Peer Intake Navigator, Supervised Release Program

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

Brooklyn Justice Initiatives (BJI), the largest operating project of the Center, seeks to re-engineer the experience of criminal court in Brooklyn, New York, by providing judges and attorneys meaningful alternatives to bail, fines, and jail sentences. Operating out of Kings County Criminal Court along with community-based offices, BJI is a team of social service providers, court-based resource coordinators, mental health practitioners, compliance specialists, and others who seek to improve the quality of justice. Supervised Release offers an alternative to jail by providing pretrial supervision, case management, and voluntary social services to people charged with misdemeanor and felony offenses, and in doing so, uses an arrest as a window of opportunity to change the direction of a participant’s life, avoiding the harmful effects of incarceration. Program participants are monitored to ensure their appearance at court dates and mandatory programming, and receive referrals to services like job training, drug treatment, and mental health counseling.

BJI seeks a Peer Intake Navigator for the borough’s Supervised Release Program (SRP). The Peer Intake Navigator will provide court-based peer support to participants upon completion of arraignment, identifying immediate needs or concerns, conducting intakes, and facilitate immediate connections to community-based services. Subsequently, they will facilitate warm handoffs to the clinical intake team. Lastly, the Peer Intake Navigator will provide emotional support, guidance, advocacy, assistance in navigating systems of care, and attending court dates when a participant is anxious or apprehensive about court proceedings. 

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Observe arraignments and prepare to welcome newly released participants to the program, taking note of information shared by the court parties and the participant during the arraignment hearing to inform approach towards orienting and intaking new participants to the program;
• Utilize evidence-based support techniques to engage and orient new participants to program supports and expectations, placing a particular emphasis on the different members of our team who will support them during their time on the program;
• Complete needs-based intakes and assessments for participants;
  • Assess for needs presented through participants’ self-disclosure, body language, and paraverbal communication, and the content of the arraignment hearing; 
• Address participants’ immediate needs, including providing food, hygiene kits, clothing, Metrocards, phones and harm reduction supplies; 
• Execute crisis intervention protocols to ensure participant safety and connection to appropriate services post-arraignment;
• Schedule or accompany participants to clinical assessments and screenings, sitting with the participant during their assessment where appropriate;  
• Escort participants within the courthouse to scheduled appearances;
• Conduct check-ins with participants before or after court; 
• When not in arraignments or conducting orientation, intakes, assessments or check-ins, Peer Intake Navigators will engage participants in the waiting areas of BJI’s courthouse office. They will be transparent with participants about the next steps in the SRP engagement process and offer touch points of support including giving out snacks and beverages, fidgets and other tools that support regulation;
• Focus on preventative care for participants in the early stages of engagement;
• Utilize active listening and motivational interviewing skills to establish working alliance with participants; 
• Maintain accurate, efficient and timely documentation of participant interactions and progress notes in an electronic case management system;
• Work with a diverse population in a mutually respectful manner, using a strengths-based approach; and
• Additional tasks as necessary.

Qualifications: 

• A high school diploma or equivalency required;
• Experience working within a court mandated setting required; 
• Personal experience of arrest and/or incarceration required;
• Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) or NYPS Peer Specialist Certification preferred;
• Crisis and de-escalation experience required; 
• Professional experience as a Peer Specialist, Peer Advocate, or Peer Counselor in a Behavioral Health or Criminal Justice setting strongly preferred; 
• Bilingual skills (Spanish/English) preferred;
• Proficiency in using computer software applications such as Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), email, web browser and database/file management systems required; and
• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with a variety of program stakeholders, including judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court staff, and site partner agencies.

Position Type: Full Time.

Position Location: Brooklyn, NY.

Compensation: The compensation range for this position is $52,000 - $60,000 and is commensurate with experience. The Center for Justice Innovation offers an excellent benefits package including comprehensive healthcare with a national network, free basic dental coverage, vision insurance, short-term and long-term disability, life insurance, and flexible spending accounts including commuter FSA. We prioritize mental health care for our staff and offer services like Talkspace and Ginger through our healthcare plans. We offer a 403(b) retirement plan with a two-to-one employer contribution up to 5%.

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.