Peer Advocate

New York County Defender Services • Full-time • New York, NY, US • 1w ago

Position Summary: NYCDS seeks to hire two Peer Advocates as part of the Reentry Team to provide intensive reentry support to clients while incarcerated and upon returning home from any period of incarceration in prison. The Peer Advocate, with lived experience, will develop and implement Personalized Reentry Plans with clients and will provide ongoing connection to services, in-depth reentry support, and mentoring services. The Peer Advocate will also actively maintain partnerships with service providers in the community and a comprehensive database of reentry resources in the New York City area.

Job responsibilities include but are not limited to:

- Attend clients’ sentencing hearings as part of multidisciplinary legal team
- Meet with clients before they go into DOCCS custody to help prepare for upstate sentence
- Conduct needs assessments with clients periodically and report results in case management system
- Create detailed reentry plans with clients in prison and assist clients in implementation of those plans, starting while they’re incarcerated and continuing upon release
- Provide service referrals to clients to address their reentry needs, and coordinate with service providers to ensure successful connection to organizations; follow-up with clients and service providers to address any gaps
- Provide intensive reentry support to clients once they’ve returned home from prison, including meeting them in the community, escorting them to appointments, warm hand-offs to organizations, ensure coordinated care, etc
- Maintain consistent client contact; provide supportive mentorship to clients and assist clients in developing effective, trauma-informed coping skills
- Build working relationships with organizations in the community providing services; maintain partnerships
- Conduct research on reentry resources in NYC area and maintain database of those resources, updating as needed
- Utilize professional development opportunities
- Complete documentation and data input in a timely manner
- Assist with reentry tasks and additional responsibilities as needed

Qualifications and Skills of Ideal Candidate:

Required:

- Justice-impacted individual
- Relevant experience in justice reform or a related field, including but not limited to reentry support, social work, public defense, community organizing, policy reform, case management, ethnic studies,or communications
- Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds using a cultural humility framework
- Strong organizational/time-management skills
- Exceptional attention to detail and problem-solving skills
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team of social workers and prison advocacy specialist
- Excellent communication, advocacy, and relationship-building skills
- Ability to work a flexible schedule, with travel within NYC required
- Must have attained minimum of high school diploma or educational equivalent

Preferred:

Associate’s Degreeor higher
- Proficiency in MS Office (especially MS Word and MS Excel)
- Available for the duration of the grant program (3 years)
- Bilingual a plus
- Driver's License a plus
- A cover letter and resume is needed
Salary Range 50,000-60,000 yearly