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CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG): Overview

ISLG is an institute within the City University of New York. The Institute’s mission is to assist current and future leaders in government, non-profit organizations and the private sector, in the U.S. and internationally, by offering research, technical assistance, and education and training, to help achieve improvements in the financing, delivery and measurement of critical public services. The Institute’s director, Michael Jacobson, previously served as NYC’s Probation and Correction Commissioner and president of the Vera Institute of Justice.

The Institute is hiring a Policy Associate to assist in work with the New York County District Attorney’s Office (“DANY”) on their Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), which aims to reduce crime and improve fairness and efficiency in the criminal justice system. This work spans many projects distributed among four portfolios: a) Youth, Families, and Communities, b) Victims of Crime, c) Diversion and Reentry Support, and d) Enhancing Effectiveness Across Systems. In this work, ISLG provides technical assistance to DANY and oversees the CJII on behalf of DANY. The Policy Associate will oversee the NYC Open Referral pilot within the Enhancing Effectiveness Across Systems portfolio. The Policy Associate will also support two other projects: the Access to Services for Survivors of Crime initiative (“Survivor Access”) funder under the Victims of Crime portfolio; and the Community Navigators initiative funder under the Enhancing Effectiveness Across Systems portfolio. For more information about ISLG and CJII, please visit www.islg.cuny.edu and www.cjii.org.

Position Description

Reporting to a Senior Policy Associate, the Policy Associate will manage the NYC Open Referral pilot, an open source platform of social service providers’ referral data; support the Community Navigators program, which is designed to link vulnerable populations to needed social services via trained Navigators; and support the Survivor Access initiative. All three initiatives are designed to support CJII grantees, other social service providers, and citizens throughout New York City to more easily and efficiently access social services, thereby meeting individuals’ needs, addressing risk factors, and reducing involvement in the justice system. To those ends, the Policy Associate will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Working closely with Senior Policy Associates and the rest of the Policy team to manage the NYC Open Referral initiative and support the Community Navigators and Survivor Access initiatives over the lifetime of CJII;
• Liaising with the contractors selected to implement the NYC Open Referral, Community Navigators, and Survivor Access initiatives, including conducting site visits, phone calls, and regular email correspondence to support and monitor implementation and identify and address technical assistance needs, as appropriate;
• Liaising with city stakeholders, anticipating necessary outreach, and creating and managing relationships with city stakeholders in collaboration with contractors and ISLG Policy and Research staff;
• Receiving and interpreting work products from the contractors, including technical documents (e.g., GIT repository as part of NYC Open Referral), implementation reports, and financial reports; and in some cases, translating those products for non-technical city and internal stakeholders;
• Managing/supporting the contracting and subcontracting process for the NYC Open Referral, Community Navigators, and Survivor Access initiatives;
• Engaging key project stakeholders, including personnel from city agencies in meetings, emails, and phone calls to facilitate the roll-out and implementation of these initiatives;
• Overseeing sustainability planning for the NYC Open Referral initiative, and supporting sustainability planning for Community Navigators;
• Drafting policy recommendations on data interoperability or other systems-level operations related to the NYC Open Referral project for city stakeholders;
• Working with ISLG Research Staff to monitor the performance of the contractors;
• Liaising with staff working on other CJII initiatives, including Family and Youth Development, Youth Opportunity Hubs, and various Diversion and Reentry initiatives; and
• Participating in frequent formal and informal cross-organizational collaboration to generate new ideas and grow the Institute’s body of work.

This is an exceptional opportunity to work on transformative criminal justice initiatives and to assist in building a portfolio of work in a newly-established institute with a talented and ambitious team producing a scientifically rigorous and impactful body of work.