Volunteer Moderator
Project Optimist
4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Position Overview
Project Optimist is recruiting volunteer moderators for its Shades of Purple: dialogue across difference series. This program aims to foster community engagement, promote civil dialogue, and amplify moderate voices through a series of community conversations that bring Minnesotans together to discuss challenging topics.
Project Optimist is recruiting volunteer moderators for its Shades of Purple: dialogue across difference series. This program aims to foster community engagement, promote civil dialogue, and amplify moderate voices through a series of community conversations that bring Minnesotans together to discuss challenging topics.
Responsibilities of volunteer moderators include:
- Training Session: Moderators must complete a training session with Project Optimist to gain a basic understanding of our approach to dialogue, develop skills to support constructive conversations across differences, build confidence to moderate conversations, and learn how to intervene to support authentic and respectful communication when needed.
- Orientation: Moderators will also complete an orientation to Project Optimist and Shades of Purple, learning about the mission and vision of Project Optimist, understanding how Shades of Purple seeks to achieve the organization’s mission, and gaining an understanding of their role within the program.
- Moderation Commitment: Volunteer to moderate a minimum of one conversation in a calendar year.
While this is a volunteer role, Project Optimist is able to cover some travel costs for in-person events, including mileage reimbursement at 67 cents per mile. Additionally, stipends are available for individuals who require financial support to serve in this position.
What is Shades of Purple: Dialogue across difference?
Shades of Purple: Dialogue across difference in greater Minnesota is a conversation program led by Project Optimist. We’re coordinating a series of community conversations that bring greater Minnesotans together to discuss controversial topics.
Shades of Purple: Dialogue across difference in greater Minnesota is a conversation program led by Project Optimist. We’re coordinating a series of community conversations that bring greater Minnesotans together to discuss controversial topics.
The goal is to provide a supportive environment where individuals can engage in moderated conversations around personal stories related to pressing topics impacting their communities today. By sharing experiences, participants build meaningful relationships, foster a deeper understanding of one another, and enhance their active listening skills. Shades of Purple works to strengthen connections within communities while promoting empathy, trust, and open dialogue.
The Shades of Purple events will feed into a podcast series and written stories published by Project Optimist. The stories will share insights from the events that the rest of Minnesota (and the world!) can learn from.
Additional Details
- Experience running meetings or facilitating group activities
- Warm and engaging presence
- Ability to be "multi-partial" and care for people from different perspectives
- Good interpersonal skills
- Strong communicator
- Comfortable with silence
Who We Are
At Project Optimist (formerly The Optimist) we value creativity, community agency, transparency and ethics, and equity.
We believe creativity helps solve problems, spur connection, and lift spirits. We see community agency as key to combating polarization and other big challenges of the day. Our community drives our coverage. We strive to always conduct ourselves with transparency and in an ethical manner, in accordance with the Society of Professional Journalists' standards. And we center equity in our journalism and our organization to begin to rewrite the historical lack of representation and inclusivity in traditional, American newsrooms.
We’re inspired by nonprofit newsrooms, solution-focused journalists, generative community organizers and so many others taking on the challenges in media and society. We’re also inspired by Minnesota’s beautiful landscapes and the problem solvers and creatives who live here.
Project Optimist likes to pair inspiration with information. Our journalism is fact-based and fact-checked. It’s produced to be clear, to be practical, and to spark curiosity.
Project Optimist is a proud member of the Tiny News Collective accelerator program. The Tiny News Collective is our fiscal sponsor.
What We Do
Project Optimist strives to engage residents of greater Minnesota to help them collaborate across common divides, tackle seemingly intractable problems and grow more optimistic about the future of their communities, region and world.
Project Optimist does this by tapping Minnesota’s creative and independent talent to produce solution-focused stories and local art to inform and inspire. We provide training and spur conversations in support of media literacy, community problem solving, community journalism and democracy.
Highlights/Requirements
- Experience running meetings or facilitating group activities
- Warm and engaging presence
- Ability to be "multi-partial" and care for people from different perspectives
- Good interpersonal skills
- Strong communicator
- Comfortable with silence
You Can Help!
Thank you for your interest! We will reach out when there are specific openings available.