Volunteer roles
Put your skills to work for a stronger Chicago
Strong Towns Chicago is run by volunteers. Everything we do, from testifying at City Council hearings to posting on Instagram, happens because people give their time.
Right now twelve roles are open, grouped into four kinds of work. All of them are unpaid, and there may be room for more than one person in each. If one sounds like you, email us. We'll follow up to talk it through and make sure it's a good fit on both sides.
Where you can help
Open a role to see what it involves and how to reach us.
Design and media
Make the things people see and watch.
Graphic Designer Canva and more
Turn rough ideas into graphics people stop to read.
Time: About 2 to 4 hours a week. Remote, on your own schedule.
What you'd do
Design Instagram posts, carousels, event flyers, and handouts using our colors and fonts. Most requests start as a rough draft or a few lines of text.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Are comfortable in Canva, Adobe, Figma, or a similar tool
- Can take a crowded idea and make it simple to read
- Can usually turn a request around in a few days
Experience that counts: Anything you've designed for a job, a class, a club, or yourself. A few examples are plenty.
Short-Form Video Creator
Make short videos that show people how their city works.
Time: Flexible. A typical video takes a few hours from filming to posting.
What you'd do
Film and edit videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Think street interviews, quick explainers, and event recaps.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Have made short videos before
- Can edit on your phone or computer, in whatever app you like
- Are comfortable filming out in public
Experience that counts: Videos for your own account, even ones shot on a phone. We have a shared mic and tripod kit you can borrow.
Photographer and Videographer Events and b-roll
Build a library of our own photos and footage of Chicago.
Time: Flexible, tied to events. A typical event is 2 to 3 hours plus editing. In person.
What you'd do
Photograph our events, meetings, and walks, and shoot footage of the streets and buildings we talk about. Do a light edit and hand off clean files the rest of the team can use. Our short-form video creator turns those clips into finished posts, so you can stay behind the camera.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Shoot on whatever you have, a camera or a recent phone
- Can handle a basic edit: crop, color, and export at the right size
- Can get to events around the city, mostly evenings and weekends
- Are comfortable asking people whether it is okay to photograph them
Experience that counts: Photos from a trip, a friend’s wedding, a school paper, or your own account. Your eye matters more than your gear.
Writing and social
Put what we are doing into words people read.
Social Media Manager
Keep our feeds active, consistent, and easy to follow.
Time: About 3 to 5 hours a week. Remote.
What you'd do
Plan and schedule posts across Instagram, Bluesky, and our other channels. Write captions, keep up with comments and messages, and work with the volunteers who make our graphics and videos.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Know what makes people stop scrolling
- Write short, clear captions quickly
- Can keep a regular posting schedule
- Can stay calm when people argue in the comments (city policy brings out strong opinions)
Experience that counts: Running a personal account, a club's page, or a small business feed. We'll help you get up to speed on the policy side.
Substack Editor Newsletter and posts
Turn what we are working on into a newsletter people read to the end.
Time: About 3 to 5 hours a week, depending on how often we publish. Remote.
What you'd do
Plan and publish our Substack. Edit drafts from other volunteers, write a piece yourself now and then, hold a regular publishing schedule, and keep every post clear to someone who does not follow city politics.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Can edit someone else's writing without flattening their voice
- Write in plain language and cut jargon when you see it
- Can hold a publishing schedule, even a modest one
- Check claims and link to the source
Experience that counts: A newsletter, a blog, a zine, a school paper, or a work update nobody dreaded reading.
Spanish-Language Outreach Translation and events
Make sure our work reaches Spanish-speaking Chicago.
Time: A few hours a month, with busier stretches before an event. Mostly remote.
What you'd do
Translate handouts, social posts, and event details into Spanish. Help us show up at events in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, and interpret when someone would rather talk in Spanish.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Are comfortable in Spanish and English, in writing and in conversation
- Can make a translation sound natural rather than literal
- Are willing to tell us when an idea needs to be said a different way, not just translated
- Can come to an event now and then, or would rather stick to translation work
Experience that counts: Translating for family, a job, a church, or a community group. No certification needed.
Out in the city
Show up in person: events, tables, and build days.
Event Planner Outreach and logistics
Get the right people in the room for our events.
