Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services (DRDC), a nonprofit protection and advocacy agency that advances the rights of DC residents with disabilities, seeks a Victim Services (VS) Reentry Advocate for its Jail and Prison Advocacy Project. The Reentry Advocate is responsible for providing reentry services to incarcerated DC residents with mental illness and intellectual disabilities who have been the victims of crime. Our goal is to promote the successful integration of DC residents with mental illness and intellectual disabilities into the community.

As a member of the DC Jail and Prison Advocacy Project, the VS Reentry Advocate will provide assessment, secondary case management, crisis counseling, and advocacy support to incarcerated DC residents with mental illness and intellectual disabilities who have been the victim of a crime as they prepare for their reentry and for a defined period after they transition back into the community. The VS Reentry Advocate’s objective is to ensure our clients’ needs are at the center of reentry planning and to advocate for community services that meet those needs. Responsibilities include:

•  Develop and coordinate client-centered reentry plans for adults with mental illness at the DC Jail, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and halfway houses 4-6 months prior to release and provide hands-on assistance applying for benefits and connecting people with mental health agencies, identification, housing, and other reentry resources.
•  Negotiate and facilitate relationships between our clients and their mental health providers, probation and parole, victim services agencies, and other community-based agencies. Model interpersonal communication skills and promote empowerment, independence, and self- advocacy.
•  Maintain regular contact with individuals and use assertive engagement strategies such as street outreach, transportation assistance, and family or peer involvement, when appropriate and permitted by the persons we serve.
•  Supervise and coordinate with the SPeer Navigator,an individual with lived experience in the criminal legal and/or public behavioral health system.
•  Ensurecurrentknowledgeoflocalandnationalmentalhealthstandardsofcare,best practices, and the availability of local resources, including, for e.g., evidence-based practices such as motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care and trauma-specific services, and SOAR.
•  Maintain case data in multiple data management systems as directed track every intervention as well as specified outcomes.

 Perform outreach and education activities to identify potential clients and disseminate information to justice-involved individuals, providers, and decision makers regarding evidence-based practices, systemic issues, community resources and service gaps and other topics.

Compensation: The VS Reentry Advocate will work full-time for a competitive salary, based on experience, plus benefits, which include full medical insurance, vacation, sick leave and other benefits.

• Qualifications:

•  Required:Member of the DC Bar or member of another state bar eligible to waive inDC.

•  Required: Ability to communicate and work effectively as a proactive member of an interdisciplinary team. Demonstrated competence in verbal, written, organizational and prioritization skills. Strong problem-solving skills and ability to troubleshoot challenging
  situations and creatively advance civil rights protections.

•  Preferred: Experience working with people with psychiatric or intellectual disabilities and
  experience working within the community supervision/parole system.

•  Preferred: Experience working within a social justice or civil rights organization, or for a
  criminal defense law office, particularly one that serves homeless or incarcerated individuals.

•  Preferred: Driver’s License and access to a car for frequent trips to the DC Jail complex and community-based providers; alternatively, access to a bike and/or willingness to use public
  transportation. We reimburse travel expenses.
  HOW TO APPLY
  All applicants must briefly respond to the following three questions within a cover letter or in a separate essay (maximum 2 pages total):

• 1)  What are your personal or professional motivations behind working in the criminal legal/disability rights field?

• 2)  What do you believe is one problem in the criminal legal system that could benefit from more advocacy reform?

• 3)  What do you believe is one problem in the behavioral health system which could benefit from more advocacy reform?
  Please send your responses together with a resume and list of references electronically no later than January 18, 2021 to:

Tammy Seltzer, Director

DC Jail & Prison Advocacy Project University Legal Services tseltzer@uls-dc.org

No calls please

Applications will be considered as soon as they are received.

ULS values diversity of culture, disability and other life experiences, and is an equal opportunity employer by choice. People with personal experience in the criminal legal system and/or behavioral health system are welcome and encouraged to apply.