM’s commitment to support social structural change in our communities and across the state. The Public Policy Associate, in partnership with the Associate Director of Community Partnerships and Public Policy, will lead ECM’s engagement with statewide initiatives by collaborating with ECM’s public policy partners like the Ecumenical Advocacy Coalition and grantees who are launching specific policy campaigns. Some examples of the Micah Fellow’s tasks include: planning and hosting policy-related events, rallies, legislative breakfasts/luncheons, or lobby days with the support of ECM staff; informing and encouraging action by ECM’s public policy network; convening meetings of ECM’s Public Policy Committee to discuss strategies for action and decisions about what campaigns to engage with; and coordinating 1 on 1’s with members of parishes to learn more about their work, and to find ways to connect this work back to ECM.
Esperanza Academy | Teaching Fellow
Founded in 2006, Esperanza Academy is an independent, tuition-free middle school where girls of modest means from Lawrence are welcomed into an empowering learning community. Esperanza offers its students a transformative education that integrates a rigorous academic curriculum with co-curricular programs in athletics, the arts, community service, cultural-enrichment, social skills, and spirituality. This holistic educational approach fosters the formation of each girl's intellect, character, confidence, and social consciousness. All of our graduates remain on track to
graduate from high school in four years, compared to the 54% five-year graduation
rate in Lawrence public schools. At Esperanza Academy, we believe that strong teaching is more than simply learning how to lesson plan and write curriculum. It is more than classroom management basics and gimmicks. Good teaching is a spiritual exercise, built on authentic relationships, and requiring inner emotional strength from the instructor. We believe that the Life Together @ Esperanza Academy is a cutting-edge answer to the very serious challenges facing urban education in the Commonwealth.
Esperanza offers four positions for fellows passionate about education. This is both a Life Together and an Americorps Fellowship experience. The responsibilities of a teaching fellow include teaching, coaching, and advising as well as performing other services for the school. The fellows will be co-teachers with a master teacher and work together to design lesson plans, grade, and manage the classroom.
In addition to the normal opportunities available to all teachers for professional support and community development, Life Together Fellows have additional moments to develop community and practice leadership including: a Life Together Fellows-focused new faculty training week in July exploring mission and daily life at Esperanza Academy; opportunities during Esperanza Academy’s school worship calendar to reflect publicly upon their work and bring the message of a mission-centered life to the school community; responsibility for co-leading our annual faculty spiritual retreat. It is our hope that through these opportunities, we form an authentic partnership amongst our faculty; one that is deepened and informed by our spiritual foundation as an Episcopal school, and one that mirrors the authentic and deeply spiritual relationship we nurture daily in our classrooms, hallways, and athletic fields.
Grace Episcopal Church, Medford | Pastoral Fellow/Organizer
Grace Church is a dynamic and vibrant spiritual home to a diverse congregation of over 200 families with different racial, social, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, with a close connection to the Episcopal chaplaincy at Tufts University. Some parishioners are lifelong Episcopalians; some were raised in other Protestant denominations or in the Roman Catholic Church; some are new to the Christian faith; some are not quite sure what they believe. Grace Church has seen significant growth in the last few years, and has grown by about 50% in the last four years. The church is growing in its advocacy efforts, especially for the environment, partnering with the Leadership Development Initiative.
The duties of this position will vary with the interest of the intern. The Intern will assist in organizing our Youth Education programs along with the Assistant Rector. Possible activities include co-teaching a class on Wednesday nights, serving as part of the Wednesdays at Grace leadership team, and community organizing for a parish program to be developed with the Leadership Development Initiative. Even more opportunities abound, including adult teaching (on Sundays and Wednesdays), participating in parish leadership, worship planning, occasional or regular preaching, pastoral care or assisting with our college outreach to the Tufts University community. The parish is also in a unique position with its growth and vitality so that an intern could have a significant impact on the life of the community.
Health Care for All | Health Reform Campaign Organizer
For more than 25 years, Health Care For All (HCFA) has worked to build a consumer-centered health care system that provides comprehensive, affordable, accessible, culturally competent, high quality care for all Massachusetts residents, especially the most vulnerable among us. Health Care For All’s principal focus is on the needs and concerns of low-income and moderate-income older adults and children, individuals with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses, immigrants, recipients of publicly funded coverage, and individuals with limited English proficiency. HCFA bases its work on the fundamental principle that health care is a basic human right for everyone. Through our Help Line, we connect consumers both to health care and to our advocacy work, so that they can partner with us to improve the health care system for everyone. Through collaboration with partners, allies and consumers, HCFA builds strength, credibility and the consumer voice. Our organization’s approach to social change includes consumer outreach, enrollment and education, community organizing, policy advocacy.
