Jobs at SQSH

Location: Hybrid/Remote

Duration: At least 2 Years (Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2025), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Contractor, Hourly (3-4 hours/week, 144 hours/year)

Compensation: $30/hour

Benefits: N/A

Our team at SQSH understands the importance of word-of-mouth referrals within marginalized communities. That’s why, since founding, we’ve been working hard to create the SQSHBook. The SQSHBook is a queer-centered, community-owned database of 1,200+ resources throughout the St. Louis region and beyond, compiled from various local resource lists and vetting efforts by SQSH’s Community Partners. Our staff, volunteers, partners, and community members use the SQSHBook to find resources for housing, food, healthcare, socio-emotional support, and more.

Our SQSHBook Resource Guide focuses on democratizing information and testimonials on community resources by creating an accessible platform for queer community members to search for and provide input on the resource landscape. By developing more grassroots community accountability functionalities into our SQSHBook resource guide, we aim to reduce the barriers faced by the most isolated queer and trans people to access life-saving resource information while also holding service providers accountable to our community.

Our long-term goals are to….

• Create queer-centered narratives around local resources

• Increase pressure to serve queer St. Louisans effectively

• Strengthen our community’s connection to vetted resources

• Improve LGBTQIA+ access to health and well-being

• Transform systems that have rendered queer experiences invisible

SQSH's SQSHBook Developer works to help actualize SQSH’s mission of building our community’s capacity for resource connections, grassroots referrals, and advocacy, and increasing resource systems’ accountability and responsiveness to queer St. Louisans’ needs and values. This community- and internal-facing position is responsible for implementing the development features needed to implement SQSH’s SQSHBook Resource Guide program. They ensure that SQSHBook’s web application and user features are robust, impactful, and aligned with our collective liberation values.

This is an internal-facing role that requires a passion for building user-friendly web applications, reimagining resource directories, bringing SQSHBook’s vision to life, and using their development skills to improve the SQSHBook.

The SQSHBook Developer will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate the priorities of this role, and include admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

• General Duties

  • Works with the SQSHBook Coordinator to research, design, implement, and manage the SQSHBook web application including the frontend website, Contentful content management services, and application hosting.

  • Works in conjunction with the SQSHBook Team to test and evaluate new program features; identify areas for improvement in existing programs; and develop application modifications based on user input.

  • Additional duties may include determining operational practicality, developing quality assurance procedures, deploying evaluation tools, maintaining and upgrading existing systems, training users, and working closely with other developers and UX designers.

• Specific Projects

  • Develop SQSHBook's ability to crowdsource community reviews and grassroots referrals

  • Develop community partners' and resource owners' ability to claim/update listings and respond to community experiences/feedback

  • Expand "vetted by" badges

  • Expand ability to display intersectional vetting criteria

  • Develop youth-specific filter and review functions

  • Evaluate user behavior patterns and outcomes from first year of SQSHBook launch

  • Support SQSH Staff in finding creative ways to convert stories and experiences shared at community events into SQSHBook resource entries and reviews

Must-have Skills:

• 1+ years experience* in programming/software development

• Development experience* in React, Typescript and modern JavaScript

• Proficiency with CSS and general web design principles

• Experience* with RESTful APIs

• Experience* with tools such as GitHub, Node, npm

• Ability to work with UI/UX leads to translate designs into front-end experiences

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Ability to work in a remote, distributed team

Nice-to-have Skills / Experience:

• Experience* with React and Next.js

• Experience* with Contentful CMS

• Familiarity with deployment on Netlify/Vercel

• Familiarity with Google Drive / Docs / Sheets, Slack and email

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

• Currently live in or desire to return to and invest in the St. Louis Metro Area.

• Can work some evening and weekend hours as required by events or meetings with volunteers.

Are fiercely and firmly committed to queer liberation, Black liberation, and social justice.

• Embraces an anti-racist and anti-oppressive approach based on an intersectional understanding of the multi-faceted lived experiences of our queer St. Louisan community.

• Experience working with, supporting, and/or engaging with Black LGBTQIA+ people and communities.

• Passion for centering the most marginalized St. Louisans most impacted by oppressive systems.

• Are detail-oriented, have strong organizational skills, and have a strong work ethic

• Are proactive, responsible, reliable, communicative team players who are accountable and receptive to performance-based direction, feedback, and perspectives from others who disagree

• Have a strong growth mindset

  • Demonstrate humility and willingness to be called in when/after causing harm

  • Are committed to applying a transformative justice approach to harm, facilitating relational accountability while reducing harm and combating cancel culture

• Have an “organizer” mindset and a hands-on doer approach.

  • Are ready to think through big problems and take risks to move a young, grassroots organization forward

  • Are willing to radically imagine / build new structures and embrace projects as part of a small, committed team.

• Show initiative and ability to self-motivate in a virtual environment and startup organization

  • Can work well without supervision in a remote / home environment.

• Can meet deadlines and communicate needs while balancing multiple priorities, combating urgency culture, and promoting collective care

• Have done their own growth and healing work and can differentiate between learning, harm, conflict, and abuse. Can make organizational decisions accordingly – balancing between drawing boundaries, embodying movement values, and providing reasonable grace to others.

Tentative Start Date: Apr 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid (Mix of Remote Meetings and In-Person Events/Trainings)

Duration: At least 2 Years (until Dec 31, 2025), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Full-Time Employee, Salaried (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $41,600/year ($20/hour)

Benefits: Health, vision, dental, and life insurance options (see “Benefits” section)

SQSH's Operations Manager ensures the organization’s smooth functioning by creating and implementing processes that are aligned with our collective liberation values. This position manages SQSH’s grants, program evaluation, finances, and day-to-day internal operations. They ensure sufficient and equitable internal systems support SQSH’s programs and community relationships.

