Restorative Circle Facilitator

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

Bronx Community Solutions (BCS), aims to provide community-based alternatives to jail, restore community relationships, and center the needs and dignity of participants while helping them avoid further criminal legal involvement. With programming in the Bronx’s centralized criminal courthouse and the South Bronx community, BCS offers meaningful alternatives to the traditional criminal legal system, providing a variety of services including pre-arraignment diversion and alternative to incarceration programming.

BCS has developed several court diversion initiatives centering restorative justice philosophy, providing opportunities for healing, relationship building and repair, and genuine expressions of accountability in lieu of isolation and punishment. These initiatives utilize “circles”, a unique form of communication inspired by indigenous justice and community building practices. Project Reset, a pre-court early diversion program, offers adults who receive desk appearance tickets for low-level misdemeanors the opportunity to participate in one-time community building circle to resolve their arrest and avoid a criminal record. BCS also offers same-day at-arraignment programming for eligible individuals to resolve their case through a restorative circle on the day of their court appearance in the courthouse. Finally, BCS provides a more intensive restorative justice diversion and alternative-to-incarceration process for misdemeanor and felony cases involving harm or conflict. This programming brings together the person impacted by the harm, the person responsible, and their community members to discuss the impact of the harm, take accountability, explore underlying issues, and agree upon a pathway forward.

BCS is seeking a Restorative Justice Facilitator. Reporting to the Senior Program Manager, Restorative Justice, the Facilitator is responsible for conducting participant outreach and facilitating a variety of restorative circles designed to build community, offer support, or respond to harm and conflict. The Facilitator will support the breadth of BCS’s restorative justice offerings by assisting with the pre-court diversion programming of the Project Reset Bronx program, same-day at-arraignment programming in Bronx Criminal Court, and the restorative justice diversion and alternative-to-incarceration programming for misdemeanor and felony-level cases involving interpersonal harm, among other tasks. The facilitator will work on cases ranging from low-level misdemeanor shoplifting arrests, neighbor and family disputes, up to instances of serious harm, such as assaults, robberies, or attempted murder cases. As part of this portfolio of programming, the facilitator will also provide a restorative process to cases involving car crashes that have resulted in a fatality or serious injury.

• Facilitate restorative processes for misdemeanor and felony cases from Bronx Criminal and Supreme Court, including circles designed to respond to instances of interpersonal harm or conflict, offer healing and support, or build community;
• Facilitate restorative circles for participants that take place in both the Bronx criminal courthouse and various community locations;
• Facilitate a range of restorative justice processes and trainings for community members, stakeholders, and staff as needed;
• Conduct phone outreach, scheduling, and intake interviews of program participants, supporters, and other necessary parties;
• Assess referred participants and their supporters for a restorative process, and conduct needs-based screenings;
• Facilitate individual sessions with program participants to prepare them for restorative justice dialogue, and support them throughout the process;
• Provide referrals and comprehensive case management services to participants to address a variety of social service needs;
• Monitor compliance of court-mandated services and provide written and/or verbal compliance reports to court stakeholders;
• Collaborate with and support restorative programming at other Center for Justice Innovation sites;
• Assist with identifying eligible cases, including conferencing cases with judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys;
• Participate in relationship building, recruitment, and trainings of Bronx community members who volunteer to participate in restorative programming; and
• Assist with the planning of community engagement events and attending external community events, including occasional evenings and weekends as needed.

• Develop new circle curriculums and assist with other program development activities including the creation of new program materials and trainings, and updating protocols and materials based on staff and participant feedback;
• Participate in strategic planning and implementation efforts to address systemic issues impacting program participants, and;
• Attend ongoing training in restorative justice and circle practice provided by the program.

• Participate in administrative responsibilities, such as tracking outreach efforts, program compliance, and progress notes;
• Communicate with defense agencies and the prosecutor’s office to ensure appropriate case outcomes for program participants;
• Assist with data collection, regular data cleaning, and reporting;
• Utilize case management and volunteer management databases, and;
• Additional relevant tasks, as needed.

• Bachelor’s degree or at least three years of relevant lived, educational, and/or professional experience in the criminal legal field or a related social service field required;
• Previous experience with restorative justice and restorative circle facilitation strongly preferred;
• Experience and passion for group facilitation and group-based work required;
• Experience managing complex conversations around a diverse set of issues including but not limited to violence, conflict, relationships, and healing;
• Willingness to express vulnerability and share stories from their own experience as part of group facilitation;
• A deep listener and skilled communicator who easily connects with people and views conflict as an opportunity for transformation;
• Comfort conducting a variety of forms of outreach, including making cold calls;
• Collaborative working style and flexibility and openness to working on a variety of projects in various locations in a multifaceted role;
• Willingness and ability to work with a variety of different stakeholders and members of the community including residents, judges, the District Attorney’s office, NYPD, etc.; and
• Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds and identities, and demonstrate a commitment to an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and social justice-centered practice.

• Bilingual English/Spanish language fluency;
• Meaningful connections to the Bronx community;
• Knowledge and/or lived experience related to the criminal legal system and its impacts on communities;
• Experience working with individuals impacted by violence or trauma and a familiarity with trauma-informed practices;
• Candidates who are formerly incarcerated or who have otherwise been impacted by the criminal legal system are strongly encouraged to apply; and
• Candidates who have been impacted by interpersonal violence or harm are encouraged to apply.

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.