Peer Specialist Fellow

Center for Justice Innovation•New York, NY

55d•$22 - $25•Onsite

About The Position

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 Opportunities is seeking a Peer Specialist Fellow. Reporting to the Clinical Director of Felony Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI), the Peer Specialist Fellow will join a team of staff—including social workers, mental health counselors, peer specialists, and case managers—who work with defendants participating in the Manhattan Felony ATI Court. The ATI Court, which is led by Administrative Judge Ellen Biben, seeks to forge a new response to individuals charged with felonies by linking them to community-based social services. The Court is the first of its kind, providing an innovative model for other jurisdictions seeking to develop and implement meaningful post-conviction sentencing options for individuals facing felony charges. The Peer Specialist Fellow will be part of a team that provides independent, holistic clinical assessments, treatment planning, and case management services to mandated participants in the ATI Court. The Peer Specialist Fellow will engage new participants in court to ensure successful connection to community-based services and support existing participants in their programming. An essential feature of the Peer Specialist Fellow's role is close collaboration with the participants’ assigned social worker/case manager, service providers, and community contacts. The Peer Specialist Fellow will communicate regularly with members of the participants’ team to support the participant’s engagement in services and successful program completion. The Peer Specialist Fellow will also be able to work toward a formal peer certification as part of the fellowship.

Requirements

Knowledge and/or lived experience related to the criminal justice system and its impacts on communities
Commitment to using holistic and strengths-based approaches and meeting participants where they are
Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds in a culturally responsive manner
Strong communication skills, particularly the ability to communicate and listen accurately, empathically, and under time constraints
Ability to maintain professional demeanor when handling difficult conversations
Strong organization and time management skills
Experience using Microsoft Office programs, particularly Microsoft Outlook for regular email correspondence, preferred
Comfort working within the court setting and with participants who are mandated to services
Comfort working in a team setting
Passion for making the justice system more humane and/or for working with criminal justice involved individuals

Nice To Haves

Bilingual (English-Spanish) is preferred.

Responsibilities

Use lived experience, share personal recovery stories, and model healthy coping strategies to connect with participants and support them in their goals
Offer encouragement, education, and practical assistance, including one-on-one coaching, and connect participants to resources
Assist participants in identifying their goals
Attend court appearances to help engage newly mandated participants in services, as well as to help participants navigate the court process more generally
Engage participants who have been released from custody and motivate them to engage in services
Accompany participants from court to intakes/appointments
Perform community outreach to participants, including meeting participants in the community to accompany them to intakes/appointments and assist with connections to needed resources
Communicate with the participant’s assigned social worker/case manager, service providers, and community contacts to support engagement in services and follow up on participant’s progress
Inform the participant’s assigned social worker/case manager of any non-compliance issues and assist participants in getting back into compliance, including re-engaging participants
Provide crisis intervention and de-escalation, as needed
Track participant engagement work and coordinate with peer specialists, social workers, and case managers to support data entry about peer activities
Participate in individual and group supervision, staff meetings, and trainings
Attend community-based meetings and events in the evening, as needed
Assist with other programmatic and administrative tasks to support Manhattan Justice’s and the Felony ATI Court’s activities, as needed.