This highly administrative role requires a detail-oriented work style and the ability to juggle multiple communication streams and projects. A successful candidate understands how to organize large amounts of information, manage varied relationships, and maintain infrastructure and processes to help SQSH’s leadership make decisions, run programs, and achieve our mission.

The Operations Manager will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate this role's priorities, including admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

A qualified candidate is not expected to know how to complete all of these responsibilities when first starting. Onboarding & skill-building are expected parts of this position.

• Grants – 30% (averaging 12 hours per week)

  • Oversee the grant-writing and submission process. Contribute to prospecting funders, cultivating interest in SQSH’s work, and crafting proposals.

  • Researches grant leads, prioritizes grant opportunities, and manages SQSH’s grant portfolio with input from Staff.

  • Writes SQSH’s grant applications, makes edits based on Staff feedback, and submits final grant applications.

  • Keeps track of grant deadlines, monitors grant outcomes, and fulfills grant reporting requirements.

  • Serves as point of contact with grant funders

• Program Evaluation – 30% (averaging 12 hours per week)

  • Leads program evaluation and needs assessment efforts to inform SQSH’s program improvement and strategic planning

  • Collects and analyzes process- and outcome-based data to measure program success / impact and areas for growth

  • Integrates participant feedback into program planning and implementation across SQSH’s 12 programs

  • Opportunity for Skill-Building through SQSH’s Partner, Dr. Julia López, who is available for consultation on program evaluation frameworks and measurement scales

• Bookkeeping & Finances – 30% (averaging 12 hours per week)

  • Disburses payments and reimbursements, including monthly payments to STARLING Healers & SQSH Volunteers & Contractors

  • Uses QuickBooks Online to save receipts & bank statements, tag transactions, run reports, create financial statements, and manage & pay invoices / vendors

  • Manages SQSH’s budget and funding streams, including restricted grants portfolio

  • Develops and maintains sound financial practices

  • Oversees SQSH’s donation platforms, including cash, check, Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, ActBlue, Facebook, Instagram, and Givebutter

  • Maintains and monitors SQSH’S donor database, donor profiles, contact documentation, and donation transactions

  • Reviews tax substantiation and disclosure requirements; sends tax acknowledgment letters to donors

  • Provides regular financial and fundraising reports to SQSH’s Staff and Community Advisory Board

  • Opportunity for Skill-Building through SQSH’s Partner, Penny Pinch Taxes, whom you will work with to file SQSH’s 990 forms and maintain SQSH’s QBO system

• Volunteer Onboarding, Offboarding, Management – 5% (averaging 2 hours per week)

  • Implements SQSH’s volunteer onboarding and offboarding processes

  • Manages SQSH’s team meeting schedule, calendar invites, Slack workspace, and Google Workspace / Drive

• Legal Compliance – 5% (2 hours per week)

  • Maintains official records and documents

  • Ensures compliance with federal, state, and local regulations

  • Opportunity for Skill-Building through SQSH’s Legal Advisor, Wolf Smith, who is available for consultation on legal and compliance issues and general guidance on nonprofit management

• At least once a year, all Staff work together to strategically plan our goals, resources, and activities for SQSH’s vision, mission, and programs, in alignment with community priorities, movement goals, organizational values & capacity, and grant deliverables.

Must-have Skills:

• Communication – Strong written and verbal skills, with the ability to communicate needs, opportunities, and otherwise dense information in an accessible way.

  • Ability to write compellingly about SQSH’s programs using different frames and narratives based on audience priorities and values

  • Ability to organize and make sense of large amounts of information and data

  • Ability and Willingness to Code Switch for Funders

  • Strong interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate empathetically and supportively and address conflict directly with fellow staff, volunteers, and community members.

• 1+ years experience* in grant writing / reporting / management

• 1+ years experience* in bookkeeping or financial management / reporting

• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs & Sheets, and Email.

Nice-to-have Skills:

• 1+ years experience* in program evaluation or data collection / analysis

• 1+ years experience* with leading a team, which may include coordinating tasks, managing projects, facilitating meetings, reviewing team members’ work to provide feedback, etc.

• Familiarity with Slack or similar messaging platforms

• Familiarity with QuickBooks Online or Airtable

• Research development, analysis, and reporting

• Strategic Planning

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

Tentative Start Date: Apr 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid (Mix of Remote Meetings and In-Person Events/Trainings)

Duration: At least 2 Years (until Dec 31, 2025), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Full-Time Employee, Salaried (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $41,600/year ($20/hour)

Benefits: Health, vision, dental, and life insurance options (see “Benefits” section)

SQSH's Resource-Building Storyteller & Educator works to actualize SQSH’s mission of building our community’s capacity for storytelling, education, and advocacy, while building political buy-in and resource investment from donors, partners, allies, and institutional stakeholders. This outward-facing position is responsible for managing SQSH’s fundraising, press/media interactions, client courses (including allyship trainings), and storytelling programs. They ensure that SQSH’s community presence and institutional interactions are robust, impactful, and aligned with our collective liberation values.

This is a highly external-facing role that requires a passion for building relationships, patience with people on different parts of their political journeys, ability to speak compellingly about movement and organizational goals, willingness to be vulnerable and share openly about their lived experiences and political values in front of various audiences, and a knack for creating safe spaces where others feel comfortable opening up.

