Place-Based State Advocate, Environmental Health

Overview

NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the Earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC combines the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of some 800 policy advocates, lawyers, scientists, and communication experts to confront the climate crisis, protect nature, ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities.  As an international nonprofit environmental organization, NRDC is working to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges, and advance innovative, science-based, and enforceable solutions.  

  

Since our founding in 1970, NRDC has helped craft and deliver many of America’s foundational environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, we continue to lead in advancing and defending strong environmental protections at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as through the marketplace. Our team works across the United States and around the world, from offices in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Beijing, London, and New Delhi (a subsidiary of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd.).  

  

Supported by our members and online activists, NRDC is driving impactful solutions that confront the climate crisis, defend nature and safeguard public health across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At NRDC, we believe lasting change happens when people bring their talent, passion, and expertise together for a common purpose: to build a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient world. Learn more at nrdc.org 

 

POSITION SUMMARY  

 

NRDC’s Environmental Health Department is seeking to hire a State Advocate in North Carolina to advance our regional environmental health goals in the Adaptation and Air & Water sectors, with occasional work to advance additional Environmental Health goals in the Southeast region, particularly North Carolina.  

 

The advocate will be an empowering and collaborative individual who champions equity and justice. The successful candidate will have existing relationships with community, environmental justice, environmental groups, in addition to state and local elected officials and staff and state agencies. The candidate should also be adept at telling compelling stories to diverse audiences. The candidate must demonstrate a genuine alignment with the mission and values of NRDC and seek to apply their passion and skills to tackle the most important challenges humanity has ever faced.    

 

The position is remote, with an expectation to be based in Raleigh, North Carolina and to travel occasionally to other parts of the Southeastern United States to advance NRDC’s policy goals and for team meetings, etc., as needed.  

 

This is a limited term 2 year position.

 

The position you are applying for is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035).   

Responsibilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the following essential functions:   

 

• Support the development of a broad portfolio of policies that seek to protect communities in the face of climate change, environmental degradation, and inequality. Specific priorities include: risk reduction initiatives that protect homes from climate impacts, homeowner insurance reform, and drinking water contamination (due to PFAS, lead, or other harmful contaminants). 

• Work to advance other community-driven, cross-cutting initiatives that advance the Environmental Health Department’s wider portfolio, including but not limited work on air quality, toxics, fossil fuels, and community impacts. 

• Build and manage partnerships and collaborate with community groups most impacted by climate and environmental injustices (including Black, indigenous, and people of color, and low-income and rural communities) and other  allies, including the environmental community, consumer and low-income advocates, labor, the faith community, state and local decision makers, and elected officials.  

 

Qualifications

Minimum Education & Experience:   

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field  
• 5+ years of work experience related to the environment, climate, energy policy, or a related field—with at least 2 of those years based in North Carolina. 
• Community organization and/or advocacy experience with environmental justice and frontline groups and marginalized, low-income commun