Small Business Organizing Fellowship

Location: New York City (hybrid)
Compensation: $30/hour (approximately 15 hours/week) 

About Cooper Square Committee

The Cooper Square Committee’s mission is to work with Lower East Side residents to contribute to the preservation and development of affordable, environmentally healthy housing and community/cultural spaces so that the Cooper Square area remains racially, economically and culturally diverse. 

Position Overview

The Small Business Organizing Fellow will be responsible for merchant engagement, event planning and production, and digital marketing content creation.

This position reports to the Director of Planning and Development and works closely with the organizing team to ensure coordination across anti-displacement organizing campaigns.

Key Responsibilities

  • Engage merchants one-on-one, primarily through storefront canvassing and visits
  • Enroll and onboard new members in merchant association
    • Schedule photo and video shoots with merchants
    • Visit and interview merchants in person 
    • Answer questions and share information about upcoming opportunities with business owners 
    • Track and report all activities in merchant database; maintain accurate notes of merchant interactions
  • Help identify and develop merchant leaders through one-on-one interactions and leadership development plans
  • Help develop meeting agendas and facilitate meetings in collaboration with merchant leaders 
  • Create email campaigns using Constant Contact and Mailchimp
  • Update website using Squarespace 
  • Help produce neighborhood-wide events involving multiple businesses
  • Collect surveys, do research, and enter data, as assigned
  • Contribute to legislative and budget advocacy around small business issues

Qualifications

  • Love for the small business character of the Lower East Side and East Village; enthusiasm about preventing small business displacement 
  • Excellent attention to detail, organization, and project management skills
  • Motivated, self-starter able to work independently
  • Strong communication and teamwork abilities
  • Sharp problem-solving and analytical skills
  • Experience with tools such as G Suite and Canva
  • Experience with MailChimp and Constant Contact
  • Experience with Squarespace and WordPress website maintenance
  • Comfortable walking around the Lower East Side and East Village independently and interacting with assigned business owners

Preferred Qualifications

  • Multilingual
  • Research and data analysis skills
  • Strong mobile device photography and video editing skills
  • Experience creating and editing video content for Instagram 

Benefits

This is a paid fellowship ($30/hour), anticipated January through June 2026, with the possibility for a full-time offer for a high performer. Currently enrolled students or early career organizers are encouraged to apply. As part of your fellowship, you will participate in bimonthly trainings on merchant engagement strategies. Past fellows at Cooper Square Committee have been offered full-time employment at Cooper Square, other non-profits, city agencies, and private planning practices. This is a hybrid position with a minimum of 2 days/week available in-person at our office and in the East Village / Lower East Side neighborhood. 

To apply, you are encouraged to submit your resume, a brief cover letter, and, if available, links to two videos you have created (Instagram links are fine) to smallbusiness@coopersquare.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with an anticipated start date of late-January 2026.