Part-Time Volunteer Coordinator

Position: Part-Time Volunteer Coordinator

Reports to: Director of Data

Application due: Friday, April 17, 2026 

Compensation: 4-month contract, up to 20 hours per week at $45.40/hr

The Invisible Institute is seeking a volunteer coordinator with strong organizing skills and an interest in using evolving technology to investigate police violence. This is a 4-month, part-time contract (May–September 2026), with the possibility of extension.

The volunteer coordinator will work with our team on Beneath the Surface—a project that uses machine learning to analyze police records. Many of these records contain explicit descriptions of violence. This role will be a key part of the team, helping organize volunteers to label data, test models, and contribute to analysis.

The volunteer coordinator will spend approximately 75% of their time organizing volunteers through communication and in-person convenings. The remaining time will be spent reviewing labeled data and coordinating with the Director of Data on project priorities.

We’re looking for someone excited to bring people together and explore how collective knowledge can support investigations into police misconduct

Key Responsibilities

Managing Volunteer Workflow

  • Label training data to understand the workflow of volunteer stints and anticipate potential roadblocks

  • Regularly communicate with and convene volunteers for working sessions

  • Train volunteers using the Annotation Guide 

  • Apply critical thinking and objective analysis to empower volunteers to follow their inquiry

  • Hold sensitive and culturally competent conversations with volunteers who experience distress due to explicit content 

  • Facilitate final convening for volunteers at the end of their stint and at the end of the contract period

Reporting to the Data Director, Trina Reynolds-Tyler 

  • Weekly meeting with Data Director for the week’s priorities 

  • Maintain strategic plan for stint progress and overcoming roadblocks

  • Support Data Director in determining relevant data or documents for volunteers to review

Core Qualifications

  • The ability to communicate effectively with managers about strategic priorities

  • A demonstrated ability to convene and train volunteers enthusiastically  

  • The ability to talk about data in an accessible way

  • Experience working with administrative data sets or other messy sources of data

Other Useful Experience

  • Experience with data science and machine learning

  • Familiarity with the Chicago community 

  • Experience and knowledge about policing and the justice system

  • Experience with journalism, legal advocacy, or organizing work

Application details

Please apply using the form below, which includes a series of short questions and a space to upload your resume or CV. A cover letter is not required for this position. People who have experienced policing firsthand are strongly encouraged to apply, and we welcome candidates with a diverse range of identities and experiences.

About the Invisible Institute

The Invisible Institute is an innovative, non-profit journalism production company based on the South Side of Chicago. We work to enhance the capacity of citizens to hold public institutions accountable. Among the tactics we employ are investigative reporting, multimedia storytelling, human rights documentation, the curation of public information, and the orchestration of difficult public conversations. Our work coheres around a central principle: we as citizens have co-responsibility with the government for maintaining respect for human rights and, when abuses occur, for demanding redress.

Apply here