Community Organizing & Advocacy Manager in Providence, Rhode Island at United Way of Rhode Island

United Way of Rhode Island

Job Description

Community Organizing & Advocacy Manager

United Way of Rhode Island has stood alongside the people of Rhode Island for nearly 100 years—connecting neighbors, mobilizing resources, and driving solutions to our state's most pressing challenges. As we approach our next century of service, our Strong Rhode Island strategic framework carries that legacy forward with focus, humility, and determination.

Our vision is that every Rhode Island family is economically stable, with access to opportunity, support, and the power to shape their future. Our mission is to invest in community-led solutions that build economic stability, support strong families, and drive racial equity so every Rhode Islander can thrive.

We organize our work around a clear goal: to ensure every Rhode Island family is economically stable and thriving. Strong Families is our North Star, and it is supported by two strategic enablers—Strong Nonprofits and a Strong United Way—with equity embedded throughout. We define family broadly: relatives, chosen family, friends, neighbors, and the support systems that help people meet today's needs and build tomorrow's opportunities.

We use the ALICE framework (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) to reveal the economic and community conditions of people who are struggling financially and to drive the change needed to create financial stability. Nearly one in three Rhode Island households earns above the federal poverty level but still cannot afford essentials like housing, childcare, food, transportation, and healthcare. These are the neighbors—childcare workers, retail staff, healthcare aides—who hold our communities together but live one emergency away from crisis.

We center racial equity because race still shapes who has access to opportunity in Rhode Island. These gaps are not accidental—they stem from long-standing policies and practices. We also recognize that many people face compounded disadvantages connected to sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income, and other factors. By centering racial equity and working to change the systems that hold people back, we aim to remove barriers and expand opportunity for everyone.

Learn more at https://www.unitedwayri.org/

The Manager, Community Organizing & Advocacy will lead United Way of Rhode Island’s community organizing strategy in support of the organization’s public policy agenda and strategic plan: Strong Families, Strong Nonprofits, and Strong United Way.

This position will build and manage organizing strategies around the issues affecting Rhode Islanders, translating community experience, qualitative insight, and quantitative data into coordinated advocacy and engagement efforts. The Manager will work across United Way departments and with external partners[GU1] [GU2] to identify emerging needs, strengthen coalitions, develop community leadership, and mobilize stakeholders around local and statewide policy priorities.

The Manager will serve as a bridge between community voice, data, policy, and action—ensuring United Way’s advocacy reflects the experiences of Rhode Islanders and that community partners are equipped to participate meaningfully in policy development and systems change.

• Lead and implement United Way’s statewide community organizing strategy across the Strong Families, Strong Nonprofits, and Strong United Way policy pillars.
• Develop organizing plans for priority policy issues, including clear objectives, target audiences, geographic strategies, engagement tactics, timelines, and measures of success.
• Identify communities and populations where deeper engagement is needed and develop targeted organizing strategies responsive to local conditions.
• Build sustained relationships with residents, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, faith institutions, civic organizations, advocacy partners, and other stakeholders.
• Design engagement opportunities that elevate community experience and strengthen participation in United Way’s policy and advocacy work.

• Use quantitative and qualitative data to inform organizing priorities, strategies, and resource deployment.
• Assess available data sources—including 211 data, community feedback, program data, demographic information, research, and partner insights—and determine which information is most relevant to specific advocacy efforts.
• Design and facilitate community listening sessions, focus groups, surveys, stakeholder interviews, and other qualitative engagement strategies when additional community insight is needed.
• Translate community and service-delivery data into actionable organizing strategies and advocacy narratives.
• Partner with Research & Data, Community Impact, 211, Philanthropy, Marketing & Communications, and other departments to ensure organizing strategies are informed by a comprehensive understanding of community need.

• Manage and strengthen coalitions aligned with United Way’s strategic and policy priorities.
• Convene nonprofit organizations, advocates, community leaders, residents, and institutional partners around shared policy objectives.
• Assess United Way’s existing coalition participation and identify gaps where new partnerships, voices, or issue-specific coalitions are needed.
• Develop strategies to strengthen coalition representation across geography, race, ethnicity, age, language, lived experience, sector, and community.
• Establish clear coalition goals, workplans, communications structures, and accountability mechanisms.
• Represent United Way at coalition meetings, community tables, municipal forums, and other external convenings.

