Resource Navigator
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 Center for Justice Innovation’s Upstate New York office, located in Syracuse, New York, is seeking a Resource Navigator to provide case management, community resource coordination, and overdose prevention education for its newly created harm reduction initiative, Westside Community First (“WCF”). Westside Community First is a proactive overdose prevention street outreach and community safety program that relies on Peer Navigators with lived or similar experience to engage people who use drugs in harm reduction practices who are at an increased risk of a fatal overdose in the Westside and Downtown neighborhoods of Syracuse, New York. With a focus on harm reduction and building trusting relationships, WCF aims to reduce overdose deaths and injury; increase access to naloxone and the number of community members trained in administering naloxone; improve physical health, mental health, and/or safety for people who use drugs; and streamline referrals to treatment and recovery supports. The Resource Navigator will play an instrumental role in enhancing the WCF program’s capacity to respond to participant’s immediate health and safety needs.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Provide case management and service coordination for WCF program participants in need of substance use disorder treatment, recovery support, mental health services, and other social services;
- Conduct initial assessments and screenings using Motivational Interviewing techniques to determine participant needs, identify appropriate services, while supporting participants to make informed choices about their care;
- Facilitate regular check-ins with participants to monitor progress, address barriers, and offer support to ensure successful connection to services;
- Actively participate in case conferencing with WCF program team;
- Provide crisis intervention and safety planning to participants experiencing distress;
- Offer overdose prevention and harm reduction education to WCF participants;
- Collaborate with WCF Peer Navigators to identify and engage people in need of services through direct community outreach;
- Conduct community resource mapping activities and liaise with local agencies to access additional services that will support participants and enhance WCF program operations;
- Work with WCF Program leadership to build relationships with treatment providers, community organizations, and other stakeholders to streamline access to care and expand services for program participants;
- Participate in community outreach events to promote the Westside Community First program and generate program interest;
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date participant records, documenting all interactions, assessments, and progress notes in our case management system (JCA);
- Assist in the preparation of reports, presentations, and other program-related documentation;
- Attend all required staff meetings and trainings; and
- Additional tasks as necessary.
Position Type: Full-time, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
Position Location: Syracuse, NY.
Compensation: The compensation range for this position is $52,000 - $57,000 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.