Careers at Straight Ahead

Straight Ahead emerged from the movements to abolish death by incarceration (DBI) and solitary confinement in Pennsylvania. Our leaders come from the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), Human Rights Coalition and the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI), organizations which have generated path-breaking research and communications around the issues of life-without parole and restorative justice while centering the leadership of the formerly and currently incarcerated and their family members. 

The movement has developed and worked with a growing network of grassroots community activists to build legislative support for parole eligibility for lifers, and created chapters of the grassroots CADBI organization in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Delaware County, Lancaster, Coatesville, and Lehigh Counties across the state.

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NOW HIRING: Family Outreach Coordinator — Philadelphia

Straight Ahead is looking to contract a part-time Family Outreach Coordinator to help grow the base of family members of the incarcerated people in Pennsylvania into a decarceration political bloc of voters and advocates. The applicant we are looking for would be a family member of someone currently incarcerated. Straight-Ahead’s work involves both transformative justice and political education, to transform the way we think about the carceral system and resolving harm. We are organizing a mass movement of directly impacted people within Pennsylvania to pressure legislators for bills to bring people home and back to their communities.


 

Work would Involve:

  • Calling and engaging (emails, texts, etc) with family members of incarcerated people throughout Pennsylvania.
  • Planning, implementing and participating in community meetings, forums, events, and  meet and greets with families of the incarcerated.
  • Working closely with our Inside Coordinator on best practices and strategies for engaging people incarcerated and their family members.


Ideal qualifications:

  • Must be proficient in google suites (google email, documents, spreadsheets, etc), sending and receiving emails, using zoom and microsoft teams videoconferencing.
  • Must know how to use ConnectNetwork, messaging platform for incarcerated people in Pennsylvania.
  • Must be able to receive phone calls from state prisons. (Phone may be provided)
  • Able to work 29 hours a week
  • Located in Philadelphia

Reports to: Executive Director and Campaigns Manager

 

Start date: Negotiable


Compensation: 

This position will be based in Philadelphia and is expected to require both remote (work-from-home) and in-person (office) work. The compensation range for the contract position is $20 per hour. 


Application Process: 

Please send your resume to sergio@straight-ahead.org

 

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. This position remains open until filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible to receive priority consideration.


Straight Ahead is an equal opportunity employer. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, women, LGBTQI-GNC people, and formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply.

NOW HIRING: Organizing Director
REGIONAL— Philadelphia

Straight Ahead is seeking an Organizing Director to help develop and implement volunteer organizing and engagement for our decarceration base. Straight Ahead is a 501c4 that comes out of a wider Pennsylvania grassroots and institutional anti-prison movement and works on legislative campaigns and some electoral campaigns in relationship with these other groups. This position would involve directly organizing people into our electoral and lobbying work, and also coordinating trainings and workshops to help our volunteers develop and grow.

The person hired would work with our existing base of family members of the incarcerated and anti-prison activists, and also bring new volunteers into our programs. They would oversee a program that directs volunteers from initial contact and onboarding, through volunteer placement and training, and ideally into leadership positions from there.

This job will be located in Philadelphia.

Job responsibilities:

  • Building relationships with existing and new volunteers around the state
  • Coordinating engagement for volunteer members around our campaigns
  • Orienting volunteers and moving them into ongoing campaign work
  • Coordinating the training and educating of member-volunteers, both for practical things (e.g. background on our issues, canvassing basics)
  • Helping facilitate and coordinate larger volunteer/membership meetings

Requirements:

  • Experience with base building/volunteer-heavy organizations 
  • Commitment to decarceration 
  • Understanding of how electoral and legislative work fits within larger liberation movements, and willingness to engage with it
  • Live in Pennsylvania or be willing to move to it
  • Help with the supervision of other Straight Ahead Organizers
  • Willingness to work in person when necessary  

Salary and Benefits

This position will be based in Philadelphia. This is a full-time, salaried position. The salary for this position is 60K annually, with a health insurance benefit of up to $450.00 a month and 35 days (280hrs) of paid time off annually.

Travel necessary to work such as lodging, food, transportation tickets will be reimbursed or covered. 

Application Process:

Please email your resume, two professional references, and a detailed cover letter explaining your interest in the position as a single PDF to roxanne@straight-ahead.org. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Position open until filled.