• Support the development of state legislative testimony, advocacy materials, public comments, community briefs, and policy communications in partnership with the Government Relations & Policy team.
• Lead community mobilization strategies around priority legislation, budget requests, administrative actions, and other policy opportunities.
• Manage local advocacy campaigns across Rhode Island, including targeted municipal organizing strategies tied to United Way priorities.
• Build relationships with municipal leaders, local boards and commissions, community organizations, and residents to advance place-based policy priorities.
• Organize public testimony, community turnout, advocacy days, public meetings, and other opportunities for community participation.
• Prepare community members and nonprofit partners to engage effectively with elected officials and public decision-making processes.

• Serve as a key Public Policy liaison to internal teams whose expertise, relationships, or data are essential to organizing strategy.
• Convene cross-functional teams when policy or organizing priorities require coordinated input from Research & Data, Community Impact, Philanthropy, 211, Marketing & Communications, and other departments.
• Develop clear roles, timelines, and shared objectives for cross-departmental organizing initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to connect United Way’s grantmaking, service delivery, fundraising, community partnerships, and public policy work to strengthen advocacy outcomes.
• Provide strategic guidance to internal teams on community engagement and organizing practices.

• Develop trainings, tools, and resources that strengthen the ability of nonprofit partners and community members to participate in advocacy.
• Facilitate advocacy, organizing, civic engagement, and policy education sessions for community stakeholders.
• Identify and cultivate community leaders who can authentically represent local experiences in policy discussions.
• Create sustainable engagement structures that move beyond one-time participation toward long-term community leadership and partnership.

• Establish organizing goals, performance measures, and indicators of community reach and policy impact.
• Track coalition participation, community engagement, geographic reach, advocacy activity, and campaign outcomes.
• Evaluate organizing strategies and make recommendations to strengthen future campaigns.
• Provide regular updates and analysis to Public Policy leadership on emerging community trends, organizing opportunities, coalition gaps, and risks.

The Manager is expected to operate with significant independence and strategic judgment. This role will:

• Design and set local campaign strategy
• Manage complex relationships and coalitions across multiple issue areas.
• Determine appropriate engagement and data strategies based on policy objectives.
• Lead cross-functional projects requiring coordination across United Way departments.
• Advise Public Policy leadership on community dynamics, organizing opportunities, and advocacy risks.
• Manage multiple campaigns and workstreams simultaneously, establishing priorities and adjusting strategies as conditions change.
• Represent United Way externally with professionalism, sound judgment, and a strong understanding of the organization’s public policy priorities.

Every UWRI employee utilizes the JEDI Pathways Framework to identify and commit to professional growth and development. In this role, that includes:

• Develop and implement a personalized JEDI Growth Plan with your supervisor that establishes baselines and tracks growth across the three JEDI domains, two spheres of influence (interpersonal and within UWRI/sociopolitical systems), and your level of practice (Emerging, Developing, Practicing).
• Complete the annual JEDI self-assessment honestly and use it to identify priorities for ongoing learning and growth.
• Participate in annual JEDI training, monthly learning and reflection opportunities, and at least one quarterly teach-back of a JEDI learning experience.
• Engage with UWRI JEDI initiatives such as the Equity Challenge, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), the Heritage and Professionals group, and the Culture, Equity and Strengths Committee (CES).
• Participate in community, state, or national JEDI growth opportunities (including United Way Worldwide) as relevant to your role.

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, your role includes consistently showing up in ways that demonstrate the UWRI values and the aligned JEDI orientations. Successful [Job title] will build and grow foundational skills across all three domains of the UWRI JEDI Pathways Framework, grounded in our core values. Examples of how the values and orientations come alive day to day in this role:

• Advocating for policy changes that address systemic barriers to economic stability, even when those conversations are politically complex or challenging.
• Elevating community voices and lived experiences that may be underrepresented in policy discussions, ensuring those most impacted have opportunities to influence solutions.
• Using community data, resident feedback, and coalition input to challenge assumptions and inform advocacy priorities.
• Engaging in difficult conversations about equity, power, and access while maintaining trust and accountability with partners and community members.
• Adapting organizing strategies when community feedback, changing conditions, or emerging issues require a new approach.

