Effective: 07/31/2021

Reports to: Managing Director

Location: Orange, NJ

Status: Fellowship

Length: November 2021- June 2022

Salary: $1,200 stipend ($15/hour, ~3 hours/week, total 80 hours)

Start Date: November 1, 2021

Position & Organization Overview
Joe Thomasberger’s life was defined by advancing social justice and helping young people find their footing and their voice. During his tenure as a congregational minister, “Rev Joe” opened church doors to work with youth in Orange and East Orange. While engaged in community ministry in Newark, Joe led statewide campaigns to advance early childhood education and health care for low income children. Joe was a good friend of The HUUB and First UU, it’s parent church, and we are honored to commemorate him through the Joe Thomasberger HUUB Community Fellows.

The Joe Thomasberger HUUB Community Fellowship is a leadership development program for people passionate about promoting social justice and building community. The Fellows learn Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), support HUUB’s mission to build community in Orange, and will develop projects connected to our Planning to Stay coalition. Planning to Stay is a grassroots organizing campaign advocating for civic engagement and equitable development for all of Orange’s residents.

Fellows will have access to professional development throughout their fellowship. These could include an Asset Based Community Development workshop, Collective Recovery training, or Community Organizing training. This Professional Development programming can be tailored or responsive to the Fellows’ personal practice and career goals.

Essential Responsibilities
● Participates and supports community programs and events;
● Helps achieve The HUUB’s mission to build relationships in the Orange community;
● Supports the Planning to Stay coalition.

Primary Objectives
● Participates in workshop to learn about grassroots community organizing;
● Participates in weekly Fellows & Friends meetings;
● Develops strategies to connect with communities in Orange to build relationships and strengthen the city’s social fabric.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
● Must be able to attend and participate in workshops;
● Excellent communication skills;
● Ability to work cooperatively with colleagues and supervisors at all levels;
● Experience living and/or working in Orange is a plus;
● Bilingual in Spanish or Haitian Kreyol is a plus.

To apply, send your Resume and Cover Letter to admin@orangehuub.org by Friday, October 1, 2021. In the Cover Letter, describe your interest in community organizing in Orange, NJ.

Questions? Contact Daniel Joseph Wiley, HUUB Managing Director, danieljoseph@orangehuub.org, or 973-674-0010, or via direct message, @OrangeHUUB.

About the HUUB
In Fall 2015, the First UU of Essex took a leap of faith to try and find relevance with a quickly shrinking and dispirited congregation. This leap, a commitment to stay in Orange, NJ, where First UU has been for more than 130 years, meant pivoting from traditional Parish Ministry to Urban Ministry, pursuing an outward-facing, community-focused version of Unitarian Universalism through a new, subsidiary organization, The HUUB, inc. The name is not an acronym but represents the goal to be a community hub of social justice activity with Unitarian Universalism at its core.

The HUUB has embraced Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) theory and tools. ABCD identifies, mobilizes, and leverages existing community assets to strengthen the community from within. Instead of looking for deficits, ABCD sees communities as overflowing with untapped resources, an idea that resonates strongly with the UU principles. From this theory, HUUB’s work leverages three main assets: its people (staff, youth leaders, local UUs, friends, neighbors, and allies), its place (an urban campus & buildings), and its principles (the 7 UU Principles).

The HUUB has re-rooted First UU as an anchor institution in the community it had lost touch with. It’s done this by opening the church doors, turning its UU values into the community, and inviting its neighbors in; by developing partnerships and collaborative projects with like-minded people and organizations; and by investing in its buildings so they are more attractive assets.