Social Worker

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

Manhattan Justice Opportunities seeks to rethink justice in Manhattan and build a justice system that is more responsive to individuals’ and communities’ needs. Manhattan Justice is a centralized, court-based screening, resource, and referral hub that provides judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys at New York County Criminal Court and Supreme Court with a wide array of social service-based sentencing options in misdemeanor and felony cases. Manhattan Justice offers onsite case management, psycho-educational groups, and restorative justice programming, and provides referrals to community-based service providers for mental health, substance use, employment, primary health care services and more. These services, which are open to anyone who needs them—including mandated participants’ families and friends, and others affected by the criminal justice system—help people address underlying issues in their lives, build stability, and decrease their likelihood of further justice involvement. 

Manhattan Justice is seeking a Social Worker to engage and assess program participants and connect them to a full range of wraparound services, including, community-based social services and evidence-based interventions. Reporting to the Clinical Coordinator, the Social Worker will be responsible for conducting assessments and intakes, making referrals to community-based service providers, offering comprehensive trauma-informed case management and individual counseling sessions, facilitating psychoeducational groups, and providing compliance monitoring for people with open misdemeanor and felony cases.  

Responsibilities include but are not limited to: 

• Conduct intakes and clinical assessments for mandated and voluntary program participants; 
• Develop treatment recommendations for potential participants to be shared with court stakeholders (judge, defense counsel, prosecutor and court staff), when necessary; 
• Provide comprehensive, clinically-informed case management and individual counseling services to a caseload of participants charged with misdemeanor and felony offenses;  
• Facilitate and help to develop and/or revise curricula for a range of on-site psychoeducational groups and individual case management sessions; 
• Provide referrals to community-based services that address issues such as substance use, mental health issues, trauma, domestic violence, housing, and educational/vocational needs; and other challenges in participants’ lives (e.g. family court cases and other civil legal issues); 
• Manage and monitor compliance with treatment mandates, including care coordination with providers; 
• Provide written and verbal compliance reports to legal parties and coordinate responses to non-compliance issues, including re-engaging participants and arranging return on warrants;  
• Provide crisis intervention and de-escalation, as needed; 
• Assist with outreach to participants and defense attorneys to ensure all mandated participants are effectively engaged; 
• Enter and maintain appropriate up-to-date participant information, including assessment, case management, attendance, and case outcome data; 
• Provide clinical services as described above to program participants on a voluntary basis post-mandate; 
• Facilitate coordinated service delivery from on-site agencies and community-based partners for mandated services and voluntary referrals; 
• Collaborate closely with intake specialists, case managers, and social workers on the clinical team; 
• Collaborate closely with staff at the Midtown Community Justice Center and other Center for Justice Innovation operating projects; 
• Assist the Clinical Coordinator with the development and implementation of new initiatives; including best clinical practices, and appropriate evidence-based interventions; 
• Participate in clinical group supervision, staff meetings, and trainings, as scheduled; 
• Attend evening court and community-based events and meetings, as needed; and 
• Additional tasks as necessary. 

Qualifications:   

• LMSW and a minimum of 2 years prior work in criminal justice and/or a related field. Experience in a court or criminal justice setting preferred. Candidates with MSW will be required to obtain license within 90 days of employment;
• Knowledge and/or lived experience related to the criminal justice system and its impacts on communities; 
• Experience with substance use treatment, mental health services, co-occurring disorders, trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches preferred; 
• Commitment to being participant-centered and using holistic and strengths-based approaches, as well as the cultural humility to work with people from diverse backgrounds; 
• Willingness and ability to work collaboratively with a variety of court personnel and on-site partner agencies in a high-pressure/fast paced work environment; 
• Skill and openness to constructive engagement with differing and, at times, competing stakeholder perspectives; 
• Excellent organization and time management skills; 
• Strong writing and verbal communication skills; 
• Bilingual (English and Spanish-speaking) preferred; and
• SIFI eligible preferred. 

Position Type: Full time.

Position Location: Manhattan, NY.

Compensation: The compensation range for this position is $57,500 - $73,500 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.