Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership

Lead Tenant Organizer

Based in Colorado Springs, CO

 

The Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership (COSPHP) is seeking a full-time Lead Tenant Organizer to spearhead its structure-based organizing work with tenants in Colorado Springs, building a base of tenant power and helping tenant leaders create the structures needed to wield that power effectively in the short- and long-term.

About the COSPHP
The COSPHP’s mission is to build power among housing insecure residents of Colorado Springs to win concrete changes to city policy, resource allocation, and development processes needed to ensure everyone in Colorado Springs has a safe, stable, and affordable place to live. It was founded in 2019 as an informal housing advocacy group and shifted direction in 2022 to focus on grassroots organizing. In 2024, it hired its first and only full-time staff member, opened an office space, and was recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)3 non-profit. In February, we hired a Lead Tenant Organizer to spearhead our organizing work with tenants and our founder transitioned into the role of Lead Neighborhood Organizer to focus on organizing with neighborhood groups and the unhoused community. We are now looking for a third organizer to help grow and expand our tenant organizing work, with the ultimate goal of creating a powerful, democratic, and ultimately independent citywide tenant union.

Our organizing work focuses on specific neighborhoods, apartment buildings, and mobile home parks, as well as with the unhoused community—the places the housing crisis is showing up most severely—because we believe the people most impacted by housing injustice must lead the movement to address it. We organize residents around issues they identify—displacement due to gentrification, mistreatment from landlords, over policing, etc.—with the dual goals of winning changes on their issues and building power towards city-level housing policy change in the future.

Right now, we are organizing within four such communities:

1. The Mill St neighborhood, to combat gentrification and displacement through a Community Benefit Agreement
2. Tenants of public housing, against mistreatment from building managers
3. The unhoused community, to improve local shelter, outreach, and long-term housing solutions

 The COSPHP has and will continue to utilize non-hierarchical decision-making structures to guide its work—the Lead Tenant Organizer will make decisions collaboratively with the other two staff organizers and the residents leading the COSPHP’s organizing work. All staff organizers ultimately report to the COSPHP’s Board of Directors, who have the authority to hire/fire/evaluate staff, but most decisions about our work will be made through consensus among staff and resident leaders.

Responsibilities
The Lead Tenant Organizer will be responsible for:

1. Collaborating with the current Lead Tenant Organizer to support the Centennial Plaza and Acacia Park Tenants Associations, which are the only two current tenant associations we work with.
2. Collaborating with the current Lead Tenant Organizer to take the steps needed to create a citywide tenant union, including:
   • Facilitating meetings with tenants who attended the COSPHP’s recent tenant workshops on tenant organizing methods and tenant union structure
   • Creating strategy for and executing campaigns in new buildings
   • Recruiting new tenant leaders into the growing citywide tenant movement
   • Building connections between tenant leaders in different buildings the COSPHP is organizing with
3. Plugging into, wherever possible, the state- and nationwide tenant movement, through:
   • Attending Tenant Union Federation trainings, meetings, and in-person convenings and encouraging tenant leaders to do the same
   • Maintaining a relationship with the staff of HouseUS to stay apprised of the resources they can offer the COSPHP
   • Checking-in periodically with the leadership of the Colorado Homes For All coalition and assessing COSPHP’s readiness to join it
   • Monitoring any other regional, statewide, or national formations that may be of interest to the COSPHP and our city’s budding tenant movement.
4. Co-Leading event planning for events related to the COSPHP’s tenant organizing work
5. Communicating about the COSPHP’s tenant organizing work to the organization’s Board, potential funders, the media, and the general public, whenever appropriate.
6. Collaborating with the Lead Neighborhood Organizer and Executive Director on the COSPHP’s other work, including the Mill St CBA campaign and the Colorado Springs Homeless Union
7. Taking on shared organizational management and development responsibilities, such as strategic planning, staff evaluations, professional development, fundraising, and more—the COSPHP does not have an Executive Director, so its staff organizers share responsibility for organizational management and development tasks.
8. Participating in relevant organizing training and regular organizing skills practice with other staff at the COSPHP.
9. Other duties as needed

Qualifications
Required:

1. At least 1.5 years of structure-based organizing experience
2. A demonstrated understanding of and commitment to grassroots organizing as the primary vehicle for positive social change
3. Ability to organically relate to people of all backgrounds, including people with lived experience with homelessness and housing insecurity
4. Ability to work well with a team
5. Experience leading democratic decision-making processes
6. Proficiency in English and Spanish

Strongly Preferred:

1. Previous structure-based organizing experience
   • Structure-based organizing refers to organizing work that happens within existing social structures that people belong to because of life circumstances rather than values or ideology. Examples of structures include workplaces, apartment buildings, mobile home parks, neighborhoods, houses of worship, and schools. It is distinct from issue-based organizing/mobilizing, which brings together people who share a set of values, such as concern over climate change, police brutality, or gun violence.
2. Knowledge of local, statewide, or national housing policy and market dynamics
3. A history of grassroots community work in Colorado Springs
4. A working understanding of how city/local governments operate
5. Experience working in the nonprofit sector
6. Proficiency in Spanish

Time Commitment
The Lead Tenant Organizer will work 30–50 hours per week, recognizing that organizing work ebbs and flows—some periods of time will be busier than others. Hours are irregular, with frequent work evenings and weekends, but the ability to flex hours to take personal time during regular working hours (9-5) to compensate for work in the evenings and on weekends. Work is primarily in-person, with the option to work virtually available when it doesn’t interfere with the organization’s work. The Lead Tenant Organizer must live in the Pikes Peak Region.

Pay and Benefits
The COSPHP Lead Tenant Organizer position salary is $55,000 per year, with opportunities for a raise of $5,000 annually after a three month probationary period, as well as opportunities for future raises and cost of living adjustments. All COSPHP employees will also receive a $350 monthly healthcare contribution, 20 days of Paid Time Off, 10 days of sick leave, and the following holidays:

• Martin Luther King Day
• President’s Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• US Indigenous People’s Day
• Veteran’s Day
• The week of Thanksgiving
• The period between Christmas Eve and New Years Day

In addition to the specific benefits listed, The COSPHP will do its best to be flexible to accommodate employees’ needs as they relate to ability, health, and family obligations.

This position is fully funded for 2025 and 2026 and we expect that the team will be able to continue to fund it beyond 2026.

Application Process and Start Date
Applications open May 20th and close June 13th—preference will be given to applicants who apply by June 13th, though interested applicants may apply until the position is filled.

To Apply
Submit a résumé; a cover letter detailing why you are interested in this role, how your previous experiences prepares you for it, and how you understand the dynamics responsible for our city/nation’s housing crisis; and two references to: cspringsphp@gmail.com.

A member of the hiring committee will follow-up with you on next steps for your application by June 13th. The start date for the position is flexible.

The COSPHP is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, or ability status. Rather, we understand that the leadership and expertise of people with historically marginalized identities and lived experience with housing injustice must be centered within the organization and the movement we are building—those with these identities and experiences are highly encouraged to apply.