The Aleph Institute’s Alternative Sentencing Division aims to dramatically improve the U.S. criminal justice system through the reduction of incarceration terms and the implementation of rehabilitative justice measures in the justice system. These efforts seek to enhance public safety by improving the rehabilitative value of corrections through reduced incarceration strategies and community service initiatives, ensuring the highest and best use of public
resources as well as maintaining the family unit and breaking the cycle of incarceration. Our team approaches this challenge in three ways: 1) we provide alternative sentencing proposals to judges and prosecutors on an individual level for clients that are fitting for consideration, 2) we produce national high-level expert symposiums and roundtable events focused on the challenges and successes of implementing alternative sentencing practices and 3) we are
creating a national clearinghouse of alternative sentencing strategies that have been successfully implemented by courts nationwide. Throughout all of these efforts, we strive to bring Judges, prosecutors, jurists and the legal community together to find a working framework for the implementation and utilization of alternative sentencing, nationwide.

Core Responsibilities:
• Develop, plan and execute annual national symposium(s) for The Aleph Institute, including developing the program and overseeing all levels of the event production.
• Develop, plan and execute alternative sentencing roundtable conversations with smaller groups of jurists throughout the United States
• Form and maintain strategic high-level partnerships with other alternative sentencing think-tanks and national organizations/associations that implement sentencing strategy
• Oversee and manage the operational elements relating to Aleph’s clearinghouse initiative
• Engage in grant-seeking activities to secure funding for these programs including seeking out opportunities, preparing, and submitting proposals

Essential Skills, Experience, and Abilities:
• 3 years of experience in planning and running large-scale educational events or professional conferences (other relevant experience will be considered)
• Experience interfacing with partner agencies and senior-level government stakeholders
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, along with experience in public speaking
• Effective leadership and management skills
• Strategic, entrepreneurial approach to developing ideas and designing solutions
• Ability to bring disparate constituents together and build consensus
• Creativity and rigor in solving complex problems
• Capacity to effectively effectively prioritize projects, work simultaneously on multiple ventures, and
meet deadlines

Desired Personal Qualities:
• Knowledgeable and passionate about criminal justice
• Passionate about improving the U.S. criminal justice system, and specifically about alternatives to incarceration
• Creative and innovative
• Team-oriented and collaborative, yet also able to work well independently
• Confident and humble
• Flexible and adaptable

Preferred Education:
• Masters or Ph.D. in Public Policy, Political Science, Economics, Government Affairs, or a Related Field. Equivalent experience will be considered.

Salary: $90,000 – $120,000
Location: New York City. Tele-commuting/remote applicants will be considered.

To Apply:
Please send a resume, cover letter, two writing samples (at least one of which is sole-authored), and contact information for three references to jobs@aleph-institute.org. Please indicate in the subject line of the email that the application is for the position of Director of Special Projects, Alternative Sentencing Division. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis

Who We Are:
The Aleph institute is a national nonprofit Jewish faith-based organization that has operated for more than 36 years providing social, humanitarian and faith-based services to individuals who are incarcerated, as well as their families, and to people serving in the United States armed forces. Our programs cover an array of constitutional and religious rights for all members including family and children’s services, at-risk intervention programs, alternative sentencing on the belief that no individual should be alone or forgotten. We are a proponent for the reformation of the criminal justice system and the reduction of recidivism rates through alternative sentencing methods and reentry services.

“Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, the guiding force of the Aleph Institute, Institute, and his associates understand and force us to face the fact that each person deserves to be treated with respect as an individual personality and not as… a faceless number… The Aleph Institute is doing extraordinary fine work. Its assistance to defendants and their families provide standards of compassion and aid worthy of emulation. . . . Aleph helps in three ways. First, it explains to judges and the judicial system when and how alternatives to prison which protect the public are possible. Second, it helps those in prison develop their spiritual lives and maintain contact with their families and the world beyond their bars and barbed wire. Third, it assists those outside, particularly the children of prisoners, to
retain their ties with prisoners. As a result of its good work, Aleph is widely known and respected by penal and judicial authorities.” -Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, Senior U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court  for the Eastern District of NY Aleph’s Alternative Sentencing Advancement Efforts:

Over the past thirty six years, our advocacy has extended into many matters resulting in alternative sentences, and based on this experience and our desire to learn more and share our own experience with alternative sentencing, we produced the Alternative Sentencing Key Stakeholders Summit in Georgetown Law University, Washington, DC on March 7-8, 2016, with partners from key actor groups including the ABA, APA, NLADA, NACDL, and participation from
the NAASUA. Other parties included key think tanks and policy groups on both the left and right of the aisle.