A successful fundraising organizer is able to mobilize our staff team to collectively grow our organizational resources. A successful candidate understands how to tell and facilitate compelling stories, manage varied relationships, lead community-centric fundraising efforts, identify connections between different social justice movements, and articulate why we should all care about queer liberation.

The Resource-Building Storyteller & Educator will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate this role's priorities, including admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

A qualified candidate is not expected to know how to complete all of these responsibilities when first starting. Onboarding & skill-building are expected parts of this position.

• Training & Storytelling Coordination through System of Care (SOC) – 45% (averaging 18 hours per week)

  • Provides training to SOC service providers on the values, guiding principles, and practices required to effectively engage queer/LGBTQIA+ youth.

  • Provides technical assistance & policy/procedure review to SOC service providers to identify barriers that can be eliminated for queer/LGBTQI youth trying to access services.

  • Leads and coordinates an intergenerational storytelling & educational program for LGBTQIA+/queer youth and their families, to promote intergenerational understanding and ultimately reduce the number of queer youth who experience homelessness as a result of family rejection.

• Fundraising – 25% (averaging 10 hours per week)

  • Coordinates SQSH’s fundraising efforts, monitors fundraising progress, and implements community-centric fundraising strategies, with the goal of diversifying and strengthening SQSH’s funding streams.

  • Leads communication with donors. Mobilizes SQSH partners, community members, and volunteers to fundraise for SQSH.

  • Organizes key fundraising events, including an annual fundraising campaign, Give STL Day, and Giving Tuesday. Plans the date, time, venue, invitation list, food/drinks, budget, communications, promotion, and other logistics for fundraising events.

  • Implements SQSH’s monthly donor program. This includes maximizing donor retention by promoting the program, organizing donor gatherings, deepening relationships with and buy-in from donors, and analyzing donor data.

  • Contribute to prospecting funders, cultivating interest in SQSH’s work, and crafting proposals.

• Client Courses – 20% (averaging 8 hours per week)

  • Delivers workshops and presentations to SQSH’s partners to strengthen organizational partnerships, consciousness, and allyship towards queer liberation

  • Builds on SQSH’s existing training curricula around queer liberation issues and movement skills

  • Integrates diverse learning styles and pedagogical methods to increase the accessibility and engagement of SQSH’s trainings

  • Develops lesson plans, slides, worksheets, activities, discussion prompts, roleplays, feedback surveys, and other training materials

  • Works with partners to coordinate the logistical details that ensure training success (e.g. Zoom links, printing, venue, community guidelines, attendance, etc.)

• Storytelling & Staff Skill-Building as part of Third Wave Fund’s Own Our Power Grant – 5% (averaging 2 hours per week)

  • Leads staff skill-building and thought partnership on research justice principles and facilitation of storytelling & community dialogue events

    • Supports Staff learning from skill-building workshops, events, books, and other media on facilitation, storybanking, and research justice.

    • Engages in thought partnership with other organizations doing intergenerational, intersectional storytelling and storybanking work.

  • Expand distribution and sales of SQSH’s Queer Community Anthology to reach fundraising goals. Create a sales plan for the expanded distribution of the Anthology, including which businesses, partners, and events to engage with.

  • Organizes one Community Storytelling & Healing Event per year, which may include storytelling, healing circle, and open mic components.

  • Works with Operations Manager to develop a data analysis strategy for channeling stories and feedback from SQSH’s storytelling events into organizational strategic planning and program evaluation, to give the St. Louis queer community greater ownership and buy-in to SQSH’s work.

  • Co-creates a long-form zine that captures our movement’s direction and communicates SQSH’s strategic plan in narrative form.

    • Graphic Design experience is not required for this role, as our Communications Manager and Design Team will provide Graphic Design support.

• Press & Media – 5% (averaging 2 hours per week)

  • Coordinates SQSH's press/media appearances and campaigns. Writes SQSH's public statements and press releases.

  • Writes and coordinates submissions to local queer-friendly news outlets to highlight social justice issues while amplifying SQSH as a resource for our community. Builds SQSH’s list of press/media contacts across St. Louis.

  • Aims to increase community awareness of SQSH’s mission, programs, and calls to action.

• At least once a year, all Staff work together to strategically plan our goals, resources, and activities for SQSH’s vision, mission, and programs, in alignment with community priorities, movement goals, organizational values & capacity, and grant deliverables.

Must-have Skills:

• 1+ years experience* in fundraising and/or campaign planning

• 1+ years experience* in facilitation, storytelling, and/or curriculum development

• Communication – Strong written and verbal skills

  • Ability and Willingness to Code Switch for Funders/Donors and Navigate Power Dynamics

  • Ability to tell stories about themself or a collective to evoke transformative impact

  • Strong interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate empathetically and supportively and address conflict directly with fellow staff, volunteers, and community members.

• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs & Sheets, and Email.

• Ability to facilitate difficult conversations and navigate group dynamics

Nice-to-have Skills:

• Public speaking

  • Able to represent SQSH accurately and compellingly when communicating with the media / press

  • Ability to Code Switch for Press & Media

• Relationship-building in new / unfamiliar environments

• Community organizing

• Experience* working with youth and/or families

• Experience* working in allyship settings

• 1+ years experience* with event planning, event execution, and post-event follow up

• 1+ years experience* with leading a team, which may include coordinating tasks, managing projects, facilitating meetings, reviewing team members’ work to provide feedback, etc.

