Program Associate

About Impact Justice

Impact Justice advances safety, justice, and opportunity through boundary-breaking work that honors and empowers people and is changing expectations about what we can accomplish together. We imagine, build, and scale innovations, leverage research and other knowledge to connect the desire for change with informed action, and work to shift the narrative so that decision-makers and the public understand what’s at stake and what’s possible.

About the Homecoming Project

Using the sharing economy model, the Homecoming Project (THP) at Impact Justice (IJ) pairs individuals returning home from prison with welcoming community residents (hosts) who have a room in their homes to spare. The Homecoming Project pays each host a daily stipend for housing the participant for up to 6 months. And, THP participants are provided a community navigator that works to connect them to the resources, supports, and wraparound services necessary for community re-entry. This innovative reentry housing project began in the Bay Area in 2018 and to date has housed more than 200 returning individuals into homes within the community. The Homecoming Project is currently in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and Los Angeles County. We have plans to expand to San Francisco County in the Summer of 2025.

Check us out here. Learn more about the Homecoming Project.

Who You Are

You are a detail-oriented person who wants to join a team that is expanding its impact. You thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, creative, and collaborative environment and demonstrate from the outset an ability to both execute assigned tasks and demonstrate initiative to create better systems and processes. In this role, you will be an integral part of supporting The Housing Lab's deliverables and development by working on various tasks to ensure programmatic success. We are seeking a candidate with excellent administrative, communication, and organizational skills, along with a strong commitment to confidentiality.

You have an ethos of social justice, racial justice, community, and team work. You have an orientation and belief that criminal justice involvement should not be an impediment to employment, career, and personal growth opportunities. You are a self-starter and can work independently. You have excellent attention to detail with verbal communication and writing skills. Excellent computer skills, ability to use Microsoft Office Suite, Google G-Suite, and Salesforce, and learn other information database systems quickly. You have highly developed interpersonal skills with good relationship-building techniques and excellent customer service. You are adept at time management and highly organized, with a proven ability to meet deadlines, plan, organize, and execute.

That said, we know there are great candidates who may not think they fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that is you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself! We know that there are great candidates who may not possess all of the skills that we have described. We would like to hear from you even if you have most (but not all) of the skills listed. We welcome all applicants, including formerly incarcerated individuals, those with family members that have been incarcerated, and persons with direct criminal or juvenile legal system experience.

What You Will Do

The anticipated start date for this position is November 17. You will report to the Director of The Housing Lab. Your core responsibilities will be:

• The Homecoming Project Operations & Administration Support: Responsible for data entry of program stakeholders, including hosts and participants. This role is integral to THP operations. As such, they will facilitate a seamless participant and host application experience and placement by creating, conducting, and/or supporting with the following functions from beginning to end: housing agreements, payment schedules, home inspections, generation of host and participant applications, and ensuring all documentation is completed and filed appropriately (both physically and electronically). This position will also play an active role in the coordination and scheduling of prospective/new hosts/participants logistics related to training and onboarding of activities/events, including: interviews, meet & greet meetings, background checks, virtual and in-person trainings, check-in conversations, exit interviews, and other progress conversations.
• Event Attendance and Coordination: You will attend recruitment presentations for participants, as needed. You will support event operations across all Housing Lab functions (e.g., peer support groups, financial literacy classes, partner functions, recruitment events, etc.). Support may include: attendance and meeting reminder calls, coordination and scheduling, venue recommendations/bookings, calibrating of materials, agenda generation, and other tasks as assigned.
• The Homecoming Project Participant Processing Support: Manage and receive postal and electronic mail, enter and update data for potential participants into our Salesforce CRM, manage all procurement, purchasing, and receipts for the Housing Lab, coordinate and manage the resources provided to participants, and perform other tasks as assigned. Support with participant application and screening processes, as needed. Support with participant application follow-up, including document collection, verification, and upload.
• LA Match Meeting Conversations: You will be the main point of contact for the applicant until they are moved from the stage of “applicant” to “placed.” You will play an active role in weekly “Match Conversations” to help the housing team understand what applicants are on the waitlist and what their individual roommate preferences are as you come to understand their preferences; You will update the weekly Match Meeting agenda with participant information and ensure the housing lead updates upcoming host availability. You will use reports from our CRM, Salesforce, to support your knowledge on participants and collaborate with the host lead to consider host-participant pairings. You will lift up potential roadblocks in moving participant applications across the finish line and help the team to understand the forecast of expected applicants in the queue. You will support recruitment efforts by participating in Participant and Community Team meetings (PACT), meetings with CBOs, reentry events, and similar places where eligible applicants may be found.
• Salesforce: You will also work within and across our team to optimize our CRM, Salesforce, including by providing feedback to improve our system, documenting agreed-upon processes in our operational guide. You will utilize Salesforce tools effectively and collaborate cross-functionally for a variety of functions, to execute payments to hosts, provide data for grant deliverables, and deliver periodic reports that track program health metrics.
• Executive Assistant to Housing Lab Director: Proactively support the Director of the Housing Lab and the Housing Lab Leadership Team, as needed. This role is both internal and external as you manage: calendars, coordinating meetings, handling both time-sensitive and confidential communications and expense reimbursements. You will also ensure smooth day-to-day operations, purchasing across The Housing Lab and supporting our leadership as they lean into our culture of wellness, positivity and high expectations. Examples include: reviewing locations for meetings, researching icebreaker activities for the next team meeting, drafting or sprucing up an agenda or facilitating an upcoming team meeting, putting together a slide deck given an outline, or registering us for a conference.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education / Experience Level

Successful candidates applying for the Program Associate role at Impact Justice will have at least 2 years of administrative experience, professional training/education, and/or closely related experience.

Required Qualifications

1. Comfortable working with remote team members
2. Self-starter
3. Adept at time management with a proven ability to meet deadlines
4. Able to juggle and implement simultaneous multiple project elements and tasks
5. Comfortable interacting with a wide variety of people, including individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, criminal legal system staff, and individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences
6. Tech-savvy: comfortable with Google Suite, Microsoft Office Suite, Asana, and databases/case management systems
7. Experience working in Salesforce or other data management software

Preferred Qualifications

1. Professional operations/administrative experience working with or within the criminal legal system
2. Background in social work, public health, or housing justice
3. Experience with the criminal justice system
4. Multilingual capacity (e.g., Spanish) is a plus

Additional Requirements:

• Hybrid position based in Los Angeles County.
• Frequent fieldwork and weekly office meetings. Successful candidate must have a vehicle and maintain a valid California drivers license and proof of insurance.
• Requires frequent local travel within Los Angeles County to conduct home inspections; mileage reimbursement provided.
• Travel is also required to attend training, outreach and partner meetings, host and participate in meetings, conferences, and visits to the Impact Justice offices in the Bay Area or other locations, estimated to be less than 10%. In addition, this role may require limited evening and weekend commitments.