Time: A few hours a week, with busier stretches in the weeks before an event. Mostly remote, plus the events themselves.
What you'd do
Help us plan events and get the word out. That means sorting out dates and venues, then reaching out to the groups whose members belong in the room: neighborhood associations, alders' offices, city agencies, professional groups, and others working on the same issues.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Are comfortable emailing people you haven't met, from block clubs to alders' offices
- Keep track of who you have contacted and follow up without being reminded
- Like the logistics: dates, venues, sign-in tables, and who brings the coffee
- Have ideas about which groups we should be talking to
Experience that counts: Planning anything with a guest list. A block party, a club meeting, or a work happy hour all count.
Outreach Volunteer Tabling and canvassing
Talk with neighbors where they already are.
Time: A shift or two a month, usually on a weekend. In person.
What you'd do
Run our table at farmers markets, street fairs, and neighborhood events. Hand out materials, sign people up for the newsletter, and answer the questions people ask about what we do. When a campaign is running, some of this is knocking on doors and talking with people on the street.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Like talking with strangers, and stay friendly when someone disagrees
- Can explain what we do in a couple of sentences, once we have walked you through it
- Can take a shift or two a month, usually on a weekend
Experience that counts: Any job or volunteer shift where you talked with the public. Retail, campaigns, a church coffee hour, or a booth at a street fair all count.
Bench Building Lead
Lead a hands-on project that gives Chicagoans more places to sit.
Time: A few hours a week of planning, plus build days (usually weekends). In person.
What you'd do
Plan and run our bench builds. That means settling on a simple design, pricing and gathering materials, scheduling build days, and walking volunteers through each step.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Are comfortable with power tools and basic woodworking
- Like teaching, and can show a first-timer how to use a tool safely
- Plan ahead, so materials and volunteers show up on the same day
Experience that counts: Weekend projects like building shelves, a deck, or furniture for your own place.
Behind the scenes
The work that keeps everything else moving.
Print and Materials Lead Handouts, posters, stickers, merch
Turn our designs into things people can hold.
Time: A few hours a week, busier before events. Mostly remote, plus pickups and drop-offs.
What you'd do
Take finished designs and get them made. That means printing handouts and posters, ordering stickers, business cards, and shirts, comparing prices and turnaround times, and getting boxes to whoever is running the event.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Have ordered printing before, or are willing to learn what bleed and resolution mean
- Shop around on price and turnaround before placing an order
- Keep an eye on what we have left and reorder before we run out
- Have somewhere to keep a few boxes and a way to move them
Experience that counts: Ordering shirts for a team, getting flyers printed for a show, or running a club or school store.
Website Admin Squarespace upkeep
Keep the site current so people find what they need.
Time: About 1 to 3 hours a week. Remote.
What you'd do
Keep strongtownschicago.org up to date. Post events, publish new pages, fix broken links, keep the tools hub and volunteer pages current, and check that new pages look right on a phone.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Have kept a website up to date before, in Squarespace, WordPress, or something similar
- Notice the small things: a broken link, an old date, a page that breaks on a phone
- Can make a quick change within a day or two when something is time sensitive
Experience that counts: Any site you have kept current, including a personal site, a club page, or a small business site. We can walk you through the Squarespace parts.
Note Taker Meetings and follow-ups
Keep track of what we decided so nothing gets lost.
Time: About 2 hours a week, tied to our meeting schedule. Remote.
What you'd do
Take notes at our meetings, write up what was decided and who agreed to do what, and post the summary where everyone can find it. Send a short reminder before the next meeting about what is still open.
You'd be a good fit if you
- Can listen and type at the same time, and catch the decision inside a long discussion
- Write clearly enough that someone who missed the meeting can follow along
- Can post notes within a day or two, while they are still fresh
- Can make most of our regular meetings
Experience that counts: Taking minutes for any group: a board, a club, a class, or a job. Careful notes from your own work count.
Every email gets a reply
-
We read it and reply within a week.
-
If it looks like a match, we'll set up a quick call or coffee to talk through the role and answer your questions.
-
If it's not the right fit, or the role is already full, we'll let you know and suggest other ways to get involved.
None of these fit? There's still plenty to do.
These are the roles we need most right now. You can also: