Resource Employee - Writing Beyond the Prison

University of Southern California•Los Angeles, CA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Southern California (USC) is seeking two (2) Resource Employees to work with the Dornsife Prison Education Project's Reader's Circle. This role supports the "Writing Beyond the Prison" project, an ACLS Digital Justice Grant-funded initiative. The project aims to build a digital-justice ecosystem by supporting incarcerated writers through editorial mentorship, publication, and archival preservation. It also involves producing digital curricula on trauma-informed writing and cooperative governance. The project integrates humanities education, digital access, and authorship pathways to advance equity and center the intellectual labor of historically excluded individuals. The Readers’ Circle, housed at USC, is a volunteer-based editing network that pairs volunteers with incarcerated writers for feedback. Together with the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF), they will oversee workshops for manuscript compilation, editing, publication, and digital archiving.

Requirements

Minimum 1 year of experience in administrative support services, or a combined education/experience as a substitute for minimum experience.
Bachelor's degree, or a combined experience/education as a substitute for minimum education.
Working knowledge of Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive etc.).

Nice To Haves

Passionate about the intersection between writing and social justice.
Experience and/or commitment to working with system-impacted communities or individuals.
Organized and detail-oriented, with superior time management skills.
Responsive and reliable, with excellent written communication skills.
Capable of multitasking and prioritizing projects according to a fluctuating workload.
Happy solving problems independently as well as working collaboratively as needed.

Responsibilities

Plan and execute three consecutive, 16-week-long workshops providing compilation and formatting, editing and feedback, and publication support on book-length texts submitted by incarcerated writers.
Recruit, vet, and train incoming volunteer editors for each workshop.
Coordinate incoming and outgoing manuscripts and ensure that volunteer editors adhere to a completion timeline.
Oversee and (where necessary) implement systems and databases for processing, storing, reviewing and returning manuscripts.
Communicate regularly with authors (via digital prison communication platforms and the mail) and mediate between editors and authors to ensure manuscripts meet author expectations.
Support volunteer editors by offering weekly working groups, one-on-one meetings, and email Q&A support.
Ensure edited manuscripts are up to publishing standard and meet each author’s requirements.
Perform additional editing and formatting when necessary.
Communicate with the Workshop Assistant and correctional facility staff to ensure manuscripts reach authors and mailing requirements are met.
Coordinate and oversee workshop support provided by the Workshop Assistant.
Report to Readers’ Circle and UBFSF leadership as needed to coordinate the project.