AmeriCorps VISTA - Humanitarian Access Coordinator

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Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto is accepting applications for the 2017-2018 CLSEPA VISTA - Humanitarian Access Coordinator

Applications must be received by 5/31/2017 via MyAmeriCorps Portal.

Go to: https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/publicRequestSearch.do and search for CLSEPA

Program Type:

AmeriCorps VISTA

Program:

CLSEPA VISTA - Humanitarian Access Coordinator

Start Date:

7/31/2017

End Date:

8/3/2018

Work Schedule:

Full Time

Education Level:

College graduate and above

Age Requirement:

Must be older than 18

Location:

East Palo Alto, CA, 94303

Service Areas:

Community Outreach, Community and Economic Development, Children/Youth

Skills:

General Skills, Team Work, Professionalism, Leadership, Recruitment, Writing/Editing, Law

Languages:

English fluency required; strong Spanish proficiency required

Benefits:

Relocation Allowance, Public Transportation Allowance, Choice of Education Award ($5,775) or End of Service Stipend ($1,500), Health Coverage, Training, Childcare assistance if eligible, Living Allowance ($19,800/yr - subject to change)

Summary:

Help immigrant families and children living in California find safety and opportunity by expanding volunteer, pro bono, and other resources available to help them succeed.

Project Description:

Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto’s (CLSEPA) mission is to provide transformative legal services that enable diverse communities in East Palo Alto and beyond to achieve a secure and thriving future. CLSEPA does this by providing direct legal services to the community in the areas of immigration, housing, and economic advancement. This VISTA project will support the work of the immigration team by coordinating access to our immigration legal services. Our community has large numbers of undocumented persons who are forced to live in the shadows as a result of their immigration status. Many of these are woman and children who have fled violence in their home countries and who now face deportation. For many people, uncertainty relating to immigration status is one of the greatest barriers to economic opportunity and full participation in our community. Our immigration program assists vulnerable people such as these to receive lawful immigration status, work authorization, and protection from deportation.

Unfortunately, the demand for these services within the community far outstrips our immigration team’s capacity to provide them. The VISTA’s project will increase CLSEPA’s capacity to provide immigration services by recruiting and coordinating volunteers and pro bono attorneys to donate their time and talents to helping our clients. Given the immigration policies of the new administration, CLSEPA has received a lot of interest from community members who want to get involved and assist us in our work. The VISTA will be responsible for coordinating access to our services by potential clients and leveraging and coordinating volunteers to support our work.

Member Duties:

The VISTA will coordinate access to our immigration legal services services by organizing clinics during which we are able to convey important information to community members about their rights. During these clinics, volunteers help us to screen potential clients’ cases for representation by our in-house attorneys or by pro bono attorneys. The VISTA will help to recruit, train, and coordinate these volunteers and pro bono attorneys. The VISTA will work to strengthen our collaboration with neighboring universities and law schools and with pro bono counsel at local law firms and private corporations. The VISTA will identify and coordinate with community-based organizations that can host new legal workshops, clinics, and financial education/coaching programs, to help the sustainability of our program going forward. The VISTA will help develop materials to provide to limited-English proficient persons to advise them of their rights. These tasks will support CLSEPA’s mission of providing transformative legal services to the community.

CLSEPA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer that provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees/applicants in all of our employment practices without regard to race, religion, color, sex or gender (including gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, pregnancy- and childbirth-related medical conditions), sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, uniform-service member/veteran status, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, taking/requesting statutorily protected leave, or any other basis protected by law.