Senior Program Associate- Unaccompanied Children Program
About Acacia Center for Justice:
The Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) provides legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination, and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country. Acacia’s goals are twofold: to support immigrant legal services and defense networks to provide exceptional legal services to immigrants; and to advocate for the expansion of these programs and the infrastructure critical to guaranteeing immigrants access to justice, fairness, and freedom. Acacia ensures accountable, independent, zealous, and person-centered legal services and representation to protect the rights of all immigrants.
Job Summary:
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.
Primary Duties/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.
Required Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:
- 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
Preferred Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:
- 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
Education and Experience:
- JD degree or DOJ Accreditation
Compensation and Benefits:
Acacia has established an internal compensation philosophy that centers equity and pay transparency. The salary for this position is set at $96,000. The salary listed is just one component of Acacia’s total compensation package for employees. Supporting Acacia staff—both personally and professionally—is our priority.
- Medical/Dental/Vision- Some plans at $0 cost to the employee
- Employee Assistance Program
- 20 days per year of vacation time
- 12 days per year of sick time
- 5 personal days
- 4 organization-wide Wellness Days
- 11 observed holidays, including the last week of December
- First time home office set-up stipend
- Internet Stipend
- 401k with 5% employer contribution, no employee participation required.
People of color and those who have been impacted by the criminal system and immigration system are strongly urged to apply. Acacia is deeply committed to race equality, inclusion and belonging and strives to create a work culture that recognizes everyone's unique lived experience.
To Apply:
Submit your resume and cover letter through the Acacia Careers site. If you encounter technical issues or have accessibility needs, email your resume and cover letter to [email protected] with Subject: ATTN: Human Resources / [Job Title], Acacia Center for Justice
Equal Opportunity Employment:
Acacia is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit persons of diverse backgrounds and support their retention and advancement within the organization. We are committed to fostering a workplace culture inclusive of people with respect to their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, marital status, age, disabilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or any other characteristic. Our commitment to justice and diversity also means providing a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.
This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties, responsibilities and requirements but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function within our organization.
Acacia Center for Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.