• Communicating transparently with residents, partners, coalitions, and colleagues about advocacy goals, opportunities, limitations, and decision-making processes.
• Ensuring community perspectives are accurately and respectfully represented in advocacy materials, testimony, and policy recommendations.
• Following through on commitments to partners and maintaining trust through consistent communication and action.
• Seeking and incorporating feedback from community members and coalition partners to strengthen organizing efforts.
• Taking responsibility for mistakes, repairing relationships when necessary, and using lessons learned to improve future engagement efforts.

• Building authentic partnerships with residents, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, municipal leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Creating opportunities for community members, volunteers, and partners to co-design advocacy strategies and solutions rather than simply participating in pre-determined efforts.
• Facilitating coalition meetings and community conversations in ways that welcome diverse viewpoints and encourage shared ownership of outcomes.
• Working across UWRI departments to align policy priorities, data insights, community engagement, grantmaking, and communications strategies.
• Sharing information, resources, and recognition in ways that strengthen collective impact and community leadership.

• Designing organizing and engagement strategies that intentionally include communities historically excluded from decision-making processes.
• Identifying and addressing barriers to participation related to language, transportation, accessibility, scheduling, technology, or other factors.
• Using disaggregated data, community feedback, and lived experience to understand disparities and inform advocacy priorities.
• Supporting community members to develop advocacy skills, leadership capacity, and confidence in engaging with public systems and elected officials.
• Centering the voices and priorities of those most impacted by policy decisions while promoting shared power and meaningful participation.

• Continuously seeking to better understand community experiences, policy issues, and emerging trends affecting Rhode Islanders.
• Participating in JEDI Pathways learning opportunities and applying new knowledge to community engagement, coalition-building, and advocacy practices.
• Regularly reflecting on organizing strategies, partnership effectiveness, and campaign outcomes to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Demonstrating humility by listening deeply, valuing lived expertise, and remaining open to feedback and new approaches.
• Implementing 70/20/10 learning activities in annual Goal & Growth plans, including training, peer learning, community-informed reflection, and practical application of lessons learned.

• Bachelor’s degree in public policy, political science, community development, sociology, public administration, nonprofit management, or a related field; equivalent professional experience will be considered.
• Minimum of 4–6 years of progressively responsible experience in community organizing, advocacy, public policy, coalition management, civic engagement, or related work.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing community organizing or advocacy campaigns.
• Experience convening and managing coalitions or multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Strong understanding of state and local government, legislative advocacy, and community-based policy change.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret quantitative and qualitative data and apply findings to strategy.
• Experience facilitating community meetings, trainings, listening sessions, or public engagement processes.
• Strong written communication skills, including the ability to contribute to legislative testimony, policy materials, advocacy communications, and public-facing content.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, competing priorities, and cross-functional relationships.
• Growth & Development: Demonstrates a commitment to continuous learning and professional growth, including active participation in United Way of Rhode Island's JEDI learning and development practices. Works with their manager to identify opportunities to strengthen cultural humility, inclusive leadership, equitable community engagement, and understanding of how identity, power, systems, and institutional practices can affect community outcomes.

• Strategic Community Organizing & Campaign Management: Ability to design and execute community-centered campaigns that elevate resident voice, build collective power, and advance equitable outcomes.
• Coalition development and facilitation: Demonstrated ability to build, facilitate, and sustain diverse coalitions, including residents, community-based organizations, nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and other stakeholders.
• State and municipal advocacy: Knowledge of state and local government and the ability to advance policy priorities while considering how policies may affect different communities and populations.
• Data-informed decision-making: Ability to use quantitative data, qualitative information, community experience, and disaggregated data where available to identify disparities, understand root causes, and inform strategy.
• Qualitative research and community engagement: Ability to design inclusive engagement processes that value lived experience and create meaningful opportunities for people most affected by an issue to influence decisions.
• Public speaking and facilitation: Strong communication and facilitation skills with the ability to create respectful environments where different perspectives can be heard and considered.
• Legislative testimony and policy communications: Ability to translate complex policy issues, research, data, and community experiences into accessible testimony, briefs, presentations, and other communications for policymakers and the public.
• Cross-functional project leadership: Ability to lead projects across departments and disciplines, establish shared accountability, navigate differing perspectives, and advance common organizational and community goals.
• Relationship management: Demonstrated ability to develop authentic, sustained relationships across differences in background, identity, professional role, institutional power, and lived experience.
• Political and community judgment: Ability to navigate complex political and community environments with sound judgment, cultural humility, discretion, nonpartisanship, and awareness of power and institutional dynamics.
• Equity-centered engagement: Demonstrated commitment to incorporating JEDI principles into day-to-day work, including examining assumptions and biases, seeking diverse perspectives, identifying barriers to participation and opportunity, and contributing to an inclusive organizational culture.
• Community Voice to Policy Strategies: Ability to listen to and learn from residents and community partners and translate lived experience, community priorities, research, and data into actionable policy and systems-change strategies.

