Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Case Manager

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) Case Manager

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is an inherently collaborative community-based public safety and order program that reduces police contacts and chronic criminal law violations. LEAD is a non-coercive program that diverts eligible individuals who have repeated encounters with law enforcement, and who are in extreme need due to poverty, mental health issues and/or substance use disorder, to long-term intensive case management instead of arrest and further involvement with the criminal justice system.

LEAD provides true public safety by addressing the underlying personal and systemic challenges that result in repeated arrest and incarceration. It provides equity-based solutions for individuals who have been historically over represented in the criminal justice system due to the racist criminalization of poverty and homelessness, as well as the "War on Drugs" which has disproportionately harmed communities of color. LEAD is a national model, guided and operated by an array of local stakeholders in the communities that implement it.

This field-based position is a critical component of the LEAD project, providing engagement and intensive case management services to individuals who have repeated contacts with law enforcement, who are suspected of committing specified low-level crimes in the moment of encounter, or are known to be at risk for arrest for these offenses in the near future. LEAD Case Management is based on non-negotiable principles that provide the essential framework to support Participants referred to the program: a harm reduction philosophy, a client-centered and driven approach, intensive case management, a non-displacement principle, peer outreach and counseling, a trauma-informed care perspective, specially-tailored interventions to address individual and community needs, and cultural competency.

The LEAD Case Manager provides low barrier continuous long-term services to a case load of approximately 20-25 individuals. Set hours may include evening or after-hours shifts.

LEAD Case Managers provide Participant-tailored, long-term comprehensive case management services that are consistent with LEAD policies. In this position, your duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Be on-call during assigned shifts to take referrals from officers and dispatch quickly to referral locations within designated municipalities in areas throughout Allegheny County designated as local cohort areas.
• Respond to and follow-up on social contact and community referrals in a timely manner, and according to processes determined in collaboration with the Operational Workgroup.
• Initiate engagement, obtain consent, and complete an initial screening with individuals referred by law enforcement, service providers, community members and authorized others.
• Assess Participants for immediate needs, as well as for housing status, substance use dependency, physical health, mental health, health insurance and other needs.
• Engage Participants in street level outreach, at their homes and in the community to establish an ongoing working relationship and offer services.
• Collaborate with Participants to develop, accomplish and periodically update an individualized service plan that addresses the Participant's basic needs, health care and insurance needs, substance use dependency, mental health, safety, and/or self-change.
• Connect Participants to Harm Reduction services for drug users, if indicated.
• Transport Participants as needed, including from police encounters and to/from case management meetings, treatment sessions, and appointments.
• Help Participants reach the goals they set in their individualized service plans (e.g., help them to access human services, navigate local resources, complete applications and forms, and accompany them to appointments)
• Help Participants access federal and state social programs including cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies and assistance, education and childcare assistance, and similar programs operated and administered in the nonprofit sector.
• Help Participants find and maintain housing.
• Help Participants with basic financial management, including creating a budget and taking them shopping.
• Advocate for Participants with other providers and within the criminal legal system, at court appearances and via written communication, in a manner that advances the LEAD core principles.
• Work closely with community providers to refer and place parents into services that also accommodate their children, wherever possible.
• Identify systemic barriers and potential solutions that address the needs of Participants, and share those observations with local stakeholders responsible for LEAD.

Develop and maintain Participant files according to LEAD, County and state requirements.

Consistently utilize internal processes and procedures that facilitate communication and coordination within the LEAD…