Project Director, Manhattan Justice

The Center for Justice Innovation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing community safety and racial justice. Since 1996, we’ve worked alongside communities, courts, and those most directly affected by the justice system to build stronger, healthier, and more equitable neighborhoods. With a team of over 900 staff and an annual budget of $130 million, the Center carries out its mission through three core strategies:

• Operating Programs that pilot new ideas and address local challenges;
• Conducting original research to evaluate what works—and what doesn’t; and
• Providing expert assistance and policy guidance to reformers across the country and beyond.

Backed by decades of on-the-ground experience and nationally recognized expertise, we bring innovative, practical, and lasting solutions to justice systems nationwide. Learn more about our work ovatingjustice.org .

Manhattan Justice Opportunities seeks to rethink justice in Manhattan and build a justice system that is more responsive to individuals’ and communities’ needs. A team of 40 social workers, case managers, resource coordinators, peer specialists, and restorative justice practitioners, Manhattan Justice is a court-based assessment, resource, and referral hub that provides judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys at New York County Criminal Court and Supreme Court with social service-based sentencing options for misdemeanor and felony cases.

The program serves around 2,000 court-mandated participants annually. Manhattan Justice offers onsite case management, psycho-educational groups, and restorative justice programming, and provides referrals to community-based service providers for mental health, substance use, employment, primary health care services and more. These services, which are open to anyone who needs them—including mandated participants’ families and friends, and others affected by the criminal justice system—help people address underlying issues in their lives, build stability, and decrease their likelihood of further justice involvement.

The core components of Manhattan Justice’s work are a short-term alternative sentencing program for people charged with misdemeanors and unindicted felonies and a long-term and intensive alternative sentencing program for people charged with felonies. The latter initiative is a partnership with the Manhattan Felony Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) Court, for which Manhattan Justice provides assessment, treatment planning, case managing, and compliance monitoring services.

The Felony ATI Court, which is led by Administrative Judge Ellen Biben, seeks to forge a new response for individuals charged with felonies by linking them to community-based social services. The Court is the first of its kind, providing an innovative model for other jurisdictions seeking to develop and implement meaningful post-conviction sentencing options for individuals facing felony charges.

Along with the core alternative sentencing programs, Manhattan Justice includes three smaller initiatives: a jail diversion team that provides assessment and treatment planning services for people held in pretrial detention to accelerate case dispositions; restorative justice programming that brings together responsible parties (defendants) and those who have been harmed (complaining witnesses) to advance healing and accountability; and specialized case management services to address housing needs.

Reporting to the Director of Manhattan Programs, the Manhattan Justice Opportunities Project Director is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the project, supervising and supporting staff; implementing the program model with fidelity and efficiency; and collaborating with a broad range of criminal justice, city government, and service provider stakeholders. The Project Director is also responsible for coordinating consistent protocols and practices across the project, supporting the hiring and training of a large and diverse staff, and setting and maintaining a positive team culture.

Lastly, the Project Director is responsible for managing the project’s budget, overseeing monthly and quarterly…