School of Social Work

Community Organizer

Independent Contractor

If you have community organizing skills and know how to inspire people to a mission, you can help address Maine’s biggest public health challenge. COVID-19 has made Maine’s overdose crisis even worse, 25% worse by some measures. That only begins to capture the combined problem of mental health and substance use issues in Maine. Suicide rates in Maine grew 48%, twice the national average, from 2008-2017.  Before the pandemic, Maine was one of the top ten overdose states. Within Maine a recent study concluded Eastern Maine is “most vulnerable to the opioid epidemic.”

Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center MMHC is located in the highest overdose neighborhood in Eastern Maine, possibly in all Maine. We need an organizer who can gather committed volunteers, professionals, and recoverees to our recovery cause.

This contract pays for results not theorizing. We need someone who has the skills to persuade others to get directly involved in Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center – MMHC. Document your strong community organizing skills, strong verbal and written persuasive ability – the ability to come out of a meeting with a commitment.  You will be selling our mission:  our recovery groups, our neighborhood improvement effort, our Creative Recovery Initiative – as further described on our website at togetherplace.org.

This is a term-limited contract that may be renewed based on performance. $4000 for fifteen weeks; $600 every two weeks. (You will not be expected to work and will not be paid Thanksgiving week). You will be paid $300 for the final week. This contract seeks results. If you succeed in each of the fifteen weeks, there will be a bonus, based on the degree to which you exceed the advocates and attendee numbers for the fifteen weeks.

In essence, the challenge is to bring six people per week to direct involvement in Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center.  You will have access to a team that includes two UMaine students (one five hours on Mondays, one five hours Fridays) and one TP-PRRC staff member (4 hours each Tuesday) to help you, but you lead the organizing. If collaboration enables others to “close the deal”, good, but you are lead advocate.

Methods include: street organizing, connecting with civic groups, houses of worship, local businesses, thank you notes, one-on-one meetings, emails, calls, media connections, and any other innovation you have up your sleeve.

Your contract hinges on producing six people per week, by whatever work and innovation you muster to make a real difference in our cause. Please document why you’re the right organizer for this work.

Success in this job means success in bringing people to the cause via these specific minimum requirements with documentation including contact information:

A) 20 “Community Activist” personal connections a week leading to two committed Community Advocates a week.

B) 10 “professional” personal connections a week leading to two Professional Advocates a week.

C) 10 Member enrollments a week leading to two New Group Attendees a week.

“Community Activist” means someone, whether previously a community activist or not, who will devote volunteer time or other concrete resources to Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center and its mission on a regular basis. Your mission is to transform generic community activist contacts into two Community Advocates per week. That means two people who will themselves volunteer – and encourage others to volunteer or commit to financial support – with tasks including but not limited to: street outreach, using skills such as carpentry, electrician, plumber, grounds upkeep, clerical work, diner staff, organizing others, drawing in professionals and members, teaching art, teaching writing, teaching trades such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, reminding the public of upcoming events, reminding group attendees of upcoming groups, helping expand our newsletter, fundraising, media connections, and more.

“Professional Advocate” in this context means psychologists, case managers, LCSW’s and other mental health professionals who commit to refer clients to Together Place for services. Your job is to secure two new commitments.

“Group Participants” means people who self-identify as having a mental illness and/or in recovery from substance use issues who, for the first time, participate, in our (free) peer run recovery groups and services. Your job within that is to secure two new group attendees.

Please email a cover letter, resume, and references. The judge of performance is MMHC’s Executive Director in consultation with staff. The Executive Director doesn’t care if you spend eight hours a week or eighty hours. If you ethically achieve the specified results to the Executive Director’s satisfaction, your services will continue through the contract period.  Email: seanmmhc@gmail.com