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Overview
The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts state public defender agency, is seeking a person with experience in program management who is committed to justice for parents, young adults, and children to serve as Program Coordinator within its Children and Family Law Division (CAFL). The Program Coordinator will work with CAFL’s Deputy Chief Counsel to develop and oversee new programs and projects and expand existing ones to improve the quality and increase the availability of legal representation of parents, young adults, and children involved or at risk of becoming involved in the state’s family regulation/child welfare system.
We fight for equal justice and human dignity by supporting our clients in achieving their legal and life goals. We zealously advocate for the rights of individuals and promote just public policy to protect the rights of all.
Our Values
Courage • Accountability • Respect • Excellence
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION MISSION STATEMENT
CPCS is committed to protecting the fundamental constitutional and human rights of our assigned clients through zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and the fullness of excellent legal representation. We are dedicated to building and maintaining strong professional relationships, while striving to accept, listen to and respect the diverse circumstances of each client, as we dedicate ourselves to meeting their individual needs. It is our CPCS mission to achieve these goals, and in furtherance thereof, we embrace and endorse diversity, equity and inclusion as our core values as we maintain a steadfast commitment to: (1) Ensure that CPCS management and staff members represent a broad range of human differences and experience; (2) Provide a work climate that is respectful and supports success; and (3) Promote the dignity and well-being of all staff members. CPCS leadership is responsible for ensuring equity, diversity, and inclusion. The ability to achieve these goals with any level of certainty is ultimately the responsibility of each member of the CPCS community.
AGENCY OVERVIEW
CPCS is the state agency in Massachusetts responsible for providing an attorney when the state or federal constitution or a state statute requires the appointment of an attorney for a person who cannot afford to retain one. The agency provides representation in criminal, delinquency, youthful offender, family regulation, guardianship, mental health, sexually dangerous person, and sex offender registry cases, as well as in appeals and post-conviction and post-judgment proceedings related to those matters.
The clients we represent are diverse across every context imaginable and bring many unique cultural dimensions to the matters we address. This reality creates a critical need for CPCS staff to be culturally competent and able to work well with people of different races, ethnicities, genders and/or sexual orientation identities, abilities, and limited English proficiency, among other protected characteristics.
DIVISION OVERVIEW
The Children and Family Law Division provides zealous legal representation to parents, children and older youth, custodians, and guardians in a range of civil matters involving families. These include care and protection cases (known in other states as dependency or child neglect/abuse cases); termination of parental rights cases; child requiring assistance/status offense matters, and guardianship-of-a-minor cases. Our multidisciplinary legal teams defend families against unwarranted governmental interference and protect the constitutional and statutory rights of their individual clients.
CAFL staff’s representation of clients is provided through 13 multidisciplinary litigation offices, but most of CAFL’s work is handled by approximately 900 private attorneys whom CPCS trains and certifies as eligible to accept assignments. Both private attorneys and staff are supported by the CAFL Training Unit, which is part of CPCS’s Training Department.
CAFL’s client-directed legal advocacy plays a critical role in cases involving families. CAFL staff and private attorneys protect the rights of parents and children to remain together whenever possible and their right to be reunited quickly when children are removed from their homes. Our legal teams provide clients a voice and work to ensure that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and other agencies provide children, young adults, and parents the support and services they need and to which they are entitled under the law. For a parent involved in a C&P case, having a skilled CAFL attorney may mean the difference between the family’s reunification and the termination of parental rights. For a teenager who is the subject of a truancy case, CAFL’s advocacy may secure the special education services that enable the client to succeed in school and avoid being placed in a foster home or in congregate care. For siblings who are at risk of being separated, CAFL’s legal team will fight to ensure that they can stay together.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Program Coordinator is a new position within the Children and Family Law Division and it has a wide range of duties related to new and ongoing CAFL programs aimed to improve the quality and increase the availability of representation of parents, young adults, and children involved or at risk of becoming involved in care and protection cases, as well as programs aimed to ensure the availability of education advocacy, improve the quality of training and performance evaluations, and improve data collection and reporting. The Program Coordinator will work with CPCS’ Finance Department and Office of the General Counsel in the creation and implementation of contracts and programs with third-party vendors as well as to meet any reporting requirements that go along with those contracts.
The Program Coordinator will report directly to the CAFL Deputy Chief Counsel.
Qualifications
MINIMUM ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
The ideal candidate will be a person who is both highly organized and detail oriented, and yet enjoys interacting with people in a friendly work environment and will take satisfaction from working in an agency whose commitment is to protecting the fundamental legal rights of indigent persons.
The successful candidate must have:
• Bachelor’s degree and at least four (4) years of program coordinator experience, or an equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and experience;
• Access to reliable transportation in order to attend meetings at various locations throughout the state; and,
• Access to a personal computer with home internet access sufficient to work remotely.
QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS
• Strong writing and editorial skills;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and to exercise considerable judgment and discretion;
• Strong leadership and organizational skills;
• Ability to present information clearly and concisely. Able to communicate effectively with all staff within the organization and with stakeholders outside the organization;
• Proven ability to complete projects according to outlined scope and timeline;
• Ability to work independently and take initiative and to establish effective working relationships and work as a team;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and to exercise considerable judgment and discretion;
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Experience with program management software tools, methodologies, and best practices;
• Able to handle multiple tasks, prioritize effectively, meet deadlines, and deliver high-quality work;
• Experience in organizational management, including program and data management; and,
• Previous experience in a legal setting a plus.
Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES
The duties of the Program Coordinator will include, but are not limited to:
• Coordinating new and on-going programs and projects related to improving the work of staff and private attorney representation, including but not limited to increasing the use of social workers and parent partners, multidisciplinary preventative legal advocacy programs, and programs designed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the Family Regulation System;
• Coordinating the monitoring and evaluation of programs and projects and assisting CAFL in assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of programs relating to the representation of clients in CAFL cases;
• Working with third-party vendors to ensure cost-effectiveness of the funding and programs and the efficacy of the programs and projects;
• Compiling information and writing reports regarding the programs and projects;
• Working with the Office of the General Counsel and Finance Department to create and implement contracts with third-party vendors for the purpose of obtaining pre-petition services for our client base;
• Working with the General Counsel and Finance Department to meet any reporting requirements in relation to any programs or projects;
• Coordinating other staff assigned to work with the Program Coordinator on particular programs and projects;
• Facilitating communication with staff, private attorneys, third-party vendors, and other stakeholders;
• Preparing and presenting progress updates to appropriate management channels on a regular basis; and,
• Other duties as assigned.
EEO Statement
The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran or military status, genetic information, gender identity, or sexual orientation as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other applicable federal and state statutes and organizational policies. Applicants who have questions about equal employment opportunity or who need reasonable accommodations can contact the Chief Human Resources Officer, Sandra Debow-Huang at sdebow@publiccounsel.net
