How to Get a Job in Progressive Politics or Organizing
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Back in the 2010’s, as a student protesting the Keystone XL pipeline and marching alongside thousands in the Baltimore Uprising over Freddie Gray’s death, my dad called me. “Are you sure you’re still going to be able to get a job with all these photos of you at rallies and protests on the internet?” I remember him asking. I replied that fighting against unjust policies was going to be my career.
My response to my dad all those years ago was, in hindsight, both correct and incomplete. I’ve spent the first decade of my professional career at the Roosevelt Network, developing the field of progressive policy leaders and helping to build a more just economy. But back then I had identified basically two or three kinds of jobs in the progressive movement and was off applying to every open organizer role at 350.org and various training roles at direct service organizations.
It wasn’t until I got a call from a mentor who had supported my campus organizing that things opened up for me: “Hey — there’s an open operations job at the Roosevelt Network and I think you should talk to us about applying.” Operations? What even is that? (Spoiler alert: I called and eventually got the job).
I grew up in a small, rural town (unlike one of the vice presidential candidates, I am actually from Appalachia). My understanding of the depth and breadth of the progressive ecosystem didn’t start until I got to college in Washington, DC. I got involved with electoral politics first, before finding climate organizing and a community of people interested in policymaking. My own, long journey to understanding this ecosystem is partly why I am so committed to the field-building work that I do now.
Today, the range of career paths in what I’ll call the progressive ecosystem — including think tanks, movement organizations, advocacy organizations, labor unions, philanthropy, electoral organizations, and more — remains too unclear for young people.
Organizations in the progressive ecosystem dedicate themselves to changing the material conditions of people in the country for the better, and challenging existing hierarchies of race, class, and gender in the process. And the ecosystem is made up of organizations — nonprofits (501c3s), social welfare organizations (501c4s), unions, etc. — that offer a full range of professional opportunities. Yes, you can be an organizer, a trainer/facilitator, or a comms professional — but you can also be a fundraiser, work in operations, finance, events-—the list goes on and on.
Many sectors make it exceptionally clear to young people how to get hired and what success looks like in the field. Consulting firms have well documented hiring timelines and a network set up to support young people who want to apply; Columbia University’s career center has a whole page dedicated to just “The Big Four.” Finance, too, offers relatively straightforward career pathways that colleges and universities readily support students into. In part because of efforts by the Federalist Society, people understand law careers; the hiring timelines are well-documented, and there is clarity about upward mobility through the profession. Medicine, too, offers this clarity: medical school is followed by residency, which is followed by a clear pathway of advancement and seniority. (There’s a reason that your parents pressure you to go into these industries!)
In part because they are simply well-resourced, the conservative movement also does a decent job of making career pathways clear and accessible for their base. Places like the Leadership Institute offer incredible levels of support to young people, and continue to provide training and development throughout their professional journeys.
The work of the progressive movement is harder, and we’re doing it with fewer resources than our ideological opponents; it is simply harder to imagine and to build a world that has never existed and to break down barriers — to political participation, careers in the field, etc.— i n the process. For many reasons, it’s becoming harder to get a foot in the door for progressive young people even if you do know where to look. And many young people do not know where to start — especially young people who don’t have an existing connection to this world/this work, who are the very people our movement needs to be successful.
Two years ago, my team launched the Roosevelt in Washington fellowship. Our progressive young folks receive a six-week preparatory remote “bootcamp” before traveling, fully funded, to DC for the summer. While there, the students get to experience their own internship but also get to learn from what their cohort peers are doing, talk to program alumni and partners in formal and informal ways, and just generally get a lay of the land. Having an internship component of this program allows young people to see what workplaces feel like, how they function, and to work on building a professional network; internships and fellowship experiences are critical for helping folks move with intention at the early stages of their careers. Roosevelt isn’t the only progressive organization offering these kinds of opportunities, but we’re doing big things that I am proud of.
It is important to say that working in the progressive ecosystem is not without its challenges. Lots of thoughtful critique exists of the nonprofit industrial complex. Nonprofits have to fundraise to keep the doors open, which often means relying on the priorities of the donor class and foundations — which do not, always, align with the work organizations truly want to be doing or the needs that they have. Funding is one of the reasons the internship ecosystem is changing.
