Elijah Nichols

About Elijah Nichols

Community is at the heart of everything I do within my personal life - and it is what guides my professional decision making. Using my over twelve years of experience in community and volunteer-base building, as well as my varying policy research experiences, I only work towards defining solutions that help the masses. Whether it be through youth-focused trainings on economic justice and violence prevention strategies or developing long-and-short independent resources for grassroots organizers, I ensure that there is the utmost clarity in relations to tackling larger systemic issues and understanding governing functions (ie local, state, and federal governance). Specialties: leading teams, coalition-building, strategizing, marketing, political campaigning, copy editing, policy research, as well as speech writing. I am studying for a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Government and International Politics with a concentration in Public Policy and Administration.

Experience

1. Field Organizer

   National Lgbtq Task Force

   Aug 2022 — Present

   Organize in and with communities fighting for LGBTQ policy change on ballot measures and in legislative, regulatory and policy campaigns. Recruit, motivate and inspire volunteers, volunteer leaders and staff at campaigns and partner organizations to master the core concepts of building big teams, grassroots fundraising, coalition building and leadership development- Support and organize text and phone banking, canvassing, voter registration, and other forms of voter and constituency education and contact for various campaigns- Provide technical assistance to and facilitate connections among partner organizations for a variety of campaigns and projects. Develop a curriculum and train, facilitate and coach participants for a variety of trainings and events across our democracy, equity and faith work and programs- Organize at the federal and state level through a lens of racial, gender, and reproductive justice and ensure that our organizing has a grassroots and cross-movement focus- Attend state and federal policy meetings, conversations, and planning sessions to coordinate and collaborate in organizing efforts across organizations and movements- Collaborate with the Task Force’s communications team to develop tactics including to expand the reach of people who know about the organizing work of the National LGBTQ Task Force. Ensure that our work and vision is strategically shared with the Task Force’s shareholders including public speaking engagements and social media- Works collaboratively with our Creating Change team on organizing efforts to support our annual conference.

Education

• George Mason University - Schar School of Policy and Government

  Government and International Politics B.A., Public Policy and Administration, 3.56 GPA

  2018 — 2022