Position: Bilingual (English/Spanish) Agricultural Worker Project Summer Outreach Advocate - St. Paul, Minnesota
Position Summary
Are you passionate about improving workers’ living and working conditions? Do want to use your Spanish language skills to empower people? Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc. (SMRLS) is seeking a Bilingual (English/Spanish) Summer Outreach Advocate to assist its Agricultural Worker Project. The position will be hybrid – based out of SMRLS’ Central Office in Saint Paul, Minnesota with some remote work – and will include significant travel throughout Minnesota.
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
SMRLS is a non-profit law firm which receives federal, state, local, public and private funding to provide free legal help to low income and elderly people who reside in 33 counties of southern Minnesota, as well as the areas served by its farmworker unit. SMRLS is a client-centered organization which is committed to its mission of providing a full range of high quality legal services, in a respectful manner which enable clients to enforce their legal rights; to maintain freedom from hunger, homelessness, sickness and abuse; and to empower persons and ensure equal opportunity, thus, helping persons to help themselves and to become economically self-reliant, to the extent their individual abilities and circumstances permit.
The Agricultural Worker Project
SMRLS’ Agricultural Worker Project (AWP) provides free and confidential civil legal aid to eligible agricultural workers in all counties of Minnesota and North Dakota. The AWP team focuses on improving clients’ working and living conditions through legal representation, outreach, and education. The AWP advises and represents clients with cases involving wage theft, workplace health and safety violations, inadequate employer-provided housing, labor trafficking, employment discrimination or retaliation, H-2A contract violations, and other legal matters that specifically impact agricultural workers. The AWP provides legal rights education to agricultural workers in Minnesota and North Dakota through extensive outreach programming.
Office Location
The outreach advocate will be based at SMRLS’ Saint Paul Central Office (Town Square Building; 445 Minnesota Street; St. Paul, MN 55101). In-office work is required 1-3 days per week with the other workdays occurring on the road/during outreach and remotely.
Key Job Responsibilities
The Bilingual Summer Outreach Advocate (“outreach advocate”) will play a vital role in increasing the AWP’s outreach and legal education capacity throughout Minnesota during its busiest season. An outreach advocate can expect to do outreach visits 2 evenings per week.
Visiting farmworker housing is the primary way that the AWP gets in contact with agricultural workers. Face-to-face visits to farmworker housing and other locations frequented by agricultural workers involve driving to worker housing, informing workers about their rights, distributing legal rights materials, listening to workers about their living and working situations and concerns, and completing intakes regarding legal problems workers may be experiencing. Other outreach opportunities include events, community education presentations, and social media.
The selected applicant will have the opportunity to learn firsthand about, and contribute to the effective resolution of, the legal problems of agricultural workers under the supervision and guidance of the AWP’s dedicated staff.
· Perform in-person evening outreach (2x / week) to agricultural workers throughout Minnesota to provide information about the AWP’s services and materials regarding legal rights.
· Participate in outreach team meetings and case review meetings.
· Help distribute and collect responses to the AWP’s needs assessment survey.
· Develop outreach materials like flyers and social media content.
· Develop and strengthen the AWP’s partnerships with service providers and local, state, and federal government agencies to reach farmworkers more effectively in Minnesota and North Dakota.
· Answer/return phone calls, conduct intake interviews by phone, and provide referrals as necessary.
· Additional duties might include assisting the AWP attorneys with casework.
· Other duties as based on interest, education, and skill set.
Job Qualifications
· Ability to communicate (orally and in writing) in English and Spanish easily, clearly, and independently.
· Ability to work 2 evenings per week. A sample evening outreach schedule is 2 – 10:30 p.m. Please note: There is some variation in start and end time.
· Ability to work approximately 2 overnight work trips, which will each last between 1 – 2 nights.
· Comfortable serving, and the ability to relate to, individuals from varying backgrounds.
· Possession of a valid driver’s license.
· Attention to detail.
· Positive and flexible attitude.
· Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
· Ability to work remotely and in-office. The outreach advocate will work at SMRLS’ St. Paul Central office 1-3 days per week.
· Computer proficiency.
· Demonstrated interest in addressing the needs of low-income communities, especially agricultural workers.
· Ability to be resourceful, analyze problems, and propose problem-solving solutions.
· Preferred: At least 25 years of age to be eligible to drive an AVIS rental vehicle.
· Preferred: Access to a reliable personal vehicle to drive for outreach trips and to get to and from outreach meeting locations (which include but are not limited to office locations, AVIS locations throughout the Twin Cities, staff housing, and other meeting locations), including when outreach trips end after dark.
· Preferred: Experience with digital platforms (WhatsApp and Facebook).
Physical Demands and Work Environment
Office work involves sedentary work, including sitting at a desk on a computer for an extended period of time. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and/or laptop keyboard and use a telephone. Specific vision abilities required for this job include close vision requirements due to computer work. Regularly drives and/or rides in a motor vehicle while seated for extended periods of time.
Light walking and standing for extended periods of time during field visits when distributing information, interviewing workers, or giving presentations. Walking on uneven surfaces during fieldwork and ascending and descending stairs during field visits. Ability to lift as much as 20 pounds. The work environment can vary from a controlled office to an outdoors environment in an agricultural or farm setting.
Duration
The outreach advocate position is a temporary position within SMRLS’ Agricultural Worker Project. An outreach advocate must work irregular hours – including evening outreach (2x per week), some overnight travel, and occasional weekend events – to meet the needs of the AWP’s client community. An outreach advocate will work between 30 – 37.5 hours per week, with the occasional week peaking at up to 40 hours.
For Summer 2026, we expect the outreach advocate to start employment on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, and anticipate that they will finish at the latest by Friday, August 21, 2026.
Compensation
· Hourly rate: $20
· Pro-rated holiday pay (Juneteenth and the Fourth of July)
· Paid sick leave
· Outreach-related travel expenses will be reimbursed. This includes mileage reimbursement when a personal vehicle is used for work-related travel.
How to Apply
Applicants must submit the following materials via SMRLS’ online application portal or via email to the hiring manager:
· Cover letter which summarizes qualifications, skills, experience and note any bilingual proficiency in Spanish;
· Resume; and
· Names and contact information for three professional and/or academic references.
Application Deadline
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled; however, applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by Friday, March 27, 2026. Application materials will be reviewed upon receipt and virtual interviews scheduled for applicants.
Hiring Manager
Elise Sporre, Project Manager and Outreach Coordinator
Agricultural Worker Project
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
SMRLS is committed to equal employment opportunities for all workers, regardless of race, gender, disability or other protected class status. SMRLS is committed to compliance with all federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws and regulations. All interested applicants are encouraged to apply.
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