WEST REGION Program Manager​/Los Angeles, CA; Remote

Partners for Justice (PFJ) was founded to transform public defense locally and across the United States, diminishing the effect of race and wealth on legal outcomes. This means ensuring that public defenders are equipped to assist clients with the underlying drivers of legal system involvement, to address the civil and family enmeshed penalties of arrest, to secure better legal outcomes both inside and outside the courtroom, and to help more clients emerge from prosecution with their rights, life, and future protected.

Since our launch in 2018, PFJ has grown rapidly and we now support public defender agencies across the country through embedded collaborative defense teams and capacity building support.

PFJ works closely with public defender offices to help them adopt more collaborative and holistic defense practice. Our flagship program embeds trained Client Advocates in a host public defender, immediately expanding their ability to provide clients with wraparound support and navigate the enmeshed civil penalties of arrest. The Program Manager will have responsibility for a selection of public defender partnerships in the West Region, specifically Los Angeles County at the outset.

The Program Manager will help recruit and train Client Advocates, build relationships within the respective site offices, provide resources and support to the Advocates’ on-site supervisors, build a network of local partner organizations, and provide coaching and support to Advocates. This work is critical to ensure that these offices are equipped with the knowledge, capacity, and resources to implement holistic practices in the offices that work with PFJ.

This Program Manager will also support Advocates working as part of the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Holistic Early Assessment & Linkages (HEAL) program, a program intended to support clients with felony charges access mental heath diversion and accelerate release from custody.

• Program management:
  The Program Manager will have shared responsibility for the success of PFJ programs in the West Region and direct responsibility for one or more PFJ programs at specific partner offices. This includes ensuring that PFJ meets all programmatic objectives and goals, including recruitment, training delivery, and service provision (with support from the PFJ national team).
• Technical assistance to West Region offices:
  Serve as primary point of contact with designated public defender partners, building meaningful, credible relationships with Advocate supervisors. Offer advice and best practices on integrating holistic defense generally and the PFJ program specifically into office practice.
• Coach, empower and supervise PFJ Advocates:
  Provide one‑on‑one support to Advocates on personal and professional development. Ensure PFJ’s Advocate performance expectations are consistently met. Work with teams to identify and integrate best practices for the PFJ program in their office. Organize regular trainings or workshops to deliver local learning experiences that meet Advocate needs (in partnership with office supervisors).
• Partnership development:
  Working with Advocates and office supervisors, identify and build relationships with legal aid providers, community‑based organizations, and government agencies providing services that benefit clients.
• Community awareness:
  Maintain knowledge of local dynamics and context that affect clients, including developments in the criminal and civil legal systems or related to poverty alleviation. Help Advocates understand the communities in which they are working.
• National resources:
  Help define the PFJ Advocate role and experience. Gather best practices and contribute to national resources and…