• Familiarity with Slack or similar messaging platforms

• Familiarity with Givebutter or similar Donor CRMs. Additional database experience is a plus

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

Tentative Start Date: Apr 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid (Mix of Remote Meetings and In-Person Events/Trainings)

Duration: At least 3 Years (until Dec 31, 2026), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Full-Time Employee, Salaried (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $41,600/year ($20/hour)

Benefits: Health, vision, dental, and life insurance options (see “Benefits” section)

Project Title: Systems Change Capacity-Building for Queer St. Louis Community Leaders & Organizers

Amidst a rapidly changing landscape for LGBTQIA+ systems of care, gender- and sexuality-based oppression remain entrenched due to interlocking systemic factors.

St. Louis has 10-20+ queer/LGBTQIA+ community groups working towards health equity, but few collaborate meaningfully on a shared strategy, share data on long-term outcomes, or have a systemic analysis of the root causes of health inequities. 98.4% of SQSH’s Community Needs Survey respondents agreed that our local queer community would benefit from building skills/capacity to think about and tackle challenges more systemically.

In order to shift the conditions that perpetuate oppression/marginalization of queer St. Louisans, we need to first explore what the conditions are and how they might be shifted. In the current polarized climate, we want to take a step back from individual programs, and focus on understanding what is holding queer community fragmentation and health disparities in place. We want to learn tools that look beyond any single organization to understand the system.

With 3-year funding from MFH (Missouri Foundation for Health), we will form a cross-sector Cohort of queer St. Louis community leaders/organizers to build skills, relationships, and buy-in for systems-change and coalition work. Through a 2-year Fellowship, we will develop shared systems-change frameworks. Since 95% of systems-change is about understanding the problem, we’ll focus on laying the foundation for systems work, not rushing to implement solutions. Through workshops, mentorship, and peer-learning led by experienced systems-change practitioners, we will learn how to build a unified agenda and systems-change strategy to align our efforts. We’ll directly address conflicts so that early systems work can unfold. Potential project outputs include a systems map, a systems-change project, a shared strategy/vision statement, a strategic plan, and/or a narrative report on what we learned. Our long-term goal is for queer community leaders to align/coordinate our efforts towards systemic impact.

SQSH's Systems Change Facilitator works to actualize SQSH’s mission of building our community’s capacity for systems change. They will build trust, relationships, and a shared political analysis among movement actors, while supporting collective learning about systems change tools. This partner-facing position is responsible for managing various programming and skill-building components of SQSH’s Systems Change Fellowship and remaining responsive to Fellows’ experiences and input. This role is crucial for keeping Fellows engaged over a long period of time and building trust throughout our ecosystem.

This is a highly partner-facing role that requires a passion for building relationships, ability to cultivate trust and mediate conflict across movement actors, willingness to be vulnerable and share openly about their lived experiences and political values in front of various partners, and a knack for creating safe spaces where others feel comfortable opening up. A successful candidate understands how to facilitate difficult conversations, manage varied relationships, lead collaboration efforts while sharing power, and identify connections between different parts of the queer liberation movement. By transparently discussing harm within our community, they aim to facilitate transformative justice approaches to intra-movement conflict.

An ideal candidate is well-equipped to convene diverse community leaders, with experience building trusting relationships among queer St. Louisans and taking a queer-focused approach to systems work. They are able to build meaningful coalitions by facilitating roundtable-style meetings, aligning diverse stakeholders on common goals and community norms, and facilitating collective agreement on action steps. They are good at deep listening and appreciative inquiry, including curiosity to ask questions, build understanding, and show appreciation for what is shared. They can serve as a peer to senior-level decision-makers in terms of both expertise and lived experience, offering thought partnership in strategic conversations.

To live into their potential, coalitions require leadership focused on weaving connections and coordinating learning and action. SQSH’s Systems Change Facilitator will work behind the scenes to create the conditions for queer St. Louis leaders and organizations to flourish. They will create safe containers for generative dialogue among diverse queer St. Louis leaders with divergent perspectives. They will cultivate and maintain channels of communication that encourage understanding and information flow amongst stakeholders within the queer St. Louisan ecosystem.

Systems change is an approach that addresses the root causes instead of symptoms of social issues through collaboration, shared leadership, and scaling indirect impact. Learn more about Systems Change and the role of a Network Coordinator. Applicants are not expected to understand all the jargon used in the systems change field; we recognize that community organizers and activists have long been using strategies for systems change without using the same professionalized language.

The Systems Change Facilitator will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate this role's priorities, including admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

A qualified candidate is not expected to know how to complete all of these responsibilities when first starting. Onboarding & skill-building are expected parts of this position.

• Design Fellowship Curriculum & Cohort Experience

  • Undergo a crash course on systems-change with our Systems Change Learning Guide(s). Digest systems-change resources and materials.

  • Design a systems-change Fellowship curriculum tailored to queer St. Louis community leaders (including breaking down jargon).

    • Consult Systems Change Thought Partners for curriculum feedback, and to learn from their experience with systems work

    • Practice delivering modules from a queer St. Louis lens.

  • Consult Learning Guides to decide what role(s) they might play in the Fellowship

  • Obtain commitment from other Fellowship Trainers/Speakers.

• Cohort Recruitment & Outreach

  • Recruit 10-20 Fellows by engaging with applicants, clarifying Fellowship goals, and building buy-in for attendance/pre-work.

  • Screen/assess applicants, prioritizing queer St. Louisans most impacted by harmful systems. Finalize the cohort composition/size.

  • Finalize Fellowship programming dates & logistics.

