Team Leader, ECHOES Be Ready

THE ORGANIZATION

The Center for Justice Innovation is a community justice organization that centers safety and racial justice. Since our founding in 1996, the Center has partnered with community members, courts, and the people most impacted to create stronger, healthier, more just communities. Our decades of experience in courts and communities, coupled with our field-leading research and practitioner expertise, help us drive justice nationwide in innovative, powerful, and durable ways. For more information on how and where we work, please visit www.innovatingjustice.org.  

The Center is a 900-employee, $100 million nonprofit that accomplishes its vision through three pillars of work: creating and scaling operating programs to test new ideas and solve problems, performing original research to determine what works (and what doesn’t), and providing expert assistance and policy guidance to justice reformers around the world.

Operating Programs

The Center’s operating programs, including the award-winning Red Hook Community Justice Center and Midtown Community Justice Center, test new ideas, solve difficult problems, and attempt to achieve systemic change within the justice system. Our projects include community-based violence prevention programs, alternatives to incarceration, reentry initiatives, and court-based initiatives that reduce the use of unnecessary incarceration and promote positive individual and family change. Through this programming, we have produced tangible results like safer streets, reduced incarceration, and improved neighborhood perceptions of justice.

Research

The Center's research teams are staffed with social scientists, data analysts, and lawyers who are academically-trained or have lived experience and who conduct research in the U.S. and globally on diverse criminal-legal system and justice issues. Their work includes evaluating programs and policies; conducting exploratory, community-based studies; and providing research translation and strategic planning for system actors. The Center has published studies on topics including court and jail reform, intimate partner violence, restorative justice, gun violence, reentry, sixth amendment rights, and progressive prosecution. The research teams strive to make their work meaningful and actionable to the communities they work with, policymakers, and practitioners.

Policy & Expert Assistance

The Center provides hands-on, planning and implementation assistance to a wide range of jurisdictions in areas of reform such as problem-solving courts (e.g., community courts, treatment courts, domestic violence courts), tribal justice, reducing incarceration and the use of fines/fees and reducing crime and violence. Our current expert assistance takes many forms, including help with analyzing data, strategic planning and consultation, policy guidance, and hosting site visits to its operating programs in the New York City area. 

Center Support

A dedicated support team within the Center ensures the smooth functioning of operations across various domains, including finance, legal, technology, human resources, fundraising, real estate, and communications. Comprising 15% of the organization's staff, these teams provide essential infrastructure support and innovative solutions aligned with the Center's mission and values. 

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Queens Community Justice Center is seeking a Team Leader for the ECHOES (Every Child Has the Opportunity to Excel and Succeed) Be Ready program. ECHOES Be Ready program is an alternative-to-placement program for youth 14 - 18 years old who are supervised under the Department of Probation’s (DOP) most intensive level of probation. DOP provides community supervision and case management, and the Justice Center operates a multi-phase, behavioral change program that uses a workforce development model to teach pro-social skills and engage participants in transformational relationships with staff.  

Reporting to the Deputy Director, the Team Leader is responsible for the case management of youth involved with the Justice Center’s ECHOES Be Ready program and implementing programming to support social-emotional learning and workforce development for participants. The Team Leader will be responsible for tracking participant progress throughout the program. The Team Leader will provide supervision and oversight to youth involved in programming during Saturday hours and will work with court partners and staff to ensure effective delivery of services to participants and their families.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Provide one on one case management to participants;
• Supervise community benefit and service learning projects;
• Assist staff in locating and securing project sites for service learning and community benefit projects;
• Perform strengths-based intakes of identified participants’ educational and vocational interests and needs;
• Review identified participants’ casework and ensure that appropriate follow-up occurs from engagement through comprehensive aftercare;
• Build and maintain relationships with local service providers and program partners, including law enforcement, faith leaders, stakeholders and community-based organizations to identify neighborhood resources; and
• Additional tasks as necessary.                                       

Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have a high school diploma (or higher) with at least 2 years of experience in youth development work and/or mentoring with court-involved populations. Candidate should have strong team skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Candidate must be a skilled communicator able to work in a multi-disciplinary setting and maintain strong relationships with multiple agencies and organizations both onsite and in the community. 

Position Type: Part-time, Saturdays from 10:00am - 4:00pm.

Position Location: Queens, NY.

Compensation: The compensation range for this position is $28.57 - $29.67 per hour based on a 35-hour work week and is commensurate with experience. 

The Center for Justice Innovation is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace, and as such, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, national origin, age, military service eligibility, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other category protected by law. We strongly encourage and welcome applications from women, people of color, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, as well as individuals with prior contact with the criminal justice system. Our aim is to create a supportive and respectful environment where every individual, irrespective of their background or identity, feels valued and included.

As of February 10, 2023, New York City Executive Order 25 rescinded the requirement of the COVID-19 vaccination for City workers, new hires, and contracted employees. Accordingly, the Center does not require all new hires be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus; however, the Center recommends all staff, interns, and volunteers stay up-to-date on the vaccination.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete an employment eligibility verification document form upon hire. Kindly refer to the job posting for the relevant contact information. If the contact details are not provided, we kindly ask that you refrain from making inquiries via phone or email, as only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.