Project Manager for Men's Reentry Housing Pilot

Get in on the ground floor! Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services (DRDC), a nonprofit protection and advocacy agency that advances the rights of DC residents with disabilities, recently received a grant to run the first housing first pilot of its kind in the city.

DRDC seeks a Project Manager for the well-regarded DC Jail and Prison Advocacy Project (JPAP). The Project Manager is responsible for overseeing the implementation of JPAP’s Men’s Reentry Housing Pilot, an exciting new program to provide bridge and permanent housing for up to 25 formerly incarcerated DC men diagnosed with mental illness and intellectual disabilities with the ultimate goal of promoting successful community integration.

The ideal Men’s Reentry Housing Pilot Project Manager is a professional with the knowledge and ability to provide leadership to Pilot team members, ensuring that all aspects of the project are successful and satisfactory to clients as well as the funder. The Project Manager, working under JPAP’s Director, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations, ensuring that everything runs smoothly from participant placement to monthly invoicing and reporting to program evaluation to interfacing with the reentry advocacy community and meeting with government officials. The Project Manager will supervise the Pilot team which includes Reentry Advocates, a Peer Navigator, a Staff Attorney focused on disability accommodations in community supervision, and some hours of another Staff Attorney focused on pre-trial release, sentencing and parole hearing mitigation, and jail conditions.  

To achieve the above goals, the candidate should be:

• Efficient at long-term planning, multitasking, and delegating where appropriate
• Able to communicate effectively internally and externally
• Able to demonstrate principles of good stewardship regarding financial planning (including timely grant spenddown) and resource management
• Creative, intelligent, versatile, and hardworking
• Able to lead, manage stress effectively, and get along with people that have many different personalities
• Able to bring out the best in people, identifying and utilizing strengths and addressing weaknesses consistent with the needs of adult learners

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

• Clearly communicating project goals and values internally and externally, to participants, staff, partners, funders, program evaluators, and others
• Ensuring that project policies and procedures are consistent with goals and values, updated as necessary, and implemented consistently
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities among staff and between staff and partners for most seamless, effective, and efficient service delivery and support
• Reviewing and revising work plan as needed to ensure deadlines are met or readjusted
• Supervising the Pilot team, including observing client interactions, reviewing services provided, and checking staff data entry work for accuracy and quality
• Monitoring partner work for consistency and quality
• Providing regular updates to Project Director
• Overseeing monthly invoicing and intermittent program reporting to funder, including obtaining and reviewing internal and partner documentation in a timely manner and working with contract accounting firm
• Presenting program data to funders and assisting in securing funding for subsequent funding years

QUALIFICATIONS

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in social work or related field or 2-5 years of relevant experience working with homeless or low-income individuals or families. Advanced degree preferred.
• Required: Three-to-five years’ experience managing complex projects from conception to conclusion.
• Required: Ability to communicate and build rapport with individuals who have extensive trauma histories, serious and persistent mental illness, and criminal justice involvement, and who are predominantly low-income people of color.
• Required: Ability to effectively lead an interdisciplinary team. Demonstrated competence in verbal, written, organizational and prioritization skills. Strong problem-solving skills and ability to troubleshoot challenging situations.
• Preferred: Experience working with people with mental illness, substance use disorders, intellectual disabilities, history of homelessness, history of incarceration, and/or history of trauma.
• Preferred: Familiarity and/or experience with Housing First programs.
• Preferred: Knowledge of DC social services providers, criminal legal system and reentry service providers.

Applications will be considered as soon as they are received.

ULS values diversity of culture, disability and other life experiences, and is an equal opportunity employer by choice. People with personal experience in the criminal legal system and/or behavioral health system are welcome and encouraged to apply.