That said, progressive organizations do try — imperfectly, often — to live their values internally. Some places offer four day workweeks. Some have really generous PTO policies — Groundwork Collaborative offers ”five weeks of vacation and personal leave, two week-long office closures, additional time off for floating and federal holidays.” Many progressive organizations contribute to retirement funds for employees; the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is offering a whopping 9.25% employer-provided 401k retirement contribution. Many organizations in this ecosystem are unionized. Not every organization does the same thing, no one organization can do everything, and organizations often have real room for improvement—but it can be a powerful thing to work at a place that is trying.
It is possible to build a career doing something you care about. And it should certainly be possible for the career opportunities — including the pros and cons of the sector — be more known.
I want to leave you by taking my own advice, and offering something to help you. Here are some talking points to use with your parents if you get asked: “Are you really going to be able to get a job doing that?” Or if you’re trying to figure out, for yourself, if you can really get a job doing that.
What I Wish I Had Known to Say to My Dad a Decade Ago
QUESTION: What…is…the progressive ecosystem?
YOUR TALKING POINTS:
It’s the set of organizations working toward progressive change.
It includes think tanks, movement organizations, advocacy organizations, labor unions, philanthropy, electoral organizations, and more.
Some of these organizations build worker power, some of them create new policy ideas, some of them think about how to implement policy ideas, some of them provide funding.
Many of progressive policy victories are due to work done by organizations in the ecosystem:
Victories on minimum wage increases were secured after organizations like SEIU spent years organizing toward the win.
The deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) was a victory secured by United We Dream and other immigrant rights’ groups.
Despite being ultimately struck down by a politicized Supreme Court, the Biden administration’s executive order to cancel student debt was made possible by unwavering advocacy by a coalition of groups including the NAACP Youth & College Division and research by progressive economists.
QUESTION: What kind of work can you do in the progressive ecosystem?
YOUR TALKING POINTS:
Organizations in the progressive ecosystem are organizations like any other — though they are often nonprofits (501c3s) or social welfare organizations (501c4s). They have finance teams, program teams, fundraising teams, events teams, communications teams.
Like any other industry, it is possible to have a career pivot within the progressive ecosystem.
As someone interested in [________________], it’s roles like [______________] that I am looking at to start.
“As someone interested in operations and fundraising, it’s roles like this Program Coordinator job that would help me get my start.”
“As someone interested in helping people, it’s roles like this Planned Parenthood Advocacy Specialist that could help me get my start.”
QUESTION: Can you actually get paid to do that?
YOUR TALKING POINTS:
Yes.
I’m not going to make the same amount as a hedge fund manager or a social media influencer. But it is possible to have financial stability in this sector, and doing mission-driven work that’s aligned with my values is also important to me.
Progressive organizations try — even if they don’t always succeed — to live their values internally. That means they care about their employees as humans, understand the ‘whole’ of people, etc.
Here are some real examples of early-career positions across the progressive ecosystem and starting salaries for careers — that increase with upward mobility through organizations:
A social media manager position at Color of Change has a salary range of $55,000-65,000 and includes an 8% employer contribution to a retirement fund after six-months (and a 3% contribution before that).
A program associate in the Higher Education Program at New America has a salary range of $58,000-62,000 and is unionized.
This Southern California organizer position at Food and Water Watch has a salary range of $50,000-60,000 and 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision plans.
A paralegal position at the ACLU has a salary of $76,308.
This senior contracts associate position at the Roosevelt Institute has a salary range of $64,000-72,000 ,100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and 80% employer-paid paid for dependents.
A communications manager position at the National Immigration Law Center has a salary range of $73,100-91,400.
For comparison, this early career Blackrock position has a salary range of $76,000-95,000.
QUESTION: Ok, fine, how do you get a job in this sector? Does your university career center have resources to help you? What should you be doing now?
YOUR TALKING POINTS:
I could start with an internship or a fellowship like the Roosevelt Network’s Roosevelt in Washington program, the American Federations of Teachers in-house internship program, or Generation Vote’s JDA Organizing Fellows program. Internships and fellowships help me understand the different kinds of organizations that exist within the ecosystem, and the different kinds of roles within them.
Organizations like the NAACP Youth & College Division and the Sunrise Movement have local chapters I can get involved with.
I could also sign up for things like the Jobs that are Left Google group and research organizations like the Progressive Talent Pipeline that helps early and midcareer progressives secure jobs.
I should also make sure to attend events and meet people currently working at organizations I admire, reach out to people for informational interviews, and take advantage of people’s generosity with their time.
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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