Initiative Director, Advancing Universal Representation

Who we are:

The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grasstop organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.

Vera has a staff of 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.

Who you are:

Vera’s Advancing Universal Representation initiative (UREP) is dedicated to establishing a universal right to representation for immigrants facing deportation, with a North Star of a federal statutory right. While people accused of crimes are entitled to government-funded counsel to assist in their defense, immigrants facing deportation are not. As a result, most immigrants criminalized by the criminal legal and immigration systems go unrepresented and face detention and the prospects of deportation alone.

By establishing universal representation, we will not only help bring fairness to our immigration system but also advance a future in which people can fight their deportations with the support of their families and loved ones, free of detention or surveillance. How will we do this? Through partnership, program implementation, research, and integrated federal and state campaigns that build on over 15 years of Vera’s work. 

The Initiative Director will lead the UREP team’s strategic planning, stakeholder relations, policy and advocacy agenda, communications, staff management and development, funder engagement, and budget management. Additionally, the Initiative Director will identify and implement solutions to challenges facing the initiative; engage in critical lobbying activities at the state and federal level affecting immigration policy and services; devise and promote Initiative-wide policies and activities that create opportunities for growth, collaboration across programs, and a strong supportive culture; and lead in the landscaping and idea development of Vera’s overall immigration portfolio.

What you'll do:

Strategic Management

• Serve as the UREP initiative lead to refine, define, and execute strategy and a holistic vision that elevates the work at a national level, continuously aligning the initiative’s theory of change.  
• Manage and operationalize various components of the team’s strategy - including guiding state and federal advocacy campaigns, connecting research to the initiative’s goals, engaging government partners, and supporting the SAFE Network sites - and ensure cohesion of workstreams.   
• In partnership with Vera’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning unit, support in the development and measurement of metrics to discern impact of the established strategy and near-term milestones.  
• Work closely with Vera’s Research, Communications, and Advocacy capacity teams to support the development and execution of UREP’s strategy.

Communication Deliverables

• Lead the day-to-day messaging and narrative strategies around universal representation for immigrants and related topics, working closely with Vera’s Communications department.
• Draft and edit program reports, proposals, presentations, and internal / external blog posts to communicate updates on UREP’s work over time. 
• Present Vera’s work at conferences, on webinars, and other external events.
• Serve as a spokesperson for Vera to the media on issues related to UREP and the organization’s immigration portfolio.

Operations Leadership

• Partner with the Development department to accomplish fundraising goals and to support funder relationship management, proposal creation, and reporting deadlines. 
• Manage all elements of the team’s operations, including budget,