POSITION DESCRIPTION

Program Manager, County Initiatives

Salary Range: $95,000-$105,000

Reports to: Sr. Deputy Director of Policy & Law

Location: Washington, D.C.

Organization Overview

REFORM Alliance is a national organization seeking to safely reduce the number of people on probation and parole and create real pathways to work and wellness for people who have been supervised instead of supported. We are using all of the resources we have to help fix the flawed criminal justice system in the United States by changing laws and policies and building a movement of REFORMers to help change hearts and minds.

REFORM was founded in the wake of the #FreeMeek movement. The Board includes award-winning recording artist Meek Mill; Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin; Arnold Ventures co-founder Laura Arnold; entrepreneur and business mogul Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter; Kraft Group CEO and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; Galaxy Digital CEO and founder Michael E. Novogratz; Vista Equity Partners founder, chairman, CEO Robert F. Smith; Brooklyn Nets co-owner, businesswoman, investor, and philanthropist Clara Wu Tsai; and co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Priscilla Chan. Veteran criminal justice advocate Robert Rooks leads the organization as CEO.

Initiative Description

REFORM Alliance aims to transform community supervision by changing our laws, systems, and culture to create real pathways to work and well-being. REFORM’s goal is for people to reenter society with dignity, to remove barriers to their independence and stability, and to equip them with the tools to succeed – all while making families and communities safer and stronger.

While tackling supervision practices and changing policy at the state level remains an important avenue for change, reentry is fundamentally a local issue that requires solutions by practitioners and advocates who understand their communities, resources, and systems the best. REFORM will partner with selected counties to help enact evidence-based policies that support the most effective practices and target the most pervasive ills of our current supervision system, including tackling technical violation responses, creating and improving incentives for recidivism-reducing activities, and ensuring wraparound services necessary for overall success (e.g. assistance with housing, jobs, mental health treatment, etc.). This innovative program seeks to reframe and rethink current community supervision systems by pursuing safe and effective practices that link participants to services and incentivize success.

REFORM’s County Initiatives Program aims to redefine community supervision by removing barriers to success for supervision officers and people on supervision. This includes:

• Expanding the use and consistency of early termination of supervision through clearer, streamlined processes and procedures;
• Building better coordination and linkages between county supervision departments and existing services/systems;
• Improving the staffing and management of supervision departments by encouraging and implementing positive reinforcement measures as goals, effective performance appraisals, and supervision officer training; and
• Assisting local service providers with obtaining the fiscal resources to support the supervision community.

Position Overview

The County Initiatives Program Manager is responsible for the initiative's research and policy portfolios, including coordinating the work of a team that will provide technical assistance to counties, policy analysis, and tracking implementation of counties' best practices. The candidate should be comfortable speaking with a broad range of audiences and be particularly familiar with community supervision and reentry issues. Additionally, the Program Manager will be responsible for operationalizing and continuing development of the county initiative project, in addition to identifying interventions in key jurisdictions where best practices are already being effectively deployed to use as models in partner jurisdictions. A relevant graduate or law degree is a plus, however candidates with a B.A. or a B.S. who have exceptional advocacy, legal and social services, or community corrections experience will also be competitively considered.

Responsibilities

• 
  Apply implementation science methods to the design and execution of projects;
• Provide direction to the Research & Implementation Department on data needed to identify candidate jurisdictions and develop projections for the impact of specific policies at the county-level, in addition to partnering with Research & Implementation on the implementation of adopted evidence-based practices;
• Conduct policy and legal research;
• Identify candidate jurisdictions for the initiative, with substantial outreach to establish and build relationships with key stakeholders, and maintain relationships over time
• Use data and evidenced-based practices to target areas for systemic improvement across jurisdictions;
• Present information to a broad range of stakeholders including district attorneys, public defenders, probation officers, judges, and community advocates among others;
• Draft primary and secondary policy memorandums related to administrative guidance, including summaries, and analysis;
• Problem solve with social services, corrections, or local advocacy organizations
• Oversee design of technical assistance resources to support pilots and demonstrations of innovative program models;
• Work with teams, partner organizations, and grantees to translate county initiatives into routine and practice;
• Support the development of standard deliverables, including evaluation plans, performance management plans, publishable report summaries, experience reviews, progress reports, monitoring reports, and evaluation reports;
• Become familiar with all relevant federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and policies pertaining to community supervision;
• Support the Philanthropy Department in achieving funding goals and donor requests, as needed;
• Oversee and guide the work of the County Initiatives Program Associate; and
• Travel to candidate and partner jurisdictions as needed

Qualifications & Skills

• B.A. or B.S. required; Masters in Public Policy, J.D., or other relevant graduate degree a plus
• Minimum of 4 years policy or criminal legal services experience
• Project management experience, with a specific emphasis on developing and/or launching programmatic initiatives, including engagement with multiple stakeholders, including government agencies, elected officials, advocacy organizations, justice impacted individuals, and donors
• Experience supervising a small team
• Experience fostering relationships and building partnerships, in addition to co-learning/creating alongside system leaders/stakeholders, ideally at both the leadership and staff level
• Deep understanding of the criminal justice system and evidence-based practices, with a specific focus on corrections and reentry
• Experience navigating municipal institutions, including probation, parole, and supervision systems
• Strong writing background (including editing skills) and communication skills (verbal and written) and ability to communicate using a variety of platforms and across multiple audiences, especially those with diverse and, at times, opposing viewpoints
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously, across different jurisdictions
• Strong organizational and administrative skills, with keen attention to detail

At REFORM Alliance, we strive to move hearts and minds to create a more humane criminal justice system. This requires us to maintain a company culture that values employee individuality and community Growth. We are committed to fostering an environment that is inclusive, empowering and globally minded. We firmly believe that diversity in gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, cultural background, religion, disability, and age produces ideas and perspectives that make our efforts stronger for people unjustly in the system and make our company a better place to work. Our leadership team is committed to embedding diversity and inclusion into everything we do and how we lead.

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