Communications Director

Location: Fully Remote -- Some travel will be required in accordance with BLMP COVID travel policies. 

Reports to: Co-Director  

Status: Full-time, Exempt 

Compensation: $114,500 

About BLMP 

The Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) envisions a world where no one is forced to give up their homeland and where all Black LGBTQIA+ people are free and liberated. We build and center the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people through organizing & base-building, strategic communications, and viability & sustainability. We are led by a directly impacted steering committee, staff and consultants, and operate organizing networks in New York City, DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia region), Minneapolis, California, and the South. We build power, community, and knowledge in the U.S., while challenging the role that the U.S. plays globally in creating the conditions that force us to leave our homes. 

Position Summary

BLMP is seeking a strategic Director of Communications who has extensive communications experience, ideally within a grassroots nonprofit structure, and covering areas such as website content, newsletters, media relations and press pitching, and donor communications. The Director of Communications will join BLMP’s leadership team and help to shape the overall vision and strategy of our work.  

Reporting to BLMP’s Co-Director, the Director of Communications will set and guide the strategy for all communications, website, and public relations messages and collateral to consistently articulate BLMP’s mission, vision, and values. The communications team, along with other members of the staff, partner on a variety of strategic initiatives across the organization. The Director of Communications will build BLMP’s profile and ensure that BLMP is viewed as a primary source, disseminator, and conduit of information within the broader Black liberation, LGBTQIA+, and migrant justice movements. The Director of Communications will also lead strategy in relationship and partnership with BLMP’s membership base, made up entirely of Black queer, trans, and non-binary migrants and first generation people. In this role, the Director of Communications will liaise and manage projects with communication consultants, and will be responsible for bottom-lining the design of materials and websites, including project management for website redesign(s), and graphic design for new materials. Specifically, the person who fills this role will lead the organization’s upcoming visual branding revamp.

The ideal candidate will have excellent leadership skills, strong writing skills, team-working qualities and will be able to work across different departments to ensure the organization's messaging is consistent internally and externally. Additionally, the ideal candidate will have the ability to take knowledge and transform it into exciting and useful messages, and disseminate it to the relevant audiences through the most effective distribution channels. We are looking for someone who is passionate about Black liberation, Black migrant justice and abolition of the carceral state; who is committed to centering and building the leadership of Black migrants and 1st generation Black people who identify as TGNCI, women, femmes, and/or who are living with disabilities. 

Responsibilities

External Communications

• Lead and implement a comprehensive communications and narrative strategy across the organization in collaboration with BLMP’s staff team, consultants, and membership

• Collaborate with the Communications Manager and Digital Organizer to lead the creation of online content that engages audience segments and leads to measurable action
• Create and manage a content calendar throughout the year that aligns with and supports organizational strategy, Program, and Development plans
• Ensure the work done by our Program team is being amplified and broadcast to the world
• Serve as a source of support and offer guidance to Program staff to align public-facing work with BLMP’s core messaging strategy and brand
• Represent BLMP in all communications-related projects with external partners

Messaging and Branding

• Lead the assessment, development, and alignment of all BLMP branding 
• Develop BLMP’s messaging and ensure consistency in all external materials and communications

Press

• Create, maintain, and grow a press list for BLMP to use for external communications
• Build and maintain relationships with members of the press
• Field incoming press requests, connect reporters with BLMP staff or members to act as spokespeople for the request, and prepare spokespeople to speak effectively on the record (including providing talking points, providing background on what the reporter is looking for, and role playing the interview)

Digital Strategy

• Mentor and lead  the communications team through website administration and coordination – ensure that new and consistent information (article links, stories, and events) are posted regularly
• Overseeing full website design and build. 
• Manage development, distribution, and maintenance of all current and future print and electronic collateral including, but not limited to, newsletters, brochures, annual report, e-newsletters, and BLMP’s website
• In collaboration with communications team staff, develop content calendar and coordinate digital strategy with overall organizational communications strategy

Supervision and Leadership

• Supervise communications staff
• Lead communications team hiring processes 
• Work closely with the finance team to develop, manage and track communications budget 

About You

• You are a natural storyteller with a keen eye for mapping the organizational digital landscape. 
• You are a born collaborator who enjoys working work collaboratively with all constituent groups, including staff, steering committee  members, volunteers, donors, program participants, and other supporters
• You possess strong organizational skills with attention to detail and a high degree of discretion, dealing with confidential and sensitive information with integrity
• You are known as a relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to "manage by influence"
• You have a demonstrated commitment to a broad range of social, racial, and economic justice issues and have an understanding of the multiple communities BLMP represents;
• Ability to translate complex technical ideas to stakeholders with varying levels of skill.
• You thrive at bringing staff from various departments together for a common purpose
• Self-starter, able to work both independently, and within a team
• Enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives
• A strong track record of implementing organizational communication strategy in collaborative, fast-paced environments with multiple stakeholders
• You thrive on managing a variety of key initiatives concurrently at both the strategic and tactical levels
• Proven ability to meet deadlines
• Available to work nights and weekends during moments of urgent response

Knowledge and Skills

Required

• Experience managing communications budgets
• Experience managing both staff and consultants in a small collaborative team
• Track record of cultivating relationships with earned media and journalists 
• Experience writing and pitching op-eds and rapid response communication
• Experience developing and implementing social justice and/or advocacy communications strategies
• Excellent English writing/editing and verbal communication skills
• Experience developing digital social justice campaigns 
• Experience overseeing content creation for various social media platforms

Desired

• Experience managing or launching new organizational websites 
• Extensive experience using EveryAction and Mailchimp

Starting salary is $114,500. Generous benefits include comprehensive health (medical, dental, vision, and FSA), matched retirement savings, three weeks vacation, sick and family leave, and sabbatical program.

To apply, please provide a cover letter, resume, list of three references, and a writing sample. The writing sample must be a minimum of 1 page and a maximum of 3 pages that showcases your narrative strategy skills or an example of your communication work in a nonprofit or advocacy setting. This can be something you've already written.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. 

More information about BLMP can be found at BLMP.org.