The Life Together Fellow is organizing low-income seniors, students, community leaders, HelpLine callers, and health advocates in targeted communities throughout the state to advocate for Health Care For All’s Legislative Agenda. Some of their responsibilities include: following up with HelpLine callers each week, arranging 1-1 meetings, building an organizational network of community allies throughout the state in conjunction with Health Care for All initiatives, and organizing trainings at community centers. The organizer will also participate in statehouse and advocacy activities and will help the rest of the organizing team with rallies, hearings, and community events. The Fellow works up to 15 hours a week in the field with people in targeted communities with a particular focus on underserved populations. The position includes driving, working some evenings and weekends, and requires someone who is a self-starter and can keep their own schedule.
Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) | Energy Efficiency Coordinator
HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) is a Cambridge-based non-profit organization whose mission is to catalyze community engagement and create educational opportunities to advance energy efficiency skills, use of cleaner energy, and deeper sustainability knowledge to achieve climate stability. HEET organizes energy-upgrade work-parties, which we call weatherization “barnraisings.” At these events, which take place in the buildings of non-profits such as food pantries, communities centers and houses of worship, we teach hands-on energy-efficiency skills to volunteers, while lowering a non-profit’s energy bill. We use materials and tools mostly available from any hardware store. The skills we teach (such as installing low-flow showerheads or “air-sealing” in the attic) are effective in cutting water and energy use. Over 70% of surveyed volunteers report, after attending a barnraising, they perform four or more of their newly mastered tasks on their own homes. Our “barnraisings” are named for traditional barnraisings, where neighbors pooled skills, strength and tools to take on tasks that no one person could manage. In order to fight climate change, all of us must work together. HEET offers direct service, advocacy and community engagement, with strategic emphasis on one or more of these dimensions as required by each program. Our organizational culture is informal, hard working and practical. We want to help people with their bills in order to lighten their impact on the planet.
The fellow will serve as the Energy Efficiency Coordinator, becoming expert on all rebates and services offered by the utilities. The Coordinator will build relationships with non-profit leaders to motivate their organizations to take action to lower their impact on the planet along with their energy bills. The fellow will perform outreach to sign up non-profits for barnraisings as well as for our “Help for Hogs” program and follow up afterward to ensure the organization moves forward to utilize all utility-offered services they can. The fellow will be responsible for helping around 40 non-profits to take further action. This position will also assist with organizing barnraisings at local non-profits. This will take attention to detail (i.e. how many and what kind of shower heads were needed, etc.), and offer a unique opportunity to acquire deep knowledge of energy-efficiency services, savings, techniques and materials. The fellow will learn how to develop and cultivate relationships with members of the community, encourage them to participate in community learning projects, and most importantly, help them understand the impact--positive and negative--their actions can have on our environment. The fellow will have a real world opportunity to be a change agent for these communities. The HEET staff will oversee this work to make sure the learning and resulting work is of the desired quality. Beyond working with non-profits and organizing barnraisings, there is a vast amount of work to be done. We believe that what a person loves to do is what they will work hard at, so the fellow will have some leeway in what percentage of time they commit to each of the following projects or to other projects that have not yet been created. The fellow should have the ability to work independently, be self-motivated and work well with people from a variety of economic and cultural backgrounds. Being persuasive, learning quickly and having a strong interest in lowering energy use are necessary. Since the fellow will be working with many people who might only be able to meet or connect at night or weekends, being flexible about the work week is necessary.
MCAN | Communications and Data Fellow
MCAN is a federation of interfaith community improvement organizations, that uses community organizing principles to engage and improve the lives of MA residents. MCAN’s goals are to address the concerns of low to moderate income residents in areas of jobs, housing, education, crime prevention, health care, and immigrant concerns. Issue coalitions organized and staffed by MCAN include: a Safe Teens/Safe Communities Coalition, a Youth Jobs Coalition, and a Coalition for Equal Access to Jobs. We are currently leading the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition to ensure the right to earned sick time for all workers.
