1st Shift Residential Case Manager
3 days ago
Chicago
Job Description Title: Residential Case Manager Location: Full-Time In-Person at Dr. Dennis Deer Community Justice Center Hours: 1st Shift 7am-4pm Monday through Friday Status: Full-time Exempt Reports to: Residential Manager Salary: Commensurate with experience Job Summary: The Residential Case Manager plays a critical role in supporting residents through structured case management, crisis intervention, and holistic services. This position requires a high level of professionalism, accountability, and good judgment while working with risk clients ages 18-25 in a residential setting. The case manager will manage a caseload of up to 20 high-needs clients, ensuring treatment plans are implemented effectively, residents’ needs are met, and departmental goals are achieved. Responsibilities Residential Services * Manages a caseload of up to 20 high-needs residents, ensuring each client receives individualized attention and support. * Builds, reviews, and assists residents in executing individualized treatment plans. * Document resident progress on a regular basis, ensuring accuracy and compliance with internal standards. * Perform crisis interventions when needed. * Facilitate educational programming for residents and plan group activities or events that support community engagement and skill development. * Encourage resident participation in structured programming to foster growth, accountability, and independence. * Build and maintain strong relationships with local service providers to expand opportunities for residents. * Collaborate with internal staff to meet department goals and ensure a consistent approach to service delivery. * Transport residents to and from community appointments, services, or programming as needed. * Greets and assists all clients, visitors, vendors, and employees in a friendly, courteous and professional manner. * Develop rapport and build long-term relationships with residents and their families * Daily monitoring of assigned client interactions within a communal residential environment, oversee house rules, chores and regulations to ensure a safe and harmonious living space * Collect program specific intake paperwork and conduct intakes for all assigned clients * Provides orientation to all new residents. Reviews community policies and procedures related to lease compliance and reviews house rules in coordination with residential program rules * Assist clients in learning and improving independent living skills, i.e. personal hygiene, housekeeping skills, nutrition, and shopping for food and personal items. * Actively promotes the use of community resources and educational opportunities. * Performs crisis prevention and intervention as needed. Reports critical client care issues or service provider issues to direct supervisor. * Support and/or facilitate client groups and workshops as assigned. * Maintains clients’ files. Performs written and electronic recordkeeping as required by internal and external funders. * Complete hourly and daily staff activity report. * Host health, wellness, and nutrition programs and seminars to promote well-being * Support in planning and organization of groups, special activities, and outings that meet the needs and goals of the clients * Ensures court compliance for all legal matters Support of Other Programs and Administrative Services As Needed and Assigned * LCLC anticipates there will be downtime when residents are participating in training, working off site, or sleeping. Other job responsibilities may be assigned during these times to support other programs or administrative services as needed for the organization. Additionally, duties will vary depending on your assigned shift. Required Qualifications: * Bachelor's degree required in human services, social work, psychology or a related field. Equivalent experience may be considered. Masters degree preferred. * 5+ years of personal or professional experience working with justice involved youth under 25 * 5+ years of experience working with diverse populations and an understanding of the challenges faced by individuals with criminal justice involvement * Valid Driver’s License, Insurance, and daily reliable transportation * Strong de-escalation and negotiation skills * High level of interpersonal skills, relationship-building, and ability to relate to young people in the criminal justice system under 25 * Passion for criminal justice reform, particularly reducing incarceration for young people through supportive community alternatives * Flexible and willingness to serve on a team in a new pilot program * Ability to create a culture of continuous quality improvement in service delivery and innovation; * Ability to work independently and be proactive * Passion for, understanding of, and commitment to LCLC’s vision and mission; Work Environment/Travel While performing the duties of this job, the employee works full-time in a residential setting. Some local, county, or state travel may be required. Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger; reach with hands and arms; climb and descend stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, or crouch; communicate verbally. The role requires near visual acuity (approximately 20 in or less) to utilize a computer. The employee will be expected to respond appropriately to any verbal or physical conflicts among residents and will need to be trained in de-escalation and emergency protocols as a result. Position Type/Expected Hours of Work This is a residential services position requiring the exercise of discretion and independent judgment and is required to work a full-time work week, as designated by the LCLC Employee Handbook, with periodic longer hours, including potential evenings, weekends, and odd hours. Resident Case Managers may be called upon to cover 2nd or 3rd shift when other Resident Case Managers are out of the office or call off. Who We Are Lawndale Christian Legal Center (LCLC) was founded to provide a unique form of community holistic defense representation grounded