Educational Initiatives Consultant

The Outwords Archive (OUTWORDS) captures, preserves, and shares the stories of LGBTQ+ elders across the United States, to build community and catalyze social change.

Since 2016, OUTWORDS has recorded nearly 300 interviews with LGBTQ+ elders in 38 states. It is critically important for us to document the diverse firsthand accounts of these elders while they are still alive to tell them.

As a signatory to the Anti-Racist Small Business pledge [https://theoutwordsarchive.org/mission-vision-and-values/#antiracism-pledge] OUTWORDS applies an equity lens to all of its hiring decisions, seeking to provide opportunities to individuals and communities that have traditionally been underrepresented and/or excluded from the media production industry. We are committed to creating, exploring, and maintaining an environment where new, unpopular and/or controversial ideas are safely expressed, and encourage the exchange of such views in an environment of tolerance, curiosity, and mutual respect.

Archiving as a form of social justice also includes actively seeking out interviewees who are BIPOC, living with disabilities, transgender/gender non-conforming, or other marginalized identities, and to actively reverse and rectify historical erasure by recording, preserving, and sharing these stories with respect and care.

All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, military status, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. OUTWORDS will furthermore consider applicants who may need a reasonable accommodation to perform the essential functions/duties. Please send a message via Indeed for additional information or to request reasonable accommodations for the application or interview process.

OUTWORDS seeks a skilled Educational Initiatives Consultant excited by, and dedicated to, the organization’s mission, vision, and core values. The primary goal of this short-term engagement will be to develop a strategic plan specifically around how OUTWORDS can most efficiently and effectively distribute its educational / inspirational content within the education space (not just formal educational settings, but any structured environment where queer and allied youth ages 13-18 gather for friendship, mutual support, and learning).

This is a 2-3 month project with a budget of $4000-5000 to develop the strategic plan, and an additional $1500 budget to fund the implementation of two educational initiatives from the plan, such as adding licensing information to our website or creating a template for OUTWORDS educational handouts at our events.

The Educational Initiatives Consultant will be primarily responsible, in this initial short-term engagement, for creating a strategic education distribution plan and implementing one or more initiatives from the plan. To this end, the work will include:

•Reviewing and developing a deep understanding of OUTWORDS’ content and its potential applications

•Evaluating opportunities within formal educational settings as mandated by some state laws (for example, the California FAIR Education Act, SB 48)

•Evaluating opportunities for sharing OUTWORDS’ content in other settings within schools (for example, Gay-Straight Alliances or GSA’s)

•Evaluating opportunities for sharing OUTWORDS’ content through partnerships with other organizations (the It Gets Better Project; Boys & Girls Clubs; Big Brothers / Big Sisters; etc.)

•Exploring possibilities for licensing OUTWORDS’ content and editorial services to outside companies providing cultural competency training

•Promoting OUTWORDS as a tool for academic and other researchers

•Brainstorming other educational initiatives and how OUTWORDS can best fulfill them

Ideal Candidate will possess the following qualities:

•Background in, and passion for education

•Demonstrated experience in the field of education, and specifically working with youth ages 13-18

•Knowledge of the LGBTQ+ educational programming environment

•Attention to detail

•Curiosity

•Ability to communicate and ask questions

•Research

•Timeliness