“I simply refuse to believe there are no community organizers in Alaska.” That’s what Marjorie Childress wrote at the New Mexico Independent after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin maligned community organizers at the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Indeed, though their work may carry different job titles — “advocate” seems to be Alaskan for “organizer” — plenty of Alaskans do community organizing. In fact, Gov. Palin is currently hiring people to do the work of community organizers. At Workplace Alaska, Alaska’s Web site for recruiting state workers, there are two current job openings for this position:

Social Services Program Coordinator, in Anchorage or Juneau. From the job description: “The incumbent is expected to perform technical assistance, on-site community development … The duties of the position require frequent travel and strong community development skills … Your experience securing resources for youth-related programs and services, through grant writing, negotiating agreements and partnerships with a variety of organizations and agencies, and/or grassroots community mobilization.”

At ALEXsys, Alaska state government’s online job bank, there are two more community organizer-type positions advertised:

Village Advocate, Naknek, Alaska. Provide direct advocacy and crisis intervention services to adult and child victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, other crimes and related abuse. Provide systems advocacy to challenge and change institutional response and belief systems that allow violence to continue, including technical assistance and systems advocacy to village/tribal groups on community interventions in domestic violence and sexual assault.

Outreach Coordinator, Kotzebue, Alaska. Among the job duties: Disseminate information about suicide prevention, cultural strength and wellness through a variety of means. Coordinate and meet with local and regional organizations and bodies to keep them aware of outreach activities and to get their support and guidance.

On top of that, Alaska state government funds a dozen regional development organizations known as ARDORs, through a state agency that until last year was known as the Alaska Division of Community Advocacy. (Under the auspices of the Alaska Division of Community Advocacy, Sarah Palin served on the board of her ARDOR, the Mat-Su Resource Conservation and Development Council, while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.)

What do these ARDORs, these emissaries of community advocacy, do? One example is the Bering Straits Development Council, which according to the latest ARDOR annual report helped recruit a VISTA volunteer to tackle, among other projects, “poverty alleviation.” The Bering Straits organization also worked with the University of Alaska to “provide rural citizens with cooperative technical and organizational assistance. The goal is to foster a cash-based economy by creating rural cooperatives.”