• Lead Systems-Change Capacity-Building Fellowship

  • Prepare Fellows to engage in systems learning together and develop into systems leaders who can foster cross-sector collaboration.

  • Lead warm-up exercises to build Fellows’ understanding of systems concepts.

    • Examples may include: discussing our definitions of systems-change, interrogating our worldviews, raising our collective consciousness about the systemic challenges we face, identifying the system boundaries of each Fellow’s work, and reflecting on similarities/differences across the Cohort.

  • Organize the Fellows to plan out our learning priorities and tailor our curriculum accordingly.

  • Co-facilitate Monthly Fellowship Activities.

    • Examples include: Trainings, case study discussions, peer-led processing, relationship-building check-ins, community-building/group healing spaces, and/or consultation/coaching with Learning Guides/Thought Partners.

  • Help Fellows critically digest systems tools and apply them to their own roles/context. Assess and support Fellows’ progress towards learning goals.

  • Facilitate regular check-ins with individual Fellows to promote retention, obtain feedback, and catch Fellows up on missed materials.

  • Meet Fellows’ access needs by organizing hybrid (Zoom & in-person) sessions, transportation support, childcare services, food/drinks, and monthly/quarterly stipends.

  • Regularly assess which systems to focus on, and iteratively tailor the Curriculum to these systems. Support Fellows in deciding their system scope and dividing into sub-groups to work on different systems.

  • Support Fellows in designing a systems-change project to implement during/after the Fellowship. This should include defining their own problem statement and system boundaries; learning more about their system of focus; gaining community input for their project design; developing clear action steps and an evaluation plan; and/or determining the resources, funding, and partnerships needed to implement the project.

    • Support Fellows in sustaining systems work past this grant by seeking funding/resources to support Fellows’ systems-change project(s).

  • Support SQSH Staff’s growth as systems change practitioners, to build our capacity for systems-change work alongside our partners in the ecosystem and develop a culture of collaboration.

• At least once a year, all Staff work together to strategically plan our goals, resources, and activities for SQSH’s vision, mission, and programs, in alignment with community priorities, movement goals, organizational values & capacity, and grant deliverables.

Must-have Skills:

• Strong project management and scheduling skills

• Empathetic listening; ability to hold space for diverse perspectives, identify common ground, and catalyze working groups

  • Take a relational approach to complexity rather than viewing it as a problem to be solved

  • Have the capacity to respond and adapt as the fellowship evolves, engaging productively with dynamic tensions

  • Ease with being in front of a group and improvising in real-time

• Systems Lens OR is excited to learn about systems change

  • Engagement in systemic analysis of complex topics

• Experienced in community organizing, coalition building, cohort & program management, facilitation/teaching, and curriculum development; can bring people along with enthusiasm and momentum

• Communication – Strong written and verbal skills

  • Ability and Willingness to Code Switch between different movement actors

  • Strong interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate empathetically / supportively and address conflict directly with fellow staff, partners, Fellows, and community members.

• Capacity to sift through, digest, and make shifts based on large volume of participant feedback and input

• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs & Sheets, and Email.

• Ability to facilitate difficult conversations and navigate group dynamics

Nice-to-have Skills / Experience:

• Radical Imagination

• Conflict Mediation

• 1+ years experience* with leading a team, which may include coordinating tasks, managing projects, facilitating meetings, reviewing team members’ work to provide feedback, etc.

• Familiarity with Slack or similar messaging platforms

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

Similar roles that offer complementary skills include senior-level project managers, strategy consultants, fundraisers, adult educators, event planners, community organizers, senior recruiters, and creative artists. What these roles have in common is creating intentional processes and working through other people to create change.

Tentative Start Date: Apr 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid (Mix of Remote Meetings and In-Person Events/Trainings)

Duration: At least 2 Years (until Dec 31, 2025), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Full-Time Employee, Salaried (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $41,600/year ($20/hour)

Benefits: Health, vision, dental, and life insurance options (see “Benefits” section)

SQSH's Healing Justice & Youth Organizer works to actualize SQSH’s mission of building new systems for healing justice, youth leadership, and resource connections. They will lead the launch and expansion of our SQSHBook Resource Guide to empower community members to more effectively navigate the St. Louis resource ecosystem, and to increase resource systems’ accountability and responsiveness to queer St. Louisans’ needs and values. They will also support GSA activities, coach Queer Youth Peer Leaders (QYPLs), and lead SQSH’s pilot initiative to strengthen community connectedness, peer support, and identity-affirming school climate for queer/LGBTQIA+ youth at a local high school in St. Louis County. They will lead programming and support collective healing spaces for/with our STARLING Healer Collective, and connect queer and BIPOC youth to STARLING healing services through the St. Louis City & County System of Care.

This is a highly people-facing role that requires a passion for building relationships, ability to facilitate personal and collective healing, familiarity with the St. Louis resource ecosystem, passion for reimagining resource directories, dedication to creating structures for and empowering queer youth to lead, and a knack for creating safe spaces where others feel comfortable opening up. A successful candidate understands how to facilitate difficult conversations, manage varied relationships, lead collaboration efforts while de-centering oneself, identify connections between different parts of St. Louis communities, and facilitate transformative justice approaches to intra-community conflict.

An ideal candidate is well-equipped to convene diverse healers and community resources, with experience building trusting intergenerational relationships among queer St. Louisans and taking a queer-focused approach to community-building work. They have experience facilitating collaborative meetings, building cohorts, aligning diverse stakeholders on common objectives and community norms, transparently discussing harm within our community, and facilitating collective agreement on action steps. They are good at engaging community partners over a long period of time, and building consensus and buy-in towards common goals. They are good at deep listening and appreciative inquiry, including curiosity to ask questions, build understanding, and show appreciation for what is shared.

