Streets.mn is looking for an experienced managing editor, to begin no later than Tuesday, September 2, 2025, the day after Labor Day. This part-time job is the only paid position in our otherwise all-volunteer organization.
Amy Gage, a writer and former volunteer copy editor at Streets.mn, is retiring at the end of August. She was hired as our managing editor in June 2022.
The quarter-time position (45 hours/month) pays $30 an hour with a six-month renewable contract; we anticipate potential for growth as grant funding and donor support allows. The managing editor reports to the co-chairs of the board of directors and the editor-in-chief.
Applications are due Monday, June 30, 2025. Submit a résumé and cover letter to [email protected]. You may also submit an additional written sample.
Position Specifics
Streets.mn communicates stories about the places we live and how we get around them in an effort to improve both. We also celebrate the diversity and pleasures of the places and spaces in which we live, work and play.
This is primarily done through online articles, which are written by volunteer writers and polished by volunteer copy editors who use processes and training developed by the managing editor. Writers are responsible for illustrating their work, through photos, graphics and other images. We also publish a podcast twice monthly, which is handled by a separate team led by Ian R Buck.
- Key relationships: Local and statewide news organizations and journalists, as well as transportation and land use organizations in Minnesota.
- Location: Our readership and contributor bases are primarily in the Twin Cities metro; however, we envision growing our engagement with contributors and readers across the state.
- Hours: From home and flexible, with early mornings, evenings and weekends at the managing editor’s discretion. We will compensate time and approved transportation costs (preferably non-motorized) to and from events and meetings, provided it remains within the budgeted hours.
- Equity and Anti-Racism: Streets.mn is committed to furthering equity in transportation and land use, especially as it pertains to historically marginalized portions of our state population; we developed our Anti-Racism Vision Statement in 2023.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Ensure publishing timelines are maintained.
- Seek out, recruit and support first-time contributors, particularly from portions of the state population who have not been heard on topics of transportation and land use.
- Maintain working relationships with our ongoing contributors, which may include story pitches, individual meetings and shepherding stories from initial concept to publication.
- Serve as the primary content editor, at the Google doc stage, for most stories.
- Work closely with the editor-in-chief to support copy editor training and onboarding through processes that ensure veracity and quality of content.
- Assign contributor content to copy editors based on availability, skill and the best fit for the topic.
- Oversee any communication/journalism interns.
- Represent Streets.mn in an editorial capacity at community hearings or public events related to transportation and land use.
- Build and maintain relationships with other journalistic enterprises in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
- Provide monthly reports to the board of directors.
- Support grant-specific work at the direction of the board and as the monthly hours allotment allows.
Required Experience and Skills
- Proven writing and editing experience, ideally in a newsroom or other journalistic capacity.
- Reporting background, in order to fact-check stories and guide writers toward deeper engagement with sources and research.
- Familiarity with Associated Press Style.
- Photo skills, both shooting photos and working with submitted photography.
- Scheduling flexibility, in order to accommodate the volunteer writers and copy editors, as well as the inevitable changes in story lineup.
- General aptitude with digital publishing platforms and workflows.
Desired Experience and Skills
- Video storytelling.
- Strong social media presence.
- Working knowledge of WordPress.
- Public speaking, for use at Streets.mn events such as tabling and Open Office Hours.
- The ability to “manage up” to a board of directors and especially the board co-chairs.
- Strong network of contacts in the Twin Cities and beyond, including among diverse populations.
Moving Forward
On the cusp of turning 68 — and after a fruitful career in journalism and later in higher ed marketing and communications — Amy Gage is stepping away from her paid work at Streets.mn to focus on her own writing, time with her retired husband and coming grandson, and additional volunteering.
During her three years as managing editor, Amy has set standards and developed relationships that resulted in more consistent storytelling and some of our best transportation and land use reporting.
Thanks in large part to the editorial systems and standards that she put in place, we have moved further from our blog roots and closer toward our goal of being the preeminent and de facto transportation and land use news source in Minnesota — all while building a knowledgeable and supportive community.