About the Health Justice Program

The Health Justice (HJ) program brings a racial justice and immigrant rights focus to healthcare advocacy in New York City and State. In partnership with individuals and community-based organizations, we use a wide range of advocacy tools – including community organizing, coalition-building, individual representation, impact litigation, and legislative advocacy – to advance four broad goals: (1) combat the human rights crisis in immigration detention; (2) promote immigrant access to healthcare; (3) eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination and systemic and institutional barriers that limit New Yorkers’ access to healthcare; and (4) address the social determinants of health so that all New Yorkers can live healthy lives. Current campaigns focus on advancing the civil and human rights of people confined to immigration detention, including the right to access necessary care, and advocating for their release; providing immigration representation and health advocacy for undocumented and uninsured immigrants with serious health conditions; providing immigration representation and health advocacy for undocumented immigrants who identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, or intersex; improving access to medical care for people with disabilities; and addressing social determinants of health, including outreach and education on health-related matters.  

About the Role 

This position is a remarkable opportunity for an experienced, creative leader to build on NYLPI’s strengths and successes, and increase our impact by developing and managing ambitious cases and campaigns. The Health Justice Director will provide strategic leadership, identifying systemic health-related issues and policies that affect clients and communities and pursuing powerful solutions by creatively combining organizing, policy advocacy, and high-impact litigation to achieve community goals. The director will maintain a bold and collaborative advocacy culture with program staff and will work to enhance relationships with client communities, advocacy and community groups, the courts, pro bono partners, government agencies, elected and other public officials, the media, and the nonprofit legal community. 

Reporting to the Legal Director, the Health Justice Director is responsible for the day-to-day management, professional development, and evaluation of the legal, advocacy, and administrative staff in the Health Justice program. The Health Justice Director will collaborate with NYLPI’s Disability Justice and Environmental Justice programs, Director of Policy, and with community and coalition partners. With NYLPI’s Development team, the Health Justice Director will pursue grants and report to funders on our work.   

The Health Justice Director frequently speaks publicly about NYLPI’s work, presenting testimony, interviewing with the media, and taking other opportunities to educate and pursue Health Justice as a thought leader.  

QUALIFICATIONS  

Required 

• Demonstrated commitment to community centered advocacy and experience in health justice, racial justice, and/or immigrant rights.
• Significant relevant litigation experience, including federal and complex civil litigation.
• Management, supervisory, and/or leadership experience in a nonprofit legal/advocacy program, or equivalent experience demonstrating strong skills in those areas (for example leading litigation teams). 
• Excellent writing, analytic, interpersonal, and public speaking skills.
• Ability to relate to and communicate effectively with a diverse group of clients, community partners, and staff, as well as nonprofit, government, judicial, and business communities.
• Excellent strategic judgment and the drive to originate and effectuate challenging campaigns. 
• Attorney in good standing and licensed to practice law in New York or eligible for admission to the New York bar at the time of hiring (must be admitted within one year of hire).

Preferred 

• Experience working with coalitions of community members and community-based organizations. 
• Experience with policy and/or administrative advocacy.
• Exposure to healthcare systems and/or Medicaid. 
• Experience in immigration law and/or working with people who have been held in immigration detention.
• Written and spoken proficiency in Spanish.
• Ties to NY based immigration and health advocacy community. 

About NYLPI

For more than 45 years, NYLPI has been a leading civil rights advocate partnering with communities fighting a legacy of marginalization based on race, immigration status, poverty, neighborhood pollution, and disabilities. NYLPI pioneered the practice of community lawyering in the five boroughs of New York City. These communities shape our priorities, and their struggles for justice demand innovative solutions. Our interdisciplinary teams of advocates use every tool available – community organizing, impact litigation and individual representation, policy advocacy, media, pro bono partnerships, and public education – to solve seemingly intractable problems, develop leaders, and build collective power to achieve justice. We strive to secure environmental justice for disadvantaged communities, create equal access to health care, achieve equality of opportunity and self-determination for people with disabilities, ensure immigrant opportunity, and strengthen local nonprofits. To learn more about NYLPI, visit www.nylpi.org. 

NYLPI offers a competitive salary from $114,000 to $175,000 based on years of relevant experience.  NYLPI offers comprehensive employer-paid benefits, including health insurance, short- and long-term disability and life insurance, an outstanding retirement savings plan, fifteen (15) days of vacation during the first year of employment, and a holiday swapping policy to allow for the observation of holidays of your choice.   

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Please email applications to [email protected] with the subject line “Attention: Health Justice Director.” Applications must include:

1. Detailed cover letter explaining how you learned of this position, your interest, passion, and experience, with a specific answer to the following required question: How have your background or experiences, professional or otherwise, prepared you to contribute to our commitment to cultural competency and diversity, equity, and inclusion? Feel free to think broadly about your response to this question, applying various aspects of your life and personal experiences. Please also reference in your cover letter where you saw this posting.
2. Resume
3. Persuasive writing sample

We strongly encourage candidates fluent in multiple languages and candidates from historically oppressed groups and those who have been directly affected by the US immigration and healthcare system to apply. We are committed to advancing social justice and civil rights in our advocacy, and we value the dynamism and perspective that staff diversity, equity, and inclusion bring to the work and culture of our organization. We strive to promote behaviors, attitudes and policies that enable us to work inclusively and effectively in cross-cultural situations with clients, co-workers, and community partners. We actively recruit and seek to grow and maintain a staff that is diverse along many axes, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and gender identity.