• Salary: competitive, commensurate with relevant experience and skills, and within the budgeted range of $70,000.00 - $98,000.00 (full-time; prorated for part-time).
• Benefits: comprehensive benefits package for those meeting agency threshold, including healthcare, dental, and vision coverage; flexible spending account; retirement match; and more.
• Work–life balance: 37.5-hour standard workweek; if you meet the agency benefit threshold, you annually earn prorated paid leave, floating holidays, personal days, and sick days. Workflow design includes time for reflection, learning, and unpredictable tasks.
• Learning & development: individual and collective programs supporting organizational and career growth, including CliftonStrengths® by Gallup, the JEDI Pathways Framework, AIRS certification, and ongoing learning offerings.

This role combines office-based work, community engagement, coalition facilitation, advocacy activities, and statewide travel. The position requires frequent interaction with community members, nonprofit partners, elected officials, and internal staff. Reasonable accommodations are available and can be requested at any time during the hiring process or employment. [Community...Manager JD | Word], [1 UWRI Job...Final 2026 | Word]

A typical shift

• Works primarily in a professional office and community-based environment, with regular use of a computer, phone, video conferencing platforms, and other standard office technology.
• Facilitates meetings, listening sessions, trainings, coalition convenings, and community engagement activities both in person and virtually.
• Communicates regularly with community members, nonprofit leaders, advocates, government officials, volunteers, and UWRI colleagues.
• Reviews and analyzes policy, research, demographic, and community data to inform organizing and advocacy strategies.
• Prepares written materials including presentations, reports, testimony, advocacy communications, work plans, and meeting materials.
• Travels throughout Rhode Island to attend meetings, events, community forums, and partner convenings; occasional evening and weekend activities may be required.

Office tasks

• Frequent sitting, typing, speaking, listening, reading, and viewing information on computer screens for extended periods.
• Regular use of Microsoft Office applications, databases, virtual meeting platforms, presentation software, and communication tools.
• Ability to prepare, review, and present written and verbal information to diverse audiences.
• Occasional movement of materials such as presentation supplies, meeting materials, and event resources, generally up to 20 pounds.

Schedule & setting

• Standard 37.5-hour workweek with flexibility to support community meetings, advocacy events, legislative hearings, coalition meetings, and other activities that may occur outside traditional business hours.
• Hybrid work environment with work performed in UWRI offices, community locations, government buildings, partner sites, and virtual settings.
• Requires reliable transportation and the ability to travel throughout Rhode Island for meetings and events.

Emotional & cognitive demands

• Regularly manages multiple projects, campaigns, relationships, and deadlines simultaneously in a dynamic environment.
• Exercises independent judgment, strategic thinking, problem-solving, and sound decision-making when navigating complex community and policy issues.
• Engages with community members and partners on issues that may involve economic hardship, inequities, barriers to opportunity, and other sensitive topics.
• Maintains professionalism, cultural humility, diplomacy, and emotional resilience while facilitating discussions among stakeholders with differing perspectives and priorities.
• Demonstrates adaptability in response to changing policy environments, community needs, and organizational priorities.

United Way of Rhode Island is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; LGBTQ+ individuals; people with disabilities; and people with lived experience of the issues we work to address.

This job description is intended to convey the essential functions of this position. It is not an exhaustive list of skills, duties, responsibilities, or working conditions associated with the role, and it may evolve as the needs of the community and the organization change.

By signing below, I acknowledge that I have read and understand the responsibilities, competencies, behaviors, and expectations described in this job description. I understand that this role requires active and ongoing commitment to learn and integrate JEDI concepts and practices. I commit to embodying UWRI's core values—Courage, Integrity, Collaboration, Equity, and Learning—in my work with colleagues, partners, and community members.

Uniting our community and resources to build racial equity and opportunities for all Rhode Islanders.