The Town of Essex Community Justice Center (ECJC) is recruiting for a full-time, benefited Community Connections Coordinator.
The primary responsibilities of this position include:
• Providing support to people reentering their communities from incarceration in Chittenden County
• Co-coordination & staffing of the Circles of Support & Accountability Program (CoSA) in Chittenden County
• Recruiting, training, and supporting volunteers for the CoSA program
• Coordinate a Community Conflict Assistance Program collaboratively with the Burlington CJC
• Provide outreach, information and support to victims of crime
The Restorative Community Connections Coordinator position requires a flexible schedule allowing for some evening/weekend hours. Training, education, course work and/or lived experience in the areas of substance abuse, mental health, domestic and sexual violence, trauma, poverty, crime, and other challenges is desirable, as well as knowledge of local resources. The ideal candidate will be passionate about social/racial/economic justice and restorative approaches to crime and conflict. Strong boundaries and computer, data tracking, communication, and phone skills are desired.
The Essex Community Justice Center is committed to equity, and inclusion, recognizing and respecting that diverse perspectives and experiences are valuable to our team and essential to our public service. BIPOC, individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ+ applicants, and people from other underrepresented groups, are encouraged to apply. Applicants with a criminal record need to be at least one year past the completion of their supervision/sentence in order to be considered.
The minimum starting salary for this position will be $24.00 per hour. Applications can be submitted online at: https://essexvt.bamboohr.com/careers . An application will not be considered unless it is accompanied by a cover letter outlining why you think you are a good candidate for the position and three references. This position is open until filled.
Full job description: Community Connections Coordinator
Full summary of benefits: Benefits Summary
The Town of Essex is an equal opportunity employer.
The Essex CJC, along with 24 other Restorative Justice Programs across the state, signed the Vermont’s Restorative Justice Programs Position on Racial Injustice (which can be found at this link: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54e52df9e4b0f4e32b5bada5/t/6058b688269bc1107902aa99/1616426633106/VT+RJ+Programs+Position+on+Racial+Injustice_signed+Feb+2021.pdf). Since then we have been taking the following actions.
1) We actively engage in weekly education to increase out racial literacy and to better understand issues of race and racism and their intersections with restorative justice, bias, privilege, accountability, power and repair.
2) We are working to diversify our pool of volunteers and applicants when we are recruiting for open positions so that they/we better represent the communities we serve
3) We collect, analyze and share our racial data to help identify inequities in accessing restorative options for BIPOC communities
4) We are developing a Cultural Advocate program where we will pay people with lived experience/identities our volunteers don’t represent to be part of RJ processes when the responsible and/or affected parties are not represented by our volunteer pool. We have recruited and are in the process of training 11 different cultural advocates at this point who identify as black descendants of slaves, Somali, Nepali, Latino and Bhutanese
5) We are participating in a Statewide Initiative to Increase Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion in Vermont’s Efforts to Promote Restorative Justice and Alternatives to Incarceration funded through an earmark from Leahy’s Office. The three main goals of this funding will be:
A) Statewide REIB training for staff, volunteers and restorative justice leaders, and curriculum development for ongoing training;
B) The assessment of current data collection practices and the development of new data capture systems for meaningful information on the impact of restorative programs on marginalized populations;
C) Equity audits of guiding policies and procedures of restorative programs and agency/organizational practices at the state and local level