The Healing Justice & Youth Organizer will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate this role's priorities, including admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

A qualified candidate is not expected to know how to complete all of these responsibilities when first starting. Onboarding & skill-building are expected parts of this position.

• Queer Youth Peer Leadership Facilitator – 40% (averaging 16 hours per week)

  • Co-leads SQSH's Pilot Initiative to strengthen community connectedness, peer support, and identity-affirming school climate for queer/LGBTQIA+ youth at a local high school in St. Louis County

  • This includes promoting recruitment of Queer Youth Peer Leaders (QYPLs), program outreach, and resource awareness; co-developing GSA activities with QYPLs; and providing coaching/check-ins to QYPLs.

  • Provides professional development, curriculum development support, and ongoing consultation/feedback to SQSH's staff using school- and youth-specific expertise.

  • Learn more about the Queer Youth Peer Leadership program here.

• SQSHBook Coordinator – 40% (averaging 16 hours per week)

  • Leads and coordinates the SQSHBook Resource Guide’s operations and expansion. Works with 2 software developers and 1 UX designer to research, design, implement, and manage the SQSHBook web application.

    • This includes scoping web app features, analyzing user feedback, coordinating with developers and UX designers, supporting user engagement & marketing, and engaging partners in using the SQSHBook for resource referrals.

  • Expand community-owned features of our SQSHBook Resource Guide to improve accountability and responsiveness of service providers to community members’ lived experiences.

    • This includes community reviews, “vetted by” badges, and ability for providers to claim and update their own listings.

  • Research and create processes for publishing community reviews using an intersectional lens.

  • Develop youth-specific features of SQSHBook to increase queer youth and allies’ access to safe, identity-affirming resources.

  • Incentivize service providers and business owners to own and update their listings and be responsive to community experiences and feedback.

  • Test and evaluate new program features; identify areas for improvement in existing application; and suggest modifications based on user input.

  • Support SQSH in finding creative ways to convert stories and experiences shared at community events into SQSHBook resource entries and reviews.

  • Learn more about the SQSHBook program here.

• STARLING Healing Services Coordinator – 20% (averaging 8 hours per week)

  • Coordinates group-based programming and collective healing spaces as part of the STARLING Healing Justice program. Facilitates monthly support/debrief sessions for STARLING clients and providers. Leads and co-facilitates trainings, circles, and community-building spaces for STARLING Healers.

  • Facilitates needs assessments and intake for new clients. Coordinates scheduling between clients and providers. Provides case management and referrals for STARLING clients (especially queer BIPOC youth), including connections to additional supports/resources. Supports retention of clients and providers.

  • Develops and implements STARLING Collective’s policies.

  • Learn more about the STARLING program here.

• At least once a year, all Staff work together to strategically plan our goals, resources, and activities for SQSH’s vision, mission, and programs, in alignment with community priorities, movement goals, organizational values & capacity, and grant deliverables.

Must-have Skills:

• 1+ years experience in community organizing, project management, facilitation, and curriculum development

• Strong project management and scheduling skills

• Deep capacity for providing grace, understanding, patience, and empathy to queer/trans, BIPOC, disabled, and neurodivergent youth with a variety of learning, developmental, emotional, and social needs

• Communication – Strong written and verbal skills

• Strong interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate empathetically / supportively and address conflict directly with fellow staff, partners, healers, and community members.

• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs & Sheets, and Email.

• Ability to facilitate difficult conversations and navigate group dynamics

Nice-to-have Skills:

• Clear & Compelling Vision & Values re: Healing Justice

• Experience Working with Youth

• Resource Connector / Case Management

• Curriculum Development, Program Design

• Facilitation

• Relationship Building

• Event Coordination

• Team Leadership / Volunteer Management

• Ability to Create & Implement Systems & Processes

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

Tentative Start Date: Apr 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid (Mix of Remote Meetings and In-Person Events/Trainings)

Duration: At least 2 Years (until Dec 31, 2025), with renewal opportunities based on grant funding.

Status: Full-Time Employee, Salaried (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $41,600/year ($20/hour)

Benefits: Health, vision, dental, and life insurance options (see “Benefits” section)

SQSH's Community Power-Builder works to actualize SQSH’s mission of building community power towards queer liberation through relationship-building, outreach, organizing, space-holding, and mutual aid. They will collaborate with SQSH’s partners to host community events, lead storytelling and healing spaces, attend and speak at local events, and build community relationships and partnerships. They will focus on reaching Black queer/trans St. Louisans by facilitating mutual aid, creating affinity spaces, recruiting volunteers, supporting existing Black queer community initiatives, and piloting SQSH’s first Community Advisory Board with majority seats reserved for Black trans St. Louisans. They will also serve as the Community point of contact for SQSH’s Systems Change Fellowship, which includes supporting community engagement, fellowship recruitment and retention, cohort formation, and relationship-building with historically marginalized queer St. Louis community leaders and organizers.

This is a highly community-facing role that requires a passion for building relationships, ability to facilitate personal and collective healing, familiarity with the St. Louis community organizing landscape, passion for strengthening mutual aid networks, dedication to Black queer/trans liberation, and a knack for creating safe spaces where others feel comfortable opening up. A successful candidate understands how to facilitate difficult conversations, manage varied relationships, lead collaboration efforts while de-centering oneself, identify connections between different parts of St. Louis queer communities, and facilitate transformative justice approaches to intra-community conflict.

