Reentry Caseworker & Community Care Specialist

Essie Justice Group • South Pasadena, CA

113d

About The Position

Essie Justice Group (Essie) is building grassroots power to dismantle the incarceration system — the most egregious generator of racial and gender injustice of our time. We are a loving and powerful community of women with incarcerated loved ones, including cis and trans women, formerly incarcerated women, gender-expansive people, elders, and young people. After more than a decade of building a strong, engaged membership across California and nationally, Essie is deepening its care and leadership infrastructure to support women with incarcerated loved ones and advance a Black feminist, abolitionist vision of community safety and liberation. The Reentry Caseworker & Community Care Specialist role is a cornerstone of this work and will provide healing-centered, individualized, and strategic support for members across our network — from members navigating acute crises to Black mothers and caregivers recently bailed out by Essie. Since 2017, Essie has partnered with National Bail Out on the Black Mama’s Day Bail Out campaign, and bailouts remain a vital part of our work. In addition to post-bail care, this role will staff Essie’s member-led Care Team, facilitate strategy circles in crisis response, hold healing circles, coordinate and innovate mutual aid, and connect members with essential services and referrals. We are seeking someone who is deeply aligned with Essie’s values, politically grounded in Black feminist abolition, and able to show up with love, rigor, and consistency in every interaction.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in care coordination, healing justice, case management, or similar relational support roles, especially with Black women and formerly incarcerated communities.
• Strong grounding in Black feminist, abolitionist, and anti-carceral values.
• Demonstrated ability to hold non-punitive, loving accountability, and consistent support in 1:1 settings.
• Experience coordinating services, navigating systems (e.g. housing, healthcare), and advocating on behalf of others in complex situations.
• Deep listening and relational skills; someone who follows up, follows through, and can be trusted with people’s stories and needs.
• Experience working across teams or organizations and comfort with documentation, tracking, and care reporting systems.
• Willingness and ability to travel to Oakland for team retreats, care program collaboration, and internal development.

Responsibilities

• Lead Essie’s care offerings end-to-end, ensuring women with incarcerated loved ones and formerly incarcerated women receive thoughtful, coordinated support and responsive navigation through available resources.
• Serve as the primary point of relationship-based support for approximately seven mothers/caregivers bailed out during Essie’s annual Black Mama’s Bail Out, stewarding their reentry journeys.
• Skilled in communicating with care and compassion with people who are navigating trauma or high-stress situations.
• Conduct comprehensive intakes and develop individualized healing and care plans rooted in each mother’s/caregiver’s goals, needs, and vision for their future.
• Coordinate referrals and build connections to trusted community-based services, including housing, mental health, employment, and wellness supports.
• Provide consistent 1:1 support through in-person and remote check-ins, cultivating long-term relationships grounded in trust, accountability, and growth.
• Organize and coordinate member participation in court support to ensure women feel held and accompanied during critical moments.
• Stay abreast of care offerings from peer organizations, gathering insights on how care is offered and applying learnings to strengthen Essie’s internal practices.
• Continually assess Essie’s current care infrastructure and develop clear, actionable recommendations for improvement.
• Support the redesign and implementation of Essie’s Immediate Needs Program processes to ensure timely, responsive, and values-aligned care.
• Lead care navigation and post-release support for at least one new bail action in the coming year, ensuring integration of participants into Essie’s broader community and organizing efforts.
• Travel to other office sites to support care infrastructure and foster strong cross-site collaboration.
• Use internal systems (e.g. Salesforce) to track care plans, engagement, and outcomes in a respectful and non-punitive way.
• Participate in internal team calls, and cross-department coordination as needed.
• Work alongside the member-led Care Team to strengthen systems of healing, wellness, and connection that sustain our California and National sisterhood.
• Help build internal practices and protocols to support high-quality care rooted in dignity and justice.

What This Job Offers

• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees