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Blog Writer on Racial Equity

Volunteer position: 6 to 8 short articles per year

Background

Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE) is a volunteer-run nonprofit founded in 2020. In its short time, it has funded two annual scholarships for disadvantaged students of color and made a documentary film, Roosevelt High School: Beyond Black and White. The film is about historical attempts at desegregation and about the racial equity issues and divisions of today. 

RARE’s film has been very well received. It has already been viewed by thousands of people via schools, places of worship, community organizations, public television, and other channels. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg! Our goal is to take the film into hundreds of other institutions throughout the greater Seattle area and even other parts of Washington State.

In addition, RARE holds Open Discussions on racial issues led by prominent experts and community leaders, and is launching a new initiative, Connections, to bring together diverse groups of students for fun, meaningful experiences outside of school. 

RARE’s initial focus was on programs relating to Roosevelt High School (RHS) in Seattle. Now RARE is launching programs that benefit students in other Seattle schools as well. For example, the Connections pilot this past summer was held at Garfield High School. It included students from multiple south-end schools, in addition to RHS.

Join a Diverse Volunteer Team

The RARE team is composed of more than 40 passionate volunteers, including 22 board members. Half are people of color. The team is evenly split between male and female. The first volunteers were mostly graduates of RHS. Now most of our new volunteers are from other schools. Many live outside the Seattle area. Nearly all of our meetings are via Zoom. We are migrating to Slack for most of our written communications. 

Position Description

RARE is seeking journalism professionals to write informative and engaging articles about racial equity, especially as it relates to RARE programs. Please see the RARE blog for examples of past articles. Looking ahead, we would like to: (a) increase the number of blog articles per month; (b) cover each RARE program in more depth; and (c) cover news topics that have a particular impact on RARE programs. RARE has a Messaging Committee that will meet monthly to come up with topics for the following 2-3 months. A RARE coordinator will work with volunteer writers to make topic assignments. Our expectations are that you will:

  • Write 6-8 articles per year
  • Produce articles that are between 200 to 800 words, depending on the topic
  • Let us know ASAP if you cannot accept an assignment
  • Suggest artwork that would best complement the article (we will use a professional graphic designer to produce the artwork)
  • Suggest how to best repurpose content for the RARE newsletter and RARE social-media posts
  • Handle all written communications with RARE via Slack (this is preferred, not required)

In return, you can expect that RARE will:

  • Give you a month or more notice on writing assignments
  • Provide recognition that you are the author of the article
  • Take responsibility for posting the article and related technical details
  • Develop professional artwork that complements the article, with your suggestions and review
  • Give you a place on the RARE site for your photo and bio, plus links to your articles 
  • Extend its gratitude for helping tell the story of our progress 

Examples of blog article topics are:

  • Film showings and discussions at particular organizations, such as Beth Shalom synagogue, International District Rotary, or Lincoln High School
  • RARE partnerships, such as with Urban League of Seattle, Bike Works, or Seattle Arts and Culture for Anti-racism (SACA)
  • Past and present scholarship award winners, such as what are they doing now, academic progress, etc.
  • Grant awards, such as from 4Culture (King County)
  • Statements of support from local officeholders and other public figures and from school officials such as principals and school-board members
  • Summaries of academic research pertaining to RARE programs, such as studies on the effect of integration in helping upward mobility

Qualifications

  • Professional journalism experience
  • Experience writing about racial equity topics
  • Familiarity with Seattle geography, communities, schools, and places (Seattle residence not required)
  • Experience with social media, although this is not required

Next Steps

If you are interested, please complete the form on our Volunteer Opportunities page. We will get back to you soon!