An ideal candidate is well-equipped to convene diverse community leaders and organizers, with experience building trusting relationships among queer St. Louisans and taking a queer-focused, pro-Black approach to community-building work. They have experience facilitating collaborative events, building community engagement, aligning diverse stakeholders on common objectives and community norms, transparently discussing harm within our community, and facilitating collective agreement on action steps. They are good at engaging community members over a long period of time, and building consensus and buy-in towards common goals. They are good at deep listening and appreciative inquiry, including curiosity to ask questions, build understanding, and show appreciation for what is shared.

The Community Power-Builder will be responsible for completing the following tasks:

Time allocations indicate this role's priorities, including admin work*. Actual time breakdowns may vary depending on your working style, your approach to this role, and SQSH’s evolving priorities.

*Admin work includes all general, administrative, logistical, and support tasks needed to complete the above duties (including task management, setting deadlines, purchasing supplies, meetings, travel, Slack, and email).

A qualified candidate is not expected to know how to complete all of these responsibilities when first starting. Onboarding & skill-building are expected parts of this position.

• Community Organizer for Systems Change Project – 37.5% (averaging 15 hours per week)

  • Leads and coordinates community member relationships and buy-in to SQSH’s Systems Change Capacity-building project. This includes outreach to community members, trust-building, creating a shared vision for this project, facilitating initial meetings with community members, and supporting community engagement & fellowship retention.

  • Leads the Fellowship Recruitment Campaign by designing and managing the recruitment process, reviewing applications, coordinating interviews, facilitating recruitment decisions, and managing Fellowship onboarding.

  • Aims to promote community engagement with systems change learning, especially for historically marginalized queer St. Louis community leaders and organizers.

• Black Queer Outreach & Power-Building – 32.5% (averaging 13 hours per week)

  • Leads and implements SQSH's Black queer/trans community outreach efforts by attending, supporting, and leading Black queer-focused spaces and events

  • This includes building relationships with Black queer/trans St. Louisans, supporting Black queer mutual aid, piloting SQSH's Community Advisory Board with majority seats reserved for Black trans St. Louisans, recruiting Black queer volunteers, and building partnerships with Black queer-led organizations.

• Community Outreach & Events – 30% (averaging 12 hours per week)

  • Builds and strengthens SQSH’s community partnerships and relationships

  • Coordinates attendance, tabling, and speaking at local queer community events, especially when SQSH’s presence is requested

  • Leads and coordinates SQSH’s annual Fall Community Healing & Storytelling Event, which will include a storytelling, healing circle, and open mic component and offer healing and holistic well-being programming

  • Designs a needs assessment to understand how community members experience SQSH’s programs and initiatives and gain community input to shape SQSH’s strategic plan

• At least once a year, all Staff work together to strategically plan our goals, resources, and activities for SQSH’s vision, mission, and programs, in alignment with community priorities, movement goals, organizational values & capacity, and grant deliverables.

Must-have Skills:

• 1+ years experience in community organizing, volunteer management, facilitation, and event planning

• Experience* working with Black queer/LGBTQIA+ St. Louisans towards collective liberation

• Strong volunteer management and scheduling skills

• Communication – Strong written and verbal skills

• Strong interpersonal skills, especially the ability to communicate empathetically / supportively and address conflict directly with fellow staff, partners, volunteers, and community members.

• Ability to bring people along with enthusiasm around a collective vision

• Ability to read and understand people's motivations, strengths, and values

• Good computer skills, including familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs & Sheets, and Email.

• Ability to facilitate difficult conversations and navigate group dynamics

Nice-to-have Skills:

• Building bridges across diverse communities and social circles

• Ability to design and lead campaigns towards power-building, community engagement, and base-building

• Ability to keep community members meaningfully engaged long-term

• Systems Lens (ability to engage in systemic analysis of complex topics)

• Critical analysis of of the nonprofit industrial complex and traditional nonprofit Board structures

• 1+ years experience* with leading a team, which may include coordinating tasks, managing projects, facilitating meetings, reviewing team members’ work to provide feedback, etc.

• Familiarity with Slack or similar messaging platforms

* Experience can be paid, volunteer, contractor, or another meaningful capacity.

Our Vision: We work towards a liberated St. Louis Metro Area where people of all genders and sexualities live with safety, power, and abundance.

Our Mission: SQSH strives to build the St. Louis queer/LGBTQIA+ community’s capacity for peer support, transformative relationships, community care, healing justice, storytelling, advocacy, education, leadership, and systems change. 

Our Values: At SQSH, we are committed to using an intersectional, anti-oppressive, and community-driven approach in our work. SQSH’s work focuses on finding synergies between micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level interventions; our success is inherently tied to the collective liberation of all oppressed peoples.

We believe in accountability, accessibility, transparent and shared decision-making, building trusting relationships that can weather principled disagreement, transformative justice approaches to conflict, bringing our full selves into work and community, and being trauma-informed and survivor-centered. We strive to minimize hierarchy in the workplace, combat the impacts of white supremacy culture/values, and resist harmful power dynamics, while acknowledging that this is an ongoing work in progress. We check in with each other at the start of meetings, and frequently provide affirmations to uplift each other and combat shame.

We are a nonprofit that is critical of the nonprofit industrial complex. We believe in divesting from carceral systems while creating new visions and models for community care. Learn more about our mission and values.

