Credible Service Provider, Credible Westchester

About the Organization

Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) supports and builds power with people across New York State who have been affected by mass incarceration, criminalization and community disinvestment. Through a statewide network of direct services, advocacy and organizing, and by supporting the leadership of directly-impacted people, we advance civil and human rights for all New Yorkers. CCA works to build a world where everyone has what they need to thrive.

At CCA, we are committed to fair transparent pay, and we strive to provide competitive market-informed compensation. The successful candidate's salary is determined by the combination of knowledge, skills, competencies, experience, and geography. Our goal is to continue to make CCA one of the most desirable nonprofit places at which to work, and in part, recognize the importance of work-life balance.

CCA is launching Credible Westchester (CW), a new countywide initiative designed to serve Westchester’s most vulnerable and at‑risk residents. CW will function as a community‑rooted hub for individuals navigating homelessness, behavioral‑health challenges, substance dependence, and chronic involvement in the criminal legal and social service systems. The program is entirely supervised and staffed by individuals with lived experience
. Credible Service Providers (CSPs) are the frontline relational anchors of the Credible Westchester (CW) initiative. As individuals with lived experience in the criminal legal system, homelessness, behavioral‑health challenges, or chronic system involvement, CSPs bring the trust, insight, and credibility necessary to engage Westchester’s most vulnerable residents. CSPs adapt fluidly to participant needs—serving as navigators, mentors, outreach workers, peers, and social‑service guides.

Their work embodies CW’s mission “to increase client engagement and investment” and to “utilize credible messengers to gain trust and improve access to and success with social services.” CSPs work as part of a five‑person team—Director, Social Worker, and three Credible Service Providers—delivering restorative, trauma‑informed, culturally competent support across Westchester County.

• Build trusting, dignity‑centered relationships with individuals navigating homelessness, behavioral‑health challenges, substance dependence, and repeated low‑level arrests.
• Engage participants using restorative, trauma‑informed, and non‑punitive approaches grounded in “relational accountability, deep listening, and non‑punitive problem‑solving.”
• Adapt role to participant needs—acting as mentor, navigator, peer, advocate, or crisis companion.
• Provide consistent, reliable presence for individuals who have historically struggled to engage with traditional service systems.
• Support participants in accessing housing, benefits, treatment, legal services, and community resources.

• Help participants navigate complex county systems, addressing the documented challenge that high‑need individuals “struggle to navigate and effectively engage with these services.”
• Accompany participants to appointments, court dates, and service‑provider meetings.
• Advocate for participant needs in interagency settings, ensuring their voice and lived experience guide decision‑making.
• Support participants in understanding their rights, options, and pathways through social‑service and behavioral‑health systems.

• Conduct community‑based outreach to individuals who are chronically unhoused, system‑involved, or disconnected from services.
• Serve as a credible, trusted presence in shelters, encampments, courts, community centers, and neighborhoods across Westchester.
• Build rapport with individuals who may be distrustful of institutions, using lived experience as a bridge to engagement.
• Collaborate with partners to identify individuals who would benefit from CW’s relational, trust‑building approach.

• Participate in restorative supervision circles,…