in restorative justice values to minors and emerging adults (25 and under) in the North Lawndale area caught in the criminal justice system. LCLC’s highly relational, community-led model of representation is performed by an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, case managers, outreach workers, circle-keepers, and community partners. In addition to providing full criminal defense representation, LCLC’s community holistic defense team identifies and meets the legal and social needs of our clients at every phase of the criminal justice system: from diversion, arrest, through trial, and the completion of any period of probation, supervision, and parole. In early 2025, LCLC will be opening a new $22 million facility named the Dr. Dennis Deer Community Justice Center. In this new facility, LCLC will own and operate a three-story office building plus twenty units of studio-style housing (hereinafter “Deer Housing”) for emerging adult men, 18-25 years old, who are or have been represented by our community holistic defense team. The community holistic defense team will identify emerging adult men at high-risk of going to prison and negotiate for them to stay in one of the twenty units of Deer Housing as an alternative to incarceration. By serving justice-involved minors and emerging adults holistically in their community, LCLC is leading the transformation of the traditional criminal justice system by building out age-appropriate interventions and new best practices grounded in repair and restoration that are more effective, cost less, and result in greater public safety for all. Our holistic, community-led model of restorative justice is a template for creating a justice system that better serves Cook County and the nation. More information on LCLC can be found at . About North Lawndale North Lawndale is a vibrant and resilient community and we are proud to be a part of it. Our Freedom Center office site is located just next door to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Apartments and Exhibit Center, built on the site where Dr. King lived for six months during his Chicago Freedom Campaign in 1966. North Lawndale is tightly knit, and we are gratified by our affiliation with the Lawndale Christian Community Church and North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, two organizations that have done much to bring necessary health and legal services to the community. As a result of decades of disinvestment, “white flight”, redlining, and other harbingers of systemic poverty and violence, North Lawndale suffers from high levels of poverty, economic hardship, violence, and over-policing. In North Lawndale, approximately 850 officers are assigned to the two police districts that patrol 35,000 residents. In addition, a significant percentage of specialized units (which are historically aggressive and abusive) rove in our community. More than 1,500 youth are arrested in North Lawndale yearly, the second highest rate in Chicago. Indiscriminate stops and searches of North Lawndale residents are a daily occurrence; 66% of adults surveyed perceived no legitimate reason for their most recent police stop. A startling 59% of adults in North Lawndale have been arrested, 30% convicted, and 27% jailed. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds that our youth encounter within North Lawndale, they demonstrate hope, resolve, and a drive to make their neighborhood a better place. We are continually inspired by our clients’ resilience and positivity in the face of external challenges. It is both an honor and a privilege to help them walk them through and away from the criminal justice system and equip them to take control of their future. What We Do LCLC reaches over 350 minors and emerging adults in the criminal justice system annually with the following services: * Community Holistic Defense for Juveniles and Emerging Adults: Free legal representation for indigent clients grounded in holistic defense practices which acknowledge that quality of representation and criminal legal outcomes are improved for youth when their unique developmental needs are simultaneously addressed by an integrated, interdisciplinary team of attorneys and social service providers. * Community Housing: LCLC owns and operates 20 units of studio style housing for emerging adult men, 18-25 years old, inside the Deer Community Justice Center. In addition, LCLC has created a network of approximately 275 private landlords and funders that place other LCLC clients and their families in subsidized affordable housing units. * Restorative Justice Community Court: LCLC was the lead agency that gathered numerous community and cook county court stakeholders together to design and launch the first Restorative Justice Community Court in the country in North Lawndale in September 2017. This court is based upon the tradition of restorative justice circle keeping and other restorative justice practices to enable repair and community integration for emerging adult men, 18-25, facing qualifying felony criminal legal charges. LCLC hopes to add a juvenile call to this court to serve minors 17 and younger under the same model. * Community Holistic Juvenile Diversion: Since 2020, LCLC has worked with the Mayor’s office and the Chicago Police Department to close the Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC) and create a new model of juvenile diversion for Chicago. LCLC is one of eight service providers in the city and focuses on serving youth from the west side diverted from the courts by the Chicago Police Department. LCLC looks to continuously innovate our program portfolio to build upon new best practices for serving minors and emerging adults and better serve our communities. Lawndale Christian Legal Center is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and organizational needs. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative of those we serve. North Lawndale, Austin, and East and West Garfield Park residents, minorities, and individuals impacted by the criminal justice system encouraged to apply.