Civic Justice Corps Program Director

The Corps Network's mission is to lead the national Service and Conservation Corps community in promoting the growth, quality, and sustainability of Corps, aiming to have well-funded, high quality Corps serving every community. 143 member Corps operate in hundreds of communities in 44 states and the District of Columbia, annually engaging over 30,000 young adults (primarily ages 16-25) in full-time service, training, and education.

Since 1985, over 600,000 young people have completed service in Corps. Service and Conservation Corps engage young men and women in visible, valued public work. Corpsmembers plant trees in cities, weatherize low-income homes, restore public lands, answer the call when disaster strikes, install green roofs to meet community needs. Corps revitalize communities, preserve and restore the environment, prepare young people for responsible, productive lives, and build civic spirit through service.

In 25 years of operation The Corps Network has:

• Established itself as a national leader in advocacy and policy,
• Supported member Corps through a network of services,
• Built national program models, each with increasingly high quality outcomes,
• Delivered trusted training and technical assistance, combining staff expertise with the wisdom of member Corps, and
• Grown increasingly strong systems for evaluation, planning, and improvement.

For more information on The Corps Network and Corps visit our website.

Position Overview:

Currently operating at 20 sites nationwide, the Civic Justice Corps program demonstrates the effectiveness of service for re-engaging formerly incarcerated, court-involved, and disconnected young people.

Since its inception in 2006, The Civic Justice Corps (CJC) has engaged young people, who are neither working nor in school, in service and service learning opportunities. Service projects are focused on environmental and community sustainability and prepare CJC members for careers based on local labor market information with green jobs as a priority. It is the first-ever national service program to affirmatively recruit people with criminal records.

The CJC model promotes systems change and includes several key elements:

• Stipended, service-learning opportunities for residents of high incarceration neighborhoods,
• Preparing Corpsmembers for careers in the green economy and promoting active citizenship,
• Partnership with local green employers and criminal justice agencies, and
• The goal of reorienting the mission and resources of state and local justice systems toward performative, restorative justice.

From California to Wisconsin to Florida, Corps have incorporated CJC principles into their programs, reaching young people who accepted the challenge to serve-and the opportunity to turn their lives around.

Responsibilities:

The CJC Program Director will report to The Corps Network's Vice President for Program Quality and Innovation and will provide leadership, coordination, and day-to-day management of the program including the following responsibilities:

A. Business Development:

• Develop strategic approach for engaging both new and existing CJC sites across the country and developing long-term sustained support for The Corps Network's leadership of the program
• Catalogue and analyze existing funding strategies at all CJC sites to determine priorities for creating long-term funding partners.
• Catalogue and analyze variations on the existing CJC business model to determine effective strategies for operational success.
• Conduct community mapping to determine the priority geographic regions to implement the CJC model based on need, potential funding, initiatives and emergent issues.
• Establish timeline for strategic growth of the CJC program based on available resources, partnerships, and other factors.
• Provide information and resources to communities and organizations interested in implementing the CJC model.
• Identify existing strategies that can lead to long-term public /private support for Civic Justice Corps.

B. Strategic Partnerships:

• Targeted collaboration with other organizations and agencies focused on Juvenile Justice and Prisoner Reentry at the national, statewide, and local levels
• Connect with identified organizations and determine levels of partnership/ collaboration with The Corps Network to advance the CJC model.
• Represent The Corps Network on advisory committees and other working groups.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration at the local level and broker relationships as needed between local corps and potential partners.

C. Training and Technical Assistance:

• Maintain ongoing relationship with existing sites to support implementation and continued effectiveness of the Civic Justice Corps model
• Facilitate Community of Practice among existing and potential CJC sites through conference calls, webinars, convenings and other communication efforts.
• Focus on financial viability and operational viability including long-term sustained funding relationships, capacity to grow, improved outcome tracking, deeper application of evaluation.
• Correspond with individual sites on an individual basis to address any issues or concerns related to program implementation.
• Organize strategy sessions at local sites engaging key staff, and community partners.
• Develop assessment tool of the current CJC sites to determine areas of improvement and proposed strategy and potential funding opportunities to strengthen program.

D. Knowledge Management:

• Develop print and web-based resources to promote and advance the CJC model
• Collect information, publications, and tools from sites for The Corps Network website and print publications; incorporate effective CJC practices into related Corps Network resource.
• Develop communications strategy for dissemination of program impact reports.

E. Program Impact:

• Establish a formalized system for measuring and tracking of program outcomes for dissemination to funders, policy makers, and other key stakeholders
• Identify innovative evaluation strategies that bring to light areas needing improvement as well as deeper understanding of outcomes.
• Revamp current CJC reporting processes to ensure metrics align with current practices in measuring outcomes as well as funder expectations.
• Coordinate trainings for staff at CJC sites directly involved with tracking both qualitative and quantitative data.

Qualifications:

• Experience of at least 6 - 8 years in workforce development and education programming, particularly focused on court-involved, formerly incarcerated or disconnected youth.
• 3 or more years of progressively responsible project management experience requiring independent decision making. Experience managing multi-site projects across diverse geographic regions is preferred.
• Understanding of performance measures and outcomes used to track prisoner reentry, educational gains, workforce development, and national service programs.
• Familiarity with the AmeriCorps and/or other national service program models.
• Familiarity with key legislation impacting court-involved, formerly incarcerated or disconnected youth.
• Experience with strategic planning and organizational assessments of community-based organizations.
• Familiarity with national, state-wide and local funding streams (public and private sources) which can potentially be accessed to support CJC efforts.
• Excellent research, analytical, and writing skills.
• A strong work ethic and attention to detail.
• Experience planning, implementing and managing projects involving diverse stakeholders including funders, advisory board members, and other key partners.
• Ability to travel nationwide 25-35% of the time.
• Exceptional presentation, facilitation, and communications skills.

Compensation:  $80,000 with excellent benefits.

Deadline: July 7, 2010, 5:00pm EST

To Apply:

Please send cover letter and resume to Carol Huls, Executive Assistant, The Corps Network, 1100 G Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 or via email. Subject Line: CJC Program Director Position.  No phone calls, please.