Associate Vice President of Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals

Reporting to the Vice President of Legal Programs, the Associate Vice President of Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals provides leadership in relation to Bet Tzedek’s efforts to address the legal needs of children living in out-of-home care and their kinship care providers, the immigration needs of unaccompanied immigrant children and children under the care of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, and the legal needs of transgender community members. With a focus on providing strategic direction and program management, the Associate Vice President of Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals will work the CEO and Vice President of Legal Programs to set and meet the mission, vision, and short- and long-term goals for this priority. This includes oversight of the legal services, litigation, policy advocacy, and fund development efforts related to Bet Tzedek’s Kinship Care Program, Undocumented Minors Program, and Transgender Advocacy Program.

The Associate Vice President will collaborate with Bet Tzedek’s Impact Advocacy staff to evaluate, develop, and oversee impact litigation and policy advocacy initiatives, its Pro Bono Department to ensure a “pro bono first” service delivery perspective is taken to all project efforts, the External Affairs and Finance Departments to ensure the priority’s fiscal stability and growth, and the Vice President of Compliance to ensure the various programs’ compliance requirements are met.

This position is eligible for Bet Tzedek Legal Services’ hybrid/remote workplace designation. While the primary workplace is Bet Tzedek’s offices, at the discretion of the immediate supervisor, the employee may be permitted to work remotely or may be required to work in other locations depending on workload/business obligations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:



Strategy and Organizational Leadership:

• Leads efforts under Bet Tzedek’s Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals advocacy priority to bring about structural and meaningful change on behalf of children living in out-of-home care and their kinship care providers, the immigration needs of immigrant children, and the legal needs of transgender community members;
• Ensures effective information sharing and cross-collaboration and training between Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals programs and with other programs at Bet Tzedek;
• Helps develop and oversee data collection strategies to further Bet Tzedek’s efforts to measure client and community impact;
• Works with Directing Attorneys to develop and oversee the implementation of direct services advocacy strategies for each of the Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals programs;
• Identifies, evaluates, develops, and oversees the Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals programs’ impact litigation and policy advocacy opportunities at the local, state, and national levels;
• Leads program design for new projects, including new pro bono programming, within the Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals advocacy programs;
• Provides vision and support to Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals programs’ Directing Attorneys and staff to deliver high quality legal services, including direct representation, impact litigation, and policy advocacy;
• Directly supervises Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals advocacy programs’ Directing Attorneys by holding individual check-in meetings, supporting their development as leaders, providing growth-oriented feedback, and establishing practices that value staff well-being (including sustainable workloads);
• Engages with external partners, community stakeholders, and the media to pursue strategic goals in partnership with management and staff;
• Supports staff by overseeing recruitment, hiring, and onboarding, and by providing mentorship, training and growth opportunities to both attorney and support staff;
• Collaborates with management to inform, enhance, and execute agency-wide policies and initiatives; and
• Collaborates with management and staff to further diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as trauma-informed practices within the organization.

Community Relations & Programming:

• Collaborates with community partners, including grassroots organizations, legal service providers, social service agencies, and governmental agencies;
• Actively participates in the recruitment of pro bono attorneys;
• Provide comment to media sources about public issues facing children living in out-of-home care and their kinship care providers, the immigration needs of immigrant children, and the legal needs of transgender community members; and

Financial Management and Fund Development:

• Works with staff, the External Affairs and Finance teams, and leadership to maintain existing grant funding and seek new sources of funding to support and, where appropriate, expand the priority’s objectives and impact;
• Collects and provides data and narratives on programs to assist the Institutional Giving team with funding applications;
• Collaborates with VP of Compliance to oversee grant compliance, including applications, program design, tracking, and reporting;
• Oversees budget development and manages the programs’ budgets in collaboration with Finance teams and Directing Attorneys;
• Approves invoices and check requests, reviews outside legal services contracts, and works with the VP of Compliance to implement necessary internal program controls to ensure contract requirements are satisfied.

• At least 10 years of legal experience preferred;
• Member in good standing of State Bar of California membership required;
• Significant management and mentorship experience of large and varied teams in the non-profit and legal services sector, including budgeting and grant compliance, strongly preferred;
• Significant leadership experience and vision for—as well as demonstrated commitment to—advancing justice for children living in out-of-home care and their kinship care providers, the immigration needs of immigrant children, and the legal needs of transgender community members strongly preferred;
• Significant leadership experience working in coalition with external partners and community stakeholders strongly preferred;
• Demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and in the communities Bet Tzedek serves;
• Demonstrated experience with and commitment to person-centered, trauma-informed legal advocacy;
• Ability to work cooperatively across teams, levels, and functions within the organization and to navigate difficult conversations and address conflict effectively required;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with a preference for experience communicating with the press required;
• Excellent interpersonal, management, and organizational skills required;
• Collaborative, transparent, flexible, and compassionate management style required;
• High levels of emotional intelligence and cultural competency, including being curious, self-aware, cognizant of bias, empathetic, patient, and willing to listen, and having a growth and open mindset required; and
• Ability to read, write, and speak fluently in a language other than English (particularly Spanish) preferred but not required.

BENEFITS PACKAGE:

Bet Tzedek offers an excellent benefits package in addition to competitive salaries. These benefits currently include:

• A generous number of paid holidays (up to 21 per year), vacation (up to 20, depending on number of years with agency), and sick days (up to 45) annually.
• Personal and floating holidays.
• Compensatory time for exempt employees.
• 18 weeks of paid parental leave (after 1 year of employment.)
• Various paid leaves.
• Medical, dental, vision, chiropractic and acupuncture coverage for employees and dependents, with office visit co-pay reimbursement for HMO enrollees.
• Life/accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, long-term disability insurance, and Employee Assistance Plan.
• Voluntary (employee-contributed) life/AD&D, accident, critical illness, hospital confinement, and pet insurance.
• Employee-contributed 401(k) plan.
• Employee-contributed 403(b) plan.
• Healthcare and childcare flexible spending accounts.
• Commuter transit and/or parking benefits.

HOW TO APPLY:

• E-mail a letter of interest, resume, writing sample to bettzedek.E6.05F@applynow.io, subject line: “Associate VP, Justice for Children, Families & Transgender Individuals.” Please, no phone calls.

To best serve our communities, Bet Tzedek seeks diverse staff with cultural competency reflecting our client populations. We strongly encourage candidates from traditionally underrepresented communities and historically oppressed groups to apply.

$145,000.00 - $160,000.00 (DOE/DOQ)