Apply today! Democracy Day hiring a coordinator, recruiting advisory board

The U.S. Democracy Day collaborative got its start ahead of the midterms in 2022. It launched as an effort to encourage news organizations across the country to report more — and better— information about the crisis facing democracy here.

We coalesced around one common publishing/broadcasting date: Sept. 15, which is the International Day of Democracy. A total of 400 news organizations participated, including the Gannett chain and dozens of nonprofit and independent outlets.

As we look ahead to 2023, we know we are really looking ahead to 2024. And we know we need to help news organizations build muscle and capacity for what’s to come.

Thanks to support from Democracy Fund, the organizing committee for U.S. Democracy Day has some exciting plans for this year to accomplish just that. We’re planning training webinars, in-person events, content sharing and more.

To kick this work off, we’re recruiting for two roles. First, we need to hire a part-time coordinator to run Democracy Day for 2023. And second, we’re looking for six people to serve as advisors to the project.

Democracy Day coordinator

This is such an important role. The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University is hiring a temporary, part-time, grant-funded role intended to lead the planning and execution of the Democracy Day collaborative, in partnership with the organizing committee and advisory board.

The job will be remote and run March 1 through Oct. 31 and average 10–15 hours a week at a pay rate of $50 an hour.

Click here to read the full job description and click here to apply.

Advisory Board

The collaborative is looking for a board of six advisors representative of the media organizations involved in Democracy Day, and also representative of other stakeholders who understand the important role the press plays in a free and fair democracy.

We also want to find a diverse board, representing different geographies, racial and ethnic groups, genders, ages and abilities.

We’ll ask the Board to:

• Attend eight monthly 30-min meetings, March-October.
• Provide input to the Democracy Day coordinator and organizing team about the collaborative’s work at the meetings and as needed electronically.
• Share information about Democracy Day with your networks.
• Participate in Democracy Day in a way that is determined between you and the coordinator.

For their time, advisory board members will receive a stipend of $2,000.

Interested, or know someone who might be? Click here to apply or nominate someone.

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Stefanie Murray is director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Contact her at murrayst@montclair.edu.

About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.