Senior Program Associate- Unaccompanied Children Program

Acacia Center for Justice•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Program Associate is the first point of contact for legal service providers (LSPs) serving unaccompanied children nationwide with immigration legal services, including full-scope representation in removal proceedings. The Senior Program Associate maintains a close relationship with LSPs via monthly calls, site visits, and ad hoc communication to identify challenges and best practices; ensure contract compliance; and strategically brainstorm solutions to issues that arise. Employing their understanding of LSP program management and immigration law/practice, the Senior Program Associate will identify areas for training and technical assistance to meet the substantive legal needs of Acacia's LSP network. They will join a functional team with immigration advocacy, child welfare, finance, and research backgrounds. Applicants can be considered for multiple positions and are encouraged to apply for all positions at Acacia in which they have interest.

Requirements

A demonstrated knowledge of immigration, child welfare, criminal or juvenile justice, or other justice areas
A desire to effectuate change in partnership with the government
Strong writing, research, data analysis, communication, and facilitation skills
Ability to manage work on multiple projects effectively and efficiently
Ability to work collaboratively on a team, as well as to take the initiative and manage projects independently
Willingness to travel frequently and ability to successfully balance travel responsibilities with office-based responsibilities
Ability to read and communicate effectively in Spanish (proficiency in other languages is a plus)
An uncompromising commitment to immigrants' rights and race equity
JD degree; and
At least four years of legal, government, or policy work experience (including internships).
Valid driver’s license

Nice To Haves

Experience representing detained immigrants and/or children is a strong plus
Experience with "know your rights" and other community education initiatives is a strong plus
DOJ Accreditation

Responsibilities

Conduct site visits of each assigned legal service provider (biennially, remote or in person) and draft site visit evaluations.
Develop and maintain relationships with existing and new legal service providers by conducting regular check-in calls, reviewing monthly narrative reports, and ad hoc communication.
Creatively brainstorm solutions to challenges experienced by legal service providers.
Maintain expertise about operations of assigned LSPs to ensure contract compliance and to troubleshoot impediments to high-quality legal services delivery.
Identify technical assistance needs of the network and collaborate with the Learning & Development team to create training resources that address these needs. Participate in delivery of technical assistance on an ad hoc basis.
Identify promising practices among subcontractors and devise ways to disseminate information about such practices to encourage implementation elsewhere in the network.
Participate in planning and implementing improvements to network operations, including through contracting, monitoring, and developing programming aimed at ensuring network services sustainability.
Analyze/contextualize data and prepare reports to government partners on LSP service delivery, in collaboration with the Research, Evaluation, & Data Analytics team.
Analyze/contextualize LSP budgets and spending in collaboration with Budgets & Resource Management team.