Immigrants rights attorney job in NYC

Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) is a not-for-profit organization in New York City with a mission of ensuring that all children have access to quality public education. AFC’s work combines five strategies, including direct representation of individual children and parents, community education, public policy, litigation and information dissemination about the public schools. AFC works on behalf of children and youth who are at greatest risk of academic failure due to poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, homelessness, immigration status/limited English proficiency, or involvement in the child welfare or juvenile justice system.

Position Description

AFC seeks a bi-lingual staff attorney for its Immigrant Students’ Rights Project, which aims to assist underserved immigrant families to obtain high quality, appropriate educational services. The Project will focus its efforts on targeted communities, school districts and agencies with high concentrations of immigrant parents, many of whom speak Spanish. Responsibilities will include direct representation of families in special education administrative hearings and school discipline hearings, as well as case management responsibilities, including attendance at special education review meetings and school visits. The attorney will also be responsible for providing training and technical assistance to a range of non-profits to build the capacity of these organizations to address educational issues. The attorney may also work on policy analysis, research, and advocacy or litigation matters related to students and their families.

Specifically, the position will include: 1) providing case services and legal representation to clients; 2) researching and conducting outreach to organizations that provide services to our client population; 3) researching and documenting best practices for working with immigrant and ELL populations; 4) performing outreach and providing workshops, which may occasionally need to occur on nights and weekends, to parents, youth and professionals about their rights to attend school and receive adequate educational services; 5) providing training, technical assistance, and information on education-related matters to other community-based professionals to build capacity; 6) promoting inter-agency coordination to facilitate better delivery of educational services; and 7) assisting other Project staff with ongoing policy work and other projects on ELL and immigrant student issues.

Requirements

• Law degree and admission or pending admission to the NYS bar;
• Demonstrated commitment to AFC’s mission;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Spanish language fluency required;
• Experience working with immigrant, low-income and special needs communities, especially an understanding of the cultural issues that often accompany language barriers;
• Interest in and knowledge of educational issues and issues affecting children, low-income families, immigrant communities, etc.;
• Experience working with children and families;
• Ability to work well with others on collaborative projects;
• Knowledge and experience of community based agencies and youth and human services providers;
• Organizational skills, flexibility, initiative, maturity, cooperative attitude;
• Microsoft Excel, Word, and Access skills strongly preferred or a willingness to learn;
• Ability to keep a cool head in a busy atmosphere


Salary

Generous benefits are offered. Salary in the 40s, depending upon experience.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/lgl/1780394057.html