Outreach Intern, In Our Backyards (Remote)
Who we are
The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grassroots organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.
Vera has a staff of almost 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.
Who you are:
The In Our Backyards Outreach Intern will support a wide array of project needs for In Our Backyards. Primarily, they will be responsible for supporting miscellaneous campaign research tasks (such as building our knowledge-bank on county and state-level stakeholders, policies, key dates, dynamics etc.), jail expansion project tracking, drafting, and other administrative tasks.
In this role, you will:
- Support outreach research tasks
- Build database of county and state-level stakeholders, policies, key dates, etc. in priority states/counties
- Track local jail construction/expansion projects
- Research existing and emerging reform models for blueprinting local policy/practice change
- Contact jails to collect population information when needed
- Submit and manage public records requests as necessary
- Assist with drafting public-facing materials
- Support production of slide decks or memos for presentations
- Support Program Associate in drafting a jail expansion prevention toolkit
- Support community grant cohort goals
- Join calls with community partners
- Work with program associate to plan capacity-building webinars
What qualifications do you need?
Required:
- Previous involvement with a local/statewide issue/electoral campaign
- Experience either working in/on issues related to local criminal legal systems or with direct experience of going through a local criminal legal system
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills
- Comfort communicating with outside partners/stakeholders
- Ability to write for multiple audiences
- Keen sense of how to use search engines to your advantage
- Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
Preferred:
- Lives in/has lived in a rural community
Applications may also be faxed to:
ATTN: Human Resources / Outreach Intern, In Our Backyards
Vera Institute of Justice
34 35th St, Suite 4-2A, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Fax: (212) 941-9407
Please use only one method (online, mail or fax) of submission.
No phone calls, please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.
Vera is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.
Vera works to advance justice, particularly racial justice, in an increasingly multicultural country and globally connected world. We value diverse experiences, including with regard to educational background and justice system contact, and depend on a diverse staff to carry out our mission.
For more information about Vera, please visit www.vera.org