Job Description

Full job description

Tech Tools for Justice is a 501(c)(3) organization seeking a social media-literate individual committed to fighting for housing justice to assist with fundraising and grant writing for the Landlord Mapper initiative.

Please send your resume and start date availability to: contact@landlordmapper.org

To confirm receipt of your application, please feel free to reach out via text message: (708) 576-1535

Read more about the initiative and explore the site here:

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION / INITIATIVE

Landlords tend to hide their identity from both the tenants and the general public to avoid accountability, and in some cases even to evade taxes. They use complex webs of trusts and shell companies to keep their property holdings and personal identities secret, making it extremely difficult to figure out what they own and how powerful they are. This tendency is referred to in the research as “ownership obscurity”. This often leaves tenants feeling helpless in the face of negligence or outright abuse on the part of the landlord, while local officials are left clueless about who the biggest and most powerful landlords in their cities are.

Tech Tools for Justice Inc is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is spearheading the development of the Landlord Mapper web application as part of a broader civic tech initiative aimed at combatting ownership obscurity. The work involves exposing networks of urban property ownership through leveraging publicly available property taxpayer and corporate data to create high quality, free and open landlord datasets. The web application serves the following objectives:

• Provide tenants with easy access to information about who their landlord is, and the other properties that their landlord owns.
• Maintain a searchable database of landlords and their properties (including property values, complaints, code violations, evictions, etc.) that is free and open to the public
• Develop an interactive web map that serves as an educational tool to raise public consciousness about corporate landlordism and its impact on communities in Chicago and beyond

Beyond the web application, the Landlord Mapper initiative seeks also to bring together individuals, researchers, activists and others who are involved in similar work elsewhere in the US to collaborate and share ideas. The ultimate goal of the initiative is the creation of a NATIONAL LANDLORD DATABASE, which spans across multiple cities and provides data not only on individual landlords, but also on the trusts, shell companies, property management companies and institutional investment firms involved in landlordism.

Tech Tools for Justice was founded in June 2024 by a former tenant organizer-turned-web developer. The organization does not currently receive funding, and has only one full-time employee working pro-bono (the founder & director of the organization).

ABOUT THE POSITION

The Social Media Manager is a three-month unpaid internship position. The initiative is based out of Chicago IL, as we are currently prioritizing Chicago for the next phase of the landlord database development, however applicants may complete this work from anywhere.

The work will entail crafting posts for the company's Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages to drive engagement and get the word out about the project. It will also involve researching the most prominent voices in online housing justice spaces (journalists, lawyers, activists, etc.) and connecting with them to share information about the project, seek advice on how to best reach people, and potentially collaborate in the future on content creation.

The work will be undertaken with the direct assistance and active collaboration of the organization’s director. Responsibilities of the Fundraiser & Grant Writer Internship position are as follows:

• Draft regular social media posts related the features of the Landlord Mapper web app and the insights that can be derived from the data it provides
• Research and collect news articles, videos and other pieces of media related to housing justice and landlordism to share on the company's social media pages
• Identify and establish connection with the accounts of organizations or individuals who have demonstrated a deep connection to the housing justice movement

The ideal candidate for this position shall exhibit the following characteristics:

• Passionate about fighting back against displacement, gentrification, abusive landlords, and oppression in all forms
• Outgoing & positive demeanor
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills
• Strong research abilities
• Experience in justice-centered movements is a plus
• Experience fundraising in any context is a plus

LEGAL NOTICE - The Lead Fundraiser Internship (Volunteer) role is an unpaid volunteer position. “Internship” in this context is not a legal signifier, but rather is a general descriptor that implies a structured, learning-based position that aims to provide the volunteer with professional skill development. The above description does not constitute a promise of a paid position upon completion of the three-month term outlined above.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Internship

Pay: $0.10 - $20.00 per hour

Schedule:

• Choose your own hours

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Chicago, IL 60602

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