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26 May 2023

Full-Time Communications Fellow

Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) – Posted by hoverstreet Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Southern Environmental Law Center logo

Job Description

The Southern Environmental Law Center is seeking a Communications Fellow in our Chapel Hill, N.C. office. This individual will join our Communications team and report to our Senior Communications Manager in Chapel Hill.

As a Communications Fellow for SELC, you will be part of a 23-person communications team working to engage and educate about a full range of environmental issues of particular importance to the South—climate change, clean air and water, our public lands, coastal protections, and environmental justice. This is an excellent opportunity to join a highly successful, nationally recognized organization that is effectively addressing some of the most pressing and challenging environmental issues throughout the South and the nation.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for supporting communications on the Southern Environmental Law Center’s climate-related work in North Carolina, including solar and other renewable energy work, the bipartisan N.C. Carbon Plan, transportation, coastal resiliency, utility rate cases, and other program areas.  This is an excellent chance to gain hands-on experience with implementing communications strategies and working with media.

If you’re up for the challenge of figuring out how communications can advance environmental progress, we want you to be part of our team.  We are looking for a team member with excellent communications and writing skills who is interested in strategic communications, experienced in advocacy communications and working with media, familiar with North Carolina, and committed to progress on climate change and environmental justice issues. You will think strategically and creatively about how to message around environmental issues, incorporate storytelling into our content, and help shape media coverage on legal and policy developments, and integrate different communications touchpoints to reach target audiences.

This is a chance to join our team of strategists, designers, analysts, investigators, ambassadors, and innovators who work closely together to develop comprehensive communications strategies to help SELC meet its programmatic and organizational objectives. We tell the stories, paint the picture, make the information clear, and reach the right people to move the environmental needle.

SELC currently has a hybrid work model that offers employees the flexibility to work at home up to two days per week.  This full-time position is limited to two years, with a potential option to extend the limit for an additional year at the discretion of SELC.

Primary Responsibilities:

  • Work closely with the Senior Communications Manager in the Chapel Hill office and SELC attorneys to develop and implement communications strategies to advance state climate change-related work and issues together with implementing SELC’s regional plan to address climate change in North Carolina.
  • Develop communications materials regarding climate-related developments affecting North Carolina, may include drafting talking points, press releases, fact sheets, or op-eds.
  • Assist with responses to public inquiries and media outreach, including fielding press inquiries; researching, and maintaining press lists; tracking and compiling press reports; and drafting, editing, and distributing press materials and pitches.
  • Play a key role in preparing attorneys for media interviews and briefings.
  • Help with related website content, including drafting, review, adding, editing, updating, and handling content requests from staff.
  • Help draft digital content, such as Newsfeeds, social media, or advocacy campaign posts, in coordination with the digital and design teams.
  • Coordinate with partners to develop strategies, ensure messaging consistency, and coordinate responses and outreach.
  • Collaborate with other Communications Managers to address joint challenges and opportunities as needed.
  • Pursue opportunities to further SELC’s efforts to create and foster a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization, including strategies to infuse commitments to equity into climate communications from the ground up.
  • Report to the Senior Communications Manager in Chapel Hill.

Required Qualifications:

  • A bachelor’s degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Approximately 2-3 years minimum of communications experience. Experience working with the media and/or advocacy communications is a plus.
  • Willingness to learn. Experience communicating about climate change and/or environmental justice issues is a plus, but at a minimum we require a willingness to quickly learn and develop knowledge on the issues, if you haven’t previously done in-depth communications work on climate change issues.
  • Strategic and creative thinker. You love thinking through strategies of how to reach people and move them to action, and you’re creative in considering new approaches to make change.
  • Strong writer and communicator. You are eager to learn more about communications strategies that reach people and move them to action. You are a strong writer who is comfortable with AP Style and capable of drafting and editing materials, from emails to communications materials and news releases. As an important voice of the South’s leading environmental organization, you’ll need to be able to package complex legal issues for a range of platforms, moving with ease between talking points, press releases, op-eds, web copy, and digital campaign emails that move people to get more involved.
  • Collaborative team player. You enjoy learning together with your teammates and helping others to succeed in their work as well. You bring a collaborative attitude to engaging with other team members and external stakeholders alike.
  • Strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. You have a genuine interest in and commitment to helping SELC create and foster a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace You engage in ongoing personal learning and are eager to contribute to our organizational efforts to be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Experience working with the media
  • Familiarity with a variety of content production
  • Preferably degree in communications or communications-related work experience
  • Familiarity with other environmental issues
  • Familiarity with North Carolina environmental issues

About SELC:

The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of over 200, including more than 100 attorneys, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, DC.

At our core, we are place-based, rooted in our region, and connected with the communities and clients we serve. We believe in an equitable and inclusive workplace that reflects the rich racial and cultural diversity of our region and allows diverse perspectives to come to the forefront. We approach our work with the highest level of integrity, holding ourselves to high standards with an emphasis on honesty, accountability, and thoughtfulness. We value collaboration and camaraderie, realizing we are strongest when we work together and knowing that everyone has a critical role to play. We strive for impact through a strategic, bold, pragmatic, and ambitious outlook that is dedicated to achieving powerful results. We believe in these values and in the power of SELC. We hope you consider joining us. Learn more at https://www.southernenvironment.org/.

Compensation:

SELC offers salaries competitive with other leading environmental nonprofits nationally and provides an excellent benefits package. The starting salary for this position is $55,500, commensurate with experience. For more details about our benefits package, please visit our Careers page. SELC provides financial assistance for anyone relocating for a position with SELC.

To Apply: 

To apply, click on the application link below to be directed to an online application where you may upload your application materials. Applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, and one writing sample. The initial deadline for receipt of complete applications is June 13th. However, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Application link: https://selc.viglobalcloud.com/viRecruitSelfApply/ReDefault.aspx?FilterREID=4&FilterJobCategoryID=1&FilterJobID=42

SELC is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering an inclusive workplace environment. We are eager to welcome new team members who share this commitment. We still have much progress to make, but our goal is to create and maintain a staff that, at every level, reflects the rich racial and cultural diversity of the communities where we work and the clients that we serve. Persons of all backgrounds—including people of color, women, people with disabilities, veterans, and LGBTQ candidates—are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

To apply, click on this link to be directed to an online application where you may upload your application materials. Applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, and one writing sample. The initial deadline for receipt of complete applications is June 13th. However, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

SELC is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering an inclusive workplace environment. We are eager to welcome new team members who share this commitment. We still have much progress to make, but our goal is to create and maintain a staff that, at every level, reflects the rich racial and cultural diversity of the communities where we work and the clients that we serve. Persons of all backgrounds—including people of color, women, people with disabilities, veterans, and LGBTQ candidates—are strongly encouraged to apply.

Job Categories: Environmental. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 40,000 - 60,000.

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