This position will have communications, data and development responsibilities. As a communications specialist, the fellow will develop and execute MCAN’s social media outreach plan, manage email blasts, improve the website, and develop general communication materials. As data manager, the fellow will use Google Forms and Spreadsheets, the Voter Activation Network, Salsa, and other databases to track the progress, and increase the effectiveness, of our organizing efforts. For development, the fellow will research, write grants, and provide support for individual donor efforts including mailings, tracking donations, and fundraising events. Additionally, the fellow will have opportunities to provide organizing and advocacy support for MCAN’s statewide campaign to ensure earned sick time for all workers – including collecting signatures for a ballot initiative and identifying community leaders who can partner with MCAN and others to support this initiative. The position will support the work of MCAN in Boston and our affiliate, ECCO, in Lynn. The fellow will spend 2 days in Boston and 2 days in Lynn. This will enable the fellow to be in relationship with leaders, learn through observing and shadowing more experienced staff, and position them to better support the organizing work around the state. MCAN is looking for someone with interest and skills in technology and social media, as well as an interest in learning relational skills that are the basis for MCAN’s organizing model. The fellow works occasional nights and weekends.
MSAC | Community Organizing Fellow
In April 1981, 27 people from five cities came together to launch the Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC). From the beginning it set the standard for successful grassroots, multi-racial organizing of low-income senior citizens. Less than two years later, thousands of seniors in the greater Boston area had participated in public meetings, rallies, and government hearings. MSAC’s initial victories included the return of local bus routes, the establishment of medical and shopping transportation services, the creation of special taxi fare discounts, the institution of the 10-cent MBTA fare for elderly and handicapped riders, and the improvement of maintenance at local subsidized housing complexes. Local officials were overwhelmed by the emergence of well-organized, articulate groups of retirees who were focused on pressing local issues. Over its last 4 decades of activity, MSAC has achieved many victories for and with Massachusetts’ senior population, particularly in the areas of health care and affordable housing.
The Life Together Organizing Fellow works with the “lead” organizer to engage in a variety of activities to support and enhance MSAC’s mission. Responsibilities include: supporting local chapter members both in identifying and carrying out activities in their local campaigns; supporting MSAC’s priority statewide policy campaigns; developing the leadership skills of MSAC’s membership base; working closely with statewide staff and membership to ensure that organizing work is well coordinated with other chapters; sustaining and strengthening the work of MSAC in coalitions with community organizations and other allies; and providing (or arranging) transportation for members as needed to support their full participation in MSAC-organizing and advocacy activities. This position does require a valid drivers license (a car is a strong asset) and the willingness to transport members. Language skills are an added benefit, especially Spanish, Haitian Creole, Chinese, or Vietnamese.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Framingham | Cross-cultural Youth Minister
St. Andrew’s is a bridge community, located right on the line that divides rich and poor. Founded as a worker’s church by wealthy mill owners, we pride ourselves on our working class roots. The church was deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement, and we continue to seek ways to live in community with the new Framingham, now one-third Brazilian. We are organizing the people of St. Andrew’s to do God’s work in Framingham by engaging with the immigrant community to serve social needs. Our charism is hospitality, and we are steeped in community organizing principles as taught by the .
The Cross-Cultural Youth Minister's primary areas of focus are enabling: cross-cultural work, mission, the arts, and worship. The fellow also has been given opportunities to teach and preach as well. Responsibilities include supporting the board of the Metrowest Mission Hub, ProGente Connections, which is being formed to provide cultural and social services to Brazilian immigrants; engaging parish youth in direct service (through puppet theatre and live musical performance) to the huge community of local homeless children housed in motels; refreshing our youth arts program by spearheading the creation of a book of Lenten reflections and art; facilitating youth engagement in worship; and organizing young people to participate in faith-based advocacy efforts. The Cross-Cultural Youth Minister studies Portuguese and has supported the parish’s Núcleo Educacionista program teaching Portuguese as a heritage language. The Cross-Cultural Youth Minister will lead an LDI team to further mission and service in the spring.
