Project Director

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:

Staten Island Legal Services (SILS) is part of Legal Services NYC (LSNYC), the largest provider of civil legal services in the country, and provides high-quality civil legal services to low-income communities in Staten Island. SILS is the largest provider of free civil legal services in Staten Island.

Founded in 2004, SILS’s staff of over 30 helps more than 6,000 individuals each year and reaches thousands more through outreach and community legal education. SILS advocates practice in many areas, including tenants’ rights and foreclosure, civil rights, family law, immigration, and education. SILS also works with clients and community partners to identify and challenge the systemic inequalities faced by low-income communities in Staten Island and throughout New York City.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY:

Staten Island Legal Services seeks a creative and dynamic Project Director to lead a vibrant, community-based legal advocacy organization. He/she will work in collaboration with the staff, community partners and city-wide program to fight poverty and achieve racial, social and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers.

The SILS Project Director will have primary responsibility for advancing the vision and mission of the organization, managing day-to-day operations and activities, leading resource development, serving as the lead spokesperson, and directing and coordinating the work of a highly skilled, interdisciplinary team of approximately 30 attorneys, paralegals, social workers and administrative staff as they promote and defend the rights of New York’s most vulnerable communities, including people of color, immigrants, survivors of violence, LGBTQ persons, HIV-affected persons, veterans, and young and elderly residents. The Project Director will work closely with LSNYC’s senior leadership in areas such as advocacy, fundraising and program planning.

The Project Director will also work closely with the SILS Advisory Board, which is comprised of Staten Island practitioners and other stakeholders who support SILS’s mission and fundraising needs.

Key Responsibilities Include:

Organizational Leadership and Management
• Provide inspirational and motivational leadership to a community-based organization with a diverse and highly skilled staff.
• Ensure the delivery of high-quality legal services to low-income individuals.
• Oversee all supervision, organizational planning, project and program development in partnership with program leaders, staff and external stakeholders.
• Ensure the organization’s fiscal health, including overseeing and expanding the annual budget of $4M.
• Maintain a strong and effective working relationship with the staff (including the organization’s union, LSSA 2320), LSNYC leadership, SILS’s Advisory Board, and external stakeholders, such as legislators, government agencies, courts and funders.
• Oversee the program’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including recruitment, hiring, training and professional development.
• Support a collaborative, open and fair organizational culture.
Program Advocacy and Leadership
• Further our mission through advocacy on issues affecting low-income New Yorkers, including civil rights, LGBTQ concerns, affordable housing, fair lending, immigration, income security, freedom from violence, and gender and racial justice.
• Serve as an active member of the LSNYC citywide senior leadership team, which includes the Project Directors of other borough offices, and participate in citywide planning and initiatives affecting SILS and other LSNYC programs.
• Act as a visible and engaging spokesperson for SILS and LSNYC to extend our public presence and effectively represent SILS and LSNYC to public officials, community and media.
• Develop and maintain active relationships with local, city, state and federal elected officials and other partners.
Resource Development and Communications
• Create and implement a fundraising strategy, ensuring a diversified funding base including federal, state and local grants as well as foundations and individual donors.
• Establish and maintain relationships with current and potential funders and donors through cultivation, solicitation, and engagement.
• Advocate with federal, state and local officials, to maintain and build funding for legal services.
• Ensure the program’s compliance with grants awarded through public and private sources.
• Drive a comprehensive communications strategy for SILS.