Straight Ahead is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, Indigenous people, LGBTQI-GNC people, and formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply.

NOW HIRING: Survivor Justice Advocate

Straight Ahead, a 501c4 dedicated to criminal justice reform in Pennsylvania that has emerged from the Abolitionist Law Center, Human Rights Coalition and Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration, is seeking a Survivor Justice Advocate to work with people who identify as survivors of crime. Since the 1970s, politicians have used victims’ stories and voices to build a mass incarceration system built on punishment rather than healing, and fracturing communities rather than strengthening them.  This position is about reclaiming the narrative about what survivors and communities impacted most by policing and incarceration need.

This job can be located anywhere within Pennsylvania.

Job responsibilities:

  • Work with survivors state-wide to organize and participate in legislative visits that Straight Ahead and its partners are doing
  • Build an active network of survivors rights/services groups in Pennsylvania to advocate for alternatives to incarceration
  • Contact and build connections with survivors of harm around the state––especially those in poor, black, brown communities–and work with them to advocate for policy changes that will provide healing rather than maximal incarceration 
  • Develop messaging with other parts of Straight Ahead team to help counter current narratives of incarceration and public safety

Requirements:

  • Empathetic and trauma-informed organizing style; ability to develop strong relationships of mutual respect and trust 
  • Strong commitment to racial and social justice, and familiarity with abolition and decarceration principles
  • Ability to travel within Pennsylvania 
  • Ability to work independently but also within larger strategy, and to keep multiple projects and staggered deadlines 

Preferred: Has direct experience with harm and comes from communities most impacted by violence and incarceration and has experience in working within victim advocate services or victim advocate organizations preferred 

Reports to: Executive Director and Campaign Director 

Salary and Benefits

This position can be based anywhere in PA. This is a full-time, salaried position. The salary for this position is 55-60k annually, with a health insurance benefit of up to $450.00 a month and 35 days (280hrs) of paid time off annually.

Travel necessary to work such as lodging, food, transportation tickets will be reimbursed or covered. 

Application Process

Please email your resume, two professional references, and a detailed cover letter explaining your interest in the position as a single PDF to roxanne@straight-ahead.org. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Position open until filled.

Straight Ahead is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, Indigenous people, LGBTQI-GNC people, and formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply. 

NOW HIRING: Community Organizer for Survivors
REGIONAL— Philadelphia

Straight Ahead, a 501c4 dedicated to criminal justice reform in Pennsylvania that has emerged from the Abolitionist Law Center, Human Rights Coalition and Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration, is seeking a Community Organizer for Survivors to work with people who identify as survivors of crime. Since the 1970s, politicians have used victims’ stories and voices to build a mass incarceration system built on punishment rather than healing, and fracturing communities rather than strengthening them.  This position is about reclaiming the narrative about what survivors and communities impacted most by policing and incarceration need.

This job will be located in Philadelphia.

Job responsibilities:

  • Contact and build connections with survivors of harm in Philadelphia Region–especially those in poor, black, brown communities–and work with them to advocate for policy changes that will provide healing rather than maximal incarceration 
  • Work with our established core of volunteers who identify as survivors of harm, while developing new volunteer leaders and advocates
  • Develop trauma-informed trainings so that people feel supported throughout their development

Requirements:

  • Empathetic and trauma-informed organizing style; ability to develop strong relationships of mutual respect and trust 
  • Strong commitment to racial and social justice, and familiarity with abolition and decarceration principles
  • Ability to travel within Pennsylvania 
  • Ability to work independently but also within larger strategy, and to keep multiple projects and staggered deadlines 

Preferred: Has direct experience with harm and comes from communities most impacted by violence and incarceration and has experience in working within victim advocate services or victim advocate organizations preferred 

Reports to: Executive Director and Campaign Director 

Salary and Benefits

This position will be based in Philadelphia. This is a full-time, salaried position. The salary for this position is 50K annually, with a health insurance benefit of up to $450.00 a month and 35 days (280hrs) of paid time off annually.

Travel necessary to work such as lodging, food, transportation tickets will be reimbursed or covered. 

Application Process:

Please email your resume, two professional references, and a detailed cover letter explaining your interest in the position as a single PDF to roxanne@straight-ahead.org. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Position open until filled.

Straight Ahead is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, Indigenous people, LGBTQI-GNC people, and formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply.