Overview

The Bronx Defenders (BxD) is an innovative, progressive public defense office in the South Bronx. We are seeking a Director of CAP Community Intake to lead and supervise our community services.

Founded in 1997, BxD is a public defender nonprofit that has developed a nationally recognized model of representation called holistic defense, which provides people with teams of lawyers, social workers, and advocates to defend them zealously in court and address the underlying drivers and enmeshed penalties of legal system involvement.

Our office now has more than 400 staff members who defend nearly 20,000 New Yorkers facing incarceration, family separation, eviction, and deportation (among other devastating consequences) in criminal, family, civil, and immigration proceedings each year.

We continue reimagining the role of public defense even further, using community organizing and engagement, legislative advocacy, and impact litigation to partner with the communities we represent to bring about long-lasting systemic change. We also share our model and lessons learned on how to move to a holistic model of representation with current and future public defenders throughout the country.

Civil Action

A sweeping array of civil punishments are triggered the moment someone faces arrest, deportation, or family separation. The people we represent risk losing their jobs, homes, income, property, and basic civil rightsstruggles that can be more devastating and long-lasting than the charges themselves. Last year, we helped 2,200 people obtain concrete benefits like maintaining their jobs, homes, income, property, and rights.

Civil Holistic Defense Team

Our goal is to minimize the severe and often unforeseen fallout from criminal, family and immigration court proceedings and facilitate the seamless reintegration of the people we represent into the community. Our CAP attorneys, advocates, and social workers represent and advocate for impacted people in every forum in New York Cityadministrative, state, and federalto address these problems. Our civil staff provide comprehensive representation to assist in overcoming civil legal barriers to housing, eviction, employment, and public benefits, as well as addressing instances of police misconduct, criminal record errors, and civil forfeiture.

Housing Justice and the Right to Counsel Team

Recognizing the challenges to accessing affordable, quality, and safe housing in New York City, The Bronx Defenders has a team exclusively dedicated to providing tenants at risk of losing their homes with defense attorneys for their Housing Court cases. Our Housing Team was developed in response to the 2017 New York City Right-to-Counsel Law, which provides tenants facing eviction in Housing Court and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) administrative proceedings with access to free legal representation.

Community Intake Team

The Bronx Defenders has Community Intake advocates across all practices which allows members of the Bronx community to walk into our office or call our community hotlines and proactively seek legal assistance with criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal issues.

Description

Reporting to the Managing Director of the Civil Action Practice, the Director of CAP Community Intake will oversee CAPs community services and intake functions by providing leadership, supervision, and support to both attorney and non-attorney staff. This position focuses on ensuring effective advocacy and representation for clients facing challenges in housing, employment, and reentry, while also strengthening connections and creating systems with community-facing services within the practice and across the organization. This role will have a reduced case load.

Responsibilities

• Develop and oversee CAP community intake operations to ensure collaborative, timely, and effective assessment, referrals, and case management for community members
• Develop and implement systems and best practices for client services, intake protocols, and data tracking
• Coordinate and collaborate with community-facing services, including benefits advocacy, community intake, and early defense/early advocacy teams
• Guide community education, litigation, and advocacy strategies related to CAPs community services in the areas of housing, employment, and reentry rights
• Build and sustain partnerships with community-based organizations, government agencies, and coalitions to enhance service delivery
• Provide direct oversight of community services staff and ensure high-quality advocacy for Bronx residents
• Represent CAP community intake in internal leadership meetings and external coalitions or advocacy forums

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