Senior Program Associate, Advancing Universal Representation Brooklyn

Brooklyn, New York

Vera’s Advancing Universal Representation initiative (UREP) is dedicated to promoting due process in the immigration system by establishing a universal right to representation for immigrants facing deportation and promoting an end to civil immigration detention. 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.

For people in immigration detention, the challenges of accessing counsel and navigating the complexities of immigration court are especially harsh.

UREP promotes sensible, humane policy advancements that promote fairness in our immigration system and envisions a future in which people at risk of deportation can understand their legal rights and navigate their cases with the support of their families and loved ones, free of detention or surveillance. UREP advances this work through partnership, program implementation, research, and integrated federal and state campaigns that build upon Vera’s more than 20 years of immigration work.

UREP’s Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network forms a powerful cohort of jurisdictions supported by Vera to advance this work at the local and state level. The Fairness to Freedom Campaign seeks to pass legislation establishing a statutory right to government‑provided representation for people at risk of deportation, forming the team’s long‑term policy goal.

The senior program associate will support UREP’s programmatic and policy goals of advancing publicly funded universal representation programs at the state and local level and UREP’s advocacy to secure these investments. The senior program associate will engage in policy and advocacy to support efforts to address the criminalization of immigrants and eliminate civil immigration detention.

• Serve as the lead liaison for several jurisdictions and collaborate with our local stakeholders (government partners, legal service providers, and advocates) to support launch, sustainability, and growth of universal representation programs.
• Advise on best practices in program design and implementation for universal representation programs.
• Manage relationships with grantees and partners, including contracting and communicating about program impact and needs, participating in coalition meetings, liaising with research staff on research and data collection needs, etc.
• Serve as subject matter expert when needed and propose new projects.
• Manage project targets and milestones, and work to ensure that key targets and milestones are met.
• Conduct site visits to meet with local stakeholders.

• Work with UREP advocacy and program colleagues to support the implementation of an advocacy plan; actively participate in designing and staffing federal, state, and/or local campaigns in Vera’s SAFE Network or other priority jurisdictions, including budgetary measures, administrative policies, and legislation in support of universal representation, due process, and aligned priorities.
• Collaborate across Vera with the Advocacy and Partnerships, Communications, and other internal teams and with consultants to support communications and advocacy strategy and other goals (e.g., drafting fact sheets, talking points, op‑eds, testimony, etc.).
• Educate and advocate directly with government officials and their staff.
• Effectively partner with grassroots and grassroots allies.
• Foster connections to UREP’s federal advocacy priorities and overall strategic goals through state and local advocacy.
• Support our technical assistance portfolio for SAFE network members and the field, including helping plan in‑person or virtual trainings, convenings, or webinars, as appropriate.
• Leverage professional experience and expertise and expertise from site‑based work to identify best practices to inform technical assistance.

• Serve as a subject matter expert to team in…