Legal & Community Advocate Job Description
Duties and Responsibilities:
Direct Service
- Coordinate with community partners to ensure that police reports from Project Safe’s outer counties are promptly reviewed and potential clients are reached out to in a timely manner, informing them of services available.
- Accurately identify crimes involving intimate partner violence and their lethality factors in outer country incident reports reviewed.
- Serve as a liaison between victims of domestic violence and Family Violence Intervention program providers.
- Ensure victims are informed of their rights as the victim of a crime, including completion of crime victim compensation applications, registering with VINE, and offering other resources as appropriate.
- Ensure all persons seeking assistance receive trauma-informed services including crisis intervention, safety planning, emotional support, advocacy, and information about the various criminal justice
- Advocate for and accompany victims throughout civil and criminal court proceedings as requested.
- Facilitate trauma-informed support groups that provide domestic violence education and peer support with the goal of empowerment and healing.
- Oversee and participate in the weekly walk-in clinic rotation providing victims of domestic violence with face-to-face resources to identify immediate needs relating to a survivor’s domestic violence situation.
- Ensure the completion of all required paperwork, case notes, and statistical information continually ensuring strict confidentiality in line with our organizational values.
Partnership Development
- Build alliances and collaborative relationships in our outer counties at all levels of the criminal justice system, prioritizing comprehensive services to survivors.
- Present on current domestic violence trends within our service area to both criminal justice system agencies and community partners.
- Initiate contact and maintain connections with attorneys willing to provide pro bono or reduced-fee legal services for victims of domestic violence.
- Assist in creating a supportive environment for victims to voluntarily report information to law enforcement while maintaining strict confidentiality standards.
- Initiate a comprehensive approach to the relationship between law enforcement and Project Safe to ensure the best outcome for survivors.
- Consult with stakeholders in Community Accountable Protocol meetings to provide domestic violence insight and identify potential lethality factors.
Qualifications:
Knowledge and experience
- Minimum 2 years of working with survivors of domestic violence or other victim-related work.
- Ability to develop and maintain cooperative relations with a diversity of individuals, organizations, and government agencies.
- Demonstrated ability to manage time, evaluate progress, and adjust activities to complete work within established time frames.
- Critical Thinking – use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Knowledge of the impact of domestic violence on children and older people; LGBTQ individuals; and people with disabilities.
- Excellent communication and public speaking skills both written and oral – talking and writing effectively in order to convey information appropriately to the needs of the target audience.
- Understanding of and willingness to learn advocacy-based analysis of both the uses and limitations of research on domestic violence.
Other requirements
- Participate in agency staff meetings and other team meetings as needed to contribute to positive and empowering work culture.
- Commitment to ongoing research and education to ensure survivors received the most comprehensive services.
- Adhere to agency policies and work rules, including strict confidentiality and a code of ethics.
- Participate in Project Safe’s On-call rotation.
- Consent to Criminal Background Check.
- Provide a valid driver’s license and proof of vehicle insurance.
- Complete other duties as needed to support all areas of Project Safe’s mission and vision for the organization.