We strive to take a non-punitive approach to performance evaluation. We tailor performance goals to individual employees’ skills and needs; focus on employees’ ability to meet their role descriptions within their unique context; and strive to be generous and expansive in our appreciation and valuing of diverse gifts and skills needed for movement work.

Full-Time Staff select 4-6 days of the week to work remotely on a semi-consistent* schedule, with some room for flexibility and negotiation depending on other staff’s schedules. We offer flexible work schedules and remote options to promote work-life balance and accommodate diverse needs.

• We will provide a suggested work schedule to you, but you decide your final schedule.

• Occasionally, meetings and community events will fall on weekends (but will be avoided where possible).

• 4-day weeks with 10 hours/day (or 6-day weeks with 6-7 hours/day) are allowed to accommodate needs on a case-by-case basis – such as for caregivers/parents, people undergoing treatments, etc.

*Semi-consistent means: Generally the same across a 4-month period, with accommodations for weekly fluctuations with at least 1 week of notice provided to the Staff Team.

Your weekly hours would include preparing for and attending:

• 1+ meeting a day (1h - 1h 30mins)

  • Note: Volunteer Team Meetings may require weekday evening availability (between 5.00-7.30pm), as most of our volunteers work Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and are only available outside of those times.

• 1+ every-2-week 1:1 Check-In with the Executive Director (1h 15mins)

• 1+ every-2-week All-Staff Meeting (1h 30mins)

Here’s what a draft work schedule might look like, depending on your schedule.

• 50% Employer Contribution to Health Insurance Silver Plan through United HealthCare, starting 01/01/2024

  • Bronze, Silver, and Gold Tier Coverage Options

  • HSA- and FSA-eligible plans available 

• 75% Employer Contribution to Dental and Vision Insurance Plans, through Guardian

• 100% Employer Contribution to Life Insurance through Principal Life

• Annually (out of 260 work days¹): 5 paid sick days, 5 paid mental health days, 5 paid holidays, 5-10 paid vacation days (accrued based on length of time employed). 

  • Negotiable based on disability / chronic illness and need.

  • Menstrual days are valid reasons to take time off.

• Flexible schedule with both remote and in-person working options. 

• Access to SQSH’s office location in University City and co-working space at the CIC (4220 Duncan Ave).

• Access to up to 1 laptop and 1 smartphone through SQSH’s Tech Device Loan-Out System, awarded to SQSH by the PowerOn Mobile Mini Grant. 

  • The purpose of this system is to reduce technology disparities and improve access to devices for (especially poor and working-class) SQSH members 

• Political education, consciousness-raising, and skill-building opportunities, on topics such as:

  • Social Justice: Tools and frameworks for queer liberation, healing justice, racial justice, nonprofit industrial complex, prison & police abolition

  • Building Organizational Culture: Direct communication, identifying boundaries, navigating conflict

  • Organizing Skills: Facilitating meetings, creating agendas, consensus decision-making, managing volunteers, community engagement, building partnerships, peer counseling, resource referrals

  • Logistical Skills: Scheduling meetings, task management, timesheets, budgeting and spending

• Free membership at City Greens Market, starting in 2024

• Monthly community-building opportunities

• Possibility of longer-term employment with SQSH past the 2- or 3-year grant project period – pending grant funding, evaluation of performance & fit, and SQSH’s budget and organizational structure.

¹ 5 work days per week, 52 weeks, holidays off

SQSH is dedicated to empowering groups that are historically oppressed due to race/ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexuality, disability, immigration status, and more. We strongly prioritize and encourage members of minoritized and marginalized communities, i.e. communities historically impacted by health disparities and systemic violence, to apply.

In alignment with our disability justice values, we believe that working remotely during a pandemic should be the norm and not the exception.

We will ask for proof of vaccination, require masking, encourage social distancing, and invite you to participate in other COVID-cautious steps that are accessible to you to help protect the safety of SQSH’s staff, volunteers, and community – especially our disabled, chronically ill, and immunocompromised siblings.

We will consider requests for medical, religious, and/or other identity-based exemptions from the vaccination requirement on an individual basis.

SQSH takes the risk of physical, mental, and sexual abuse and violence in our community and programs very seriously, especially against our most marginalized and vulnerable community members, including children and youth.

Background screenings expand the carceral state and are not our preferred method of protecting the safety of children and youth. In general, we aim to take an approach that is aligned with our values of transformative justice, harm reduction, and community care. We aim to best honor the wishes of the community members (especially children and youth) who are most harmed or at risk of harm in the situation, including honoring their wishes for confidentiality or privacy. However, due to funder requirements, all personnel that provide direct services to children and youth are asked to undergo screenings for child abuse and neglect with the Family Care Safety Registry, before their start date and annually thereafter. Only SQSH personnel providing direct services to children or youth aged 0-19 will be screened. 

SQSH’s Staff will review all background screening results, determine the relevancy of the findings, and make individualized recommendations to our Leadersihp as to the right course of action. This may include follow-up steps to maximize the safety and agency of the victim(s), potential victim(s), and other community members at risk of violence or harm. Factors considered in their assessment may include the nature of the harm at issue, the time elapsed since the harm occurred, the nature of the candidate’s job / role (including the extent to which the job / role involves contact with vulnerable persons), the role of oppressive systems in the situation, and the candidate’s willingness and ability to engage in repair, accountability, and transformation.

SQSH personnel are generally not considered mandated reporters, meaning that you are not legally required to report instances of abuse or neglect. 

Learn more about SQSH’s Child Abuse and Neglect, Reporting and Screening Policy.