Vice President of Organizing & Policy

About Common Justice:

Common Justice develops and advances solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration. Locally, they operate the first alternative-to-incarceration and victim-service programs in the United States to focus on violent felonies in the adult courts. Nationally, they leverage the lessons from their direct service to transform the justice system through partnerships, advocacy, and elevating the experience and power of those most impacted. Rigorous and hopeful, they build practical strategies to hold people accountable for harm, break cycles of violence, and secure safety, healing, and justice for survivors and their communities.

Common Justice knows that communities impacted by crime and violence—and crime survivors in particular—have essential expertise about what produces safety, what constitutes accountability, and what facilitates healing. They believe that any social change platform—including a policy agenda, budgetary priorities, local social service needs, and community mobilizations—must be deeply rooted in the wisdom, power, and engagement of the people whose lives are at stake in these changes.

About the Opportunity:

There are a wide range of extraordinary advocacy groups in New York State, most of which are intently focused on winning critical, shorter-term victories in the various movements for criminal justice reforms. Common Justice’s policy work does not compete with these efforts, but rather builds a longer-term policy vision that transforms current ineffective responses to violence ranging from criminal justice and sentencing reform to increasing access to healing services to housing. To do this, they are beginning to lay the foundation for the long haul ahead, building the relationships and resources necessary to shift power and secure transformative change.

A newly created role, the Vice President for Organizing and Policy (VP) is responsible for developing and leading this healing equity movement-building dimension of Common Justice’s work. Through both on-the-ground organizing and strategy development that is deeply connected to the needs of people impacted by violence, the VP drives the effort to ensure that people of color have the power and capacity to ensure healing equity, and that systems and structures act in support of every community’s inherent right to heal.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the VP will play a key role on the executive leadership team, contributing to overall organizational health and strategy. The VP manages the National Director and Project Manager of United for Healing Equity, and has the opportunity to build a team, selecting the people and tools to effectively structure and deliver this work.

How The VP will be Measured:

Organizing & Healing Equity Leadership:

• Lead Common Justice’s base-building strategy; develop membership and leaders among people impacted by violence.
• Conduct foundational listening sessions with directly impacted people in New York City to co-develop a long-term advocacy and policy agenda to address violence in a way that ensures healing equity, reflects learnings from listening sessions, and directly connects to the needs of those impacted (i.e. does not rely on incarceration); secure those changes at state and municipal levels.
• Expand and lead a national network of people and organizations committed to healing equity. Work collaboratively with the Director of Communications to elevate the voices of those impacted by violence.
• Oversee the training and technical assistance efforts related to organizing for healing equity; support targeted allied efforts nationally.
• Build out the organizing and policy healing equity team, providing the right resources, tools, support, and development for the team to optimally and accountably deliver the work.

Executive & Organizational Leadership:

• Collaborate with the executive leadership team to determine organizational strategy, priorities, decisions, and initiatives.
• Provide thought partnership and leadership on organizational health and culture matters (i.e. leadership development and manager capacity building; employee policy and practice, etc.).
• Develop and manage departmental budget.

Key Qualifications:

• Demonstrated commitment to or conviction about criminal justice reform
• Eight or more years of experience in harm or oppression-related organizing and advocacy work, including base-building and developing and implementing campaigns from the ground up
• Eight or more years of experience building, developing, and leading teams, with specific experience leading multi-layered teams and supporting managers
• Experience serving on an organization’s leadership team
• Track record of balancing on-the-ground relationship- and champion-building work with strategic organization building work
• Experience working with survivors of trauma strongly preferred
• Well-developed, nuanced understanding of the experience of harm and oppression; well-developed analysis of power and supremacy
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Flexibility, creativity, and ability to manage multiple responsibilities effectively
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Formerly incarcerated people and/or survivors of violence strongly encouraged to apply

Common Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, or current employment status. Common Justice values diverse experiences, including educational background and justice system involvement. They depend on a diverse staff to carry out their mission.