Good Neighbor Agreement Manager / Community Organizer

Northern Plains is a grassroots non-profit organization of people from the plains and mountains, cities and towns. We are everyday Montanans who love where we live. We stand up, shoulder-to-shoulder, to protect this place we all call home. We believe that true prosperity begins with healthy land, water, and air. We believe that our families, farms, ranches, schools, businesses, governments, and communities thrive when we are good stewards of these resources. We believe that if we look beyond our fences, listen to one another, and keep our minds open, we will find creative solutions to secure a clean, healthful environment for all. We are working toward a future where we live in harmony with nature, where our economy serves the people rather than the people serving the economy, where neighbors work side-by-side to build a world that lives up to our ideals of fairness, inclusion, and justice. Since 1972, Northern Plains Resource Council has helped Montanans organize to protect water quality, family farms and ranches, and our unique quality of life.

Job Overview

The Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) Manager/Community Organizer is key to the success of the agreement between Northern Plains and the Stillwater Mine. The GNA Manager/Community Organizer spends a majority of their time facilitating the logistics, communications, and campaign needs for the Good Neighbor Agreement between Sibanye-Stillwater (the mine owner), and Northern Plains’ grassroots members, and professional technical consultants.

The Good Neighbor Agreement Manager reports to Northern Plains’ Director of Organizing and Campaigns, and has additional responsibilities and a higher level of independence than entry-level community organizers. The GNA Manager supervises three professional technical consultants that are employed by Northern Plains for the GNA. The GNA Manager also keeps our efforts to protect water quality and advance reclamation around mining operations on track, and works with our members to ensure Sibanye-Stillwater upholds the Good Neighbor Agreement.

This job requires a high tolerance for conflict, a capacity to negotiate between multiple parties with different interests and competing demands, an ability to build strong professional relationships, and a rigorous attention to deadlines and details.

In addition to managing the GNA, each of our organizers works with Northern Plains’ grassroots membership as a whole, with our local affiliates (mostly in small, rural communities), and with our issue task forces to further the mission of Northern Plains. As a Northern Plains organizer and the GNA manager, you won’t be tied to a desk, you’ll meet lots of people, and you’ll make change happen at the grassroots level. During non-pandemic times, overnight travel averages perhaps 2-3 times a month for this position.

Special Benefits

Benefits include:

• Health insurance
• Generous paid leave (vacation, holidays, sick leave, & parental leave)
• Retirement contributions
• Professional development and opportunities for advancement
• Sabbatical

Minimum Requirements

• Commitment to Northern Plains’ issues and values.
• Commitment to the democratic process, including a willingness to hear diverse opinions and build consensus among groups.
• A tolerance for conflict. We are constantly pushing the mine, they’re pushing back, and we must coordinate between multiple community needs.
• An interest in technical and scientific information. This role includes some amount of reading water quality reports and being willing to engage with numeric data.
• Ability to build strong professional relationships.
• An attention to detail and quick response to deadlines.
• Ability to get along well with people from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of personalities.
• Strong speaking and writing skills.
• Ability to travel and be away overnight.
• Ability to lift equipment up to 50 lbs, stand or walk for long periods of time, and work in all weather conditions.

Also helpful:

• Experience as a community organizer working with diverse coalitions for social change.
• Familiarity with environmental and agricultural issues, or familiarity with broader movements for social, economic, and environmental justice
• Experience with the media and fundraising.