The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) seeks an inquisitive, resolute, self-motivated go-getter interested in defending civil liberties and advancing civil rights to serve as an Investigator, a new role to assist with research, story gathering and data analysis.
ACLU-VA is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that defends and protects those civil rights and liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the nation's and Virginia’s civil rights laws. ACLU-VA is the state affiliate of the national ACLU, which for nearly 100 years has served as the nation's premier guardian of the liberties that define our democracy. Together with the national ACLU, ACLU-VA works to advance civil liberties by employing litigation, public policy advocacy, public education, organizing, communications and social media to protect and promote a broad range of individual rights, including freedom of speech, racial justice, privacy, religious liberty, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, immigrant rights and rights for people with disabilities. The organization often works with broad coalitions of conservatives, moderates, and progressives, locally, statewide and nationally.
The Virginia affiliate, with its office in Richmond, Virginia, has a $1.8 million operating budget and 12 staff positions. ACLU-VA is two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU of Virginia, a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation that primarily engages in lobbying and advocacy, and the ACLU Foundation of Virginia, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that primarily engages in litigation and public education.
Position Overview:
The Investigator is a new role being created at the ACLU-VA to assist with research, story gathering and data analysis to further the organization’s policy goals around criminal justice reform and other organizational priorities. The Investigator will play a key role in advancing policy change through the ACLU of Virginia’s integrated advocacy program that seeks to protect civil rights and civil liberties through litigation, legislation, and public education and in shaping the overall vision of the affiliate’s work. The person in this position will perform in-depth research aimed at understanding and addressing important and emerging civil liberties issues, with a primary focus on criminal justice reform. The Investigator’s work – which may include original research, identifying and filing FOIA requests, memoranda, white papers, reports, data gathering and analysis, client profiles, blogs and more – will assist in “building” cases to be used in legal advocacy, legislative advocacy, policy initiatives and campaigns, public education efforts, and messaging in earned or paid media.
For more details on the job duties and requirements, see job description at: https://acluva.org/about-us/jobs/investigator/
Email a letter of interest, resume, brief writing sample, and three professional references to [email protected]. Please indicate “Investigator” in the subject line of your email. Please indicate in your cover letter where you learned of this job opportunity. No phone calls, please.
Alternatively, application materials may be mailed to: ACLU of Virginia, 701 E. Franklin Street, Suite 1412, Richmond, VA 23219.
Application materials will be reviewed as received and will be accepted until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration, applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by May 26, 2017.