NLADA -Reentry Coordinator - PA

Americorps•Media, PA

37d

About The Position

¿The Office of the Public Defender delivers high-quality legal representation to adults and children facing the loss of their rights, liberty, and dignity in Delaware County. We provide zealous courtroom advocacy and connections to social services to our indigent clients. Each year, we represent thousands of clients in the Magisterial District Justice Courts, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Appellate Courts of Pennsylvania. Our lawyers and support staff directly serve many of the most vulnerable people in Delaware County. Through our representation, we encounter a full range of barriers that lead our clients to become involved in the criminal legal system. In addition to providing constitutionally-required legal defense in criminal cases, we are uniquely positioned to confront those barriers and offer solutions that can help our clients - and the entire community. The central goal of the VISTA project is to ensure that clients who are eligible for diversion, expungement, and early termination of probation are identified and have access to the resources that are necessary to complete the program and/or probation requirements and successfully extricate themselves from the criminal system. The VISTA fellow will identify eligible clients and prepare expungement petitions. Additionally, the VISTA fellow will assist attorneys with screening clients who enter our jail system for pathways to expedited outcomes and connection to supportive resources. Further help on this page can be found by clicking here.

Requirements

Non-Profit Management
General Skills
Law
Counseling
Social Services
Communications
Writing/Editing
Team Work
Community Organization

Responsibilities

The VISTA member will develop systems to track barriers faced by clients in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition ("ARD") diversionary program and recommend strategies to improve program completion rates.
The member will create referral protocols and resource guides that staff can use to connect clients with community services addressing common barriers.
The VISTA member will design tools to identify clients eligible for early termination of probation under Act 44 and establish workflows to streamline communication between probation officers, attorneys, and staff.
The VISTA member will create templates and process guides to support staff in preparing expungement petitions and tracking case progress.
Finally, the VISTA member will strengthen the office's intake and screening systems by developing checklists and training materials to ensure new jail cases are consistently referred to appropriate and expedited pathways.