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Dorchester | Community Outreach Fellow
Throughout it’s more than 100 years of existence St. Mary’s has been a neighborhood church where most of its members live in the neighborhood. St. Mary’s is a community centered very much around food. We have Eucharist services twice a week and after each service we gather for a full meal and important time of fellowship. We also operate a food pantry out of our parish hall, and as many of our members put it, St. Mary’s is a place where you’ll never leave hungry. Our purpose is to engage in our faith in ways that addresses the physical, emotional and spiritual hunger that exists in our neighborhood. Our current membership is largely Afro-Caribbean, and we celebrate a “family” approach to worship, ministry and life together. We are a community that celebrates its youth, engaging them in the steel band, BSAFE youth programs, Church School, youth group and throughout our worship and service life. Situated in the heart of Upham’s Corner, we are in the midst of Dorchester’s most significant urban center with many local businesses, community organizations, schools and the Strand Theatre all two blocks. It remains a residential neighborhood as well, with long-time and new homeowners sharing the neighborhood with renters and people in subsidized housing.
The St. Mary’s Fellow will support our Food Pantry Ministry, deepen our connection with local youth, strengthen our outreach efforts, build bridges throughout the community, and guide community discernment around community development and justice work. The fellow will join our worship community and help us identify, raise up and form new leaders. There would also be ample opportunity to take part in and assume leadership in our worship life as this fits the fellow’s skills and interests. This position is a great fit for any fellow interested in parish life and excited about supporting mission, outreach and justice work. A fellow excited about creating connections, community development, and promoting collaboration in an extremely diverse environment would also be a great fit at St. Mary’s.
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, B-PEACE for Jorge Campaign | Congregational Organizer
In September 2012, violence struck at the heart of the Massachusetts Episcopal diocesan community when 19-year-old Jorge Fuentes was murdered while walking his dog outside his home in Dorchester. He was an exuberant, remarkable young man and natural leader, adored by the children he mentored at St. Stephen’s Church and St. Mary’s Church in Boston, and respected by his peers. After Jorge’s murder, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE convened a group of clergy and lay leaders and launched the B-PEACE for Jorge Campaign. B-PEACE stands for Bishop’s Action Steps Toward Peace: Programs for youth; Employment for teens and young adults; Academic excellence in public schools; Communities for families; End to gun violence.
The Life Together fellow’s role is to work closely with the Lead Organizer, Executive Committee, and part-time Youth Organizer in building stronger connections with parishes and congregations across the Diocese. In this role, the fellow will work with the Lead Organizer and Task Force to identify congregations that have emerging leaders in the Campaign and build relationships with these congregational leaders through Sunday visits, coffee hour presentations, vestry and committee meetings, and one-to-one meetings. The goal of this work is to engage more deeply with key congregations, seeking to increase the commitment with the B-PEACE campaign through expanding the parish-based leadership and helping the goals and mission of B-PEACE become more central to each congregation’s identity. In addition, the Congregational Organizer will support the Lead Organizer with other tasks as assigned, such as managing the Campaign’s social network presence, writing blogs, and managing the database.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Lynn | Hospitality Coordinator
St. Stephen's is an open and affirming Christian church worshiping in the Anglican tradition. Crossing lines of color, class, culture, and generation, we seek transformation of our lives and our community through Christ's Gospel of love, compassion, and justice. Our current mission priorities focus on nurturing and forming the congregation; showing Christ-like hospitality especially to children and youth, young adults and East African immigrants; and deepening community engagement. Lynn is a mill city with limited economic vitality in the 21st century. The English language congregation is about 50-50 white people and people of color; the East African (Kiswahili) congregation is 100% African. As people of faith, we believe that prayer is central to the work of social change and our common worship sustains us in all we do.
The Life Together Fellow works with program specific staff to strengthen existing programs and to create new initiatives that emerge from St Stephen's goal of being a congregation that shows Christ-like hospitality. The position includes pastoral, programmatic, and advocacy-oriented engagement in the parish and community. Responsibilities include the following: regularly participating in and assisting with Sunday worship and other liturgical gatherings (this includes occasional opportunities to preach); assisting with the Church School program and providing hospitality to parents and teachers; working with the high school youth groups; connecting with young adults in the community and fostering a space for them at the church; working to develop and facilitate adult formation programs; serving on the pastoral care and healing prayer teams; working on community organizing initiatives in collaboration with the ; and assisting with administrative tasks as needed. Regular access to a car is highly desirable. Proficiency in a second language is helpful. Work includes two evenings a week.
The Crossing @ St. Paul’s Cathedral | Minister for Mission
The Crossing is a worshiping community rooted at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in downtown Boston. It started in 2006 when a small group of young adults – some churchy folks, some not – got together to pray, share stories, and dream of a new kind of church with porous edges, grounded spirituality, and a passionate yearning for God’s justice in the world. The Crossing is part of The Episcopal Church, and is a worshiping congregation of the cathedral, along with Manna, the Episcopal Boston Chinese Ministry, and the Sunday morning congregation. The Crossing has a particular ministry to adults who find themselves in transitional moments – students, homeless, recently-released prisoners, young adults starting their first careers, older adults starting second careers, people of any age exploring a new gender identity, etc. Our core demographic, therefore, tends to be aged twenty-five to thirty-five, English-speaking and under-employed, with a wide range of educational backgrounds. Approximately half of our community identifies as marginalized in some manner, particularly as LGBTQ, homeless, ethnic minority, and on the Asperger’s spectrum. Being a community of people from the margins is central to The Crossing’s ethos and self-understanding.
As the Minister for Mission, the Life Together fellow will facilitate the various “sending” ministries issuing from The Crossing, and grow the congregation’s relationships with local justice organizations, the wider church, and beyond. These ministries include: recruiting and developing leaders in The Crossing community who have a passion for social justice; leading The Crossing’s presence at the Trans Day of Remembrance (Fall) and the Pride Parade (Spring); building The Crossing’s relationships with communities and organizations that share our values, such as Transcriptions, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, CityReach, Episcopal City Mission, and Manna; forming new relationships with other LGBT Justice and anti-poverty organizations; documenting the social justice work of The Crossing in ways that are conducive to social media, using Facebook, Vine, Twitter, etc. to build relationships and communicate The Crossing’s story; coordinating our welcoming ministry for new members, helping them interface with the community and get involved in the ministry areas that match their skills and interests.
Tutors for All | Tutor support Coordinator
Tutors for All bridges the achievement gap one student at a time. Through the creation of partnerships between colleges, public schools, and community agencies, Tutors for All offers under-served students the systematic one-on-one instruction they need in order to thrive. Tutors for All currently provides individualized instruction to over 400 Boston students at five charter schools, two district schools, and through a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Community Health Improvement. They work with students from 5th grade to 10th grade (ages 10-17). The majority of the students Tutors for All works with are from low-income communities of color, including Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.
The Life Together fellow works as the Tutor Support Coordinator. The Tutor Support Coordinator provides human resources support for all tutors, including interviewing, orientation, advocacy, and training. They will design ongoing professional development opportunities and networking events to promote tutor interaction across programs. They will engage in direct service through tutoring at one of TFA’s host sites, as well as manage the Tutor Support Board and the Alumni Support board. There are many opportunities for collaboration with the Programs team, and the Tutor Recruitment Coordinator works to ensure that tutors feel supported in their work with Tutors for All. This role involves some travel around Boston, Cambridge, and the surrounding suburbs, but it does not require access to a car.
Youth on Board, Boston Student Advisory Council | BSAC Project Coordinator
Since 1994 Youth on Board (YOB) has forged partnerships between youth and adults to create positive communities in which young people are valued, engaged, and heard, both nationally and locally. YOB’s overarching goal is to have youth engagement interwoven into the structure of schools, thus encouraging a cultural shift that creates respectful and mutually supportive learning communities both inside and outside the classroom. YOB's main project is working with the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC), a citywide body of elected student leaders coming from a wide range of backgrounds and working to identify and address issues pertinent to students. YOB supports BSAC through trainings in community organizing, social change movements, and policy reform, while ensuring that there is space to support one another on a personal level.
The BSAC Project Coordinator helps organize young people, work and advocate on their behalf, and help facilitate meetings, working groups and community actions/events. The Coordinator is the point person for all school discipline-related projects, including local district work, as well as national work. Specific responsibilities include: becoming well-versed in issues and groups surrounding alternative school discipline locally and nationally; attending Code of Conduct Advisory Council Meetings to advocate for restorative justice practices; co-facilitating Thursday afternoon working group meetings after school; and planning, organizing, and carrying out three well-publicized actions related to school discipline and student rights. Work includes occasional evening and weekend commitments.
