Community Support Intern- San Francisco, CA

Part-Time (approximately 20 hours per week), Paid Internship, In Office

About Us:

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela

We believe that even the biggest problems can be broken down into small, achievable steps. Poverty and access to justice are part of the same problem. And to solve this, we just need to discover the steps. At Open Door Legal (ODL), we’re pioneering the country’s first system of universal access to civil legal representation to dramatically reduce poverty and prove that the law really can belong to all of us. To achieve this ambitious goal, we’ve created an award-winning and best-in-class legal aid organization full of passionate, motivated, gritty, thoughtful, and team-oriented people. We believe that injustice is the heart of poverty and we're looking for someone to join us in having a systemic impact on how we, as a society, ensure justice for all.

Overview of Position

For many stepping into our office, seeking legal services is a vulnerable and significant first step to leading a healthier and more whole life. We are hiring a Community Support Intern to ensure that our clients and guests feel safe, heard, and empowered from the moment they come in to access our services through the legal intake process. You will be one of the first people to represent our mission of universal access to legal services and our values of passion, grit, teamwork, caring, and dynamism to anyone who walks through our doors.

At our offices, we frequently help individuals who have experienced or are currently experiencing trauma, who present in a state of heightened emotional distress, and who may have mental health conditions. You model empathy and cultural humility and are adept at building trust and safety with people from all walks of life. You will be a focused partner with guests and staff to unpack all that impacts our guests and makes it especially challenging for them to engage in the legal intake process. Successful guest support looks like working with the Frontline team to identify guests with specific support needs, providing resources and referrals, and following up on the care with specific guests. You are a self-starting individual capable of managing multiple tasks and responsibilities, as well as comfortable with proactively and independently solving problems with a professional and positive attitude.

This role reports directly to our Managing Frontline Attorney who also has a Master’s in Clinical Psychology. This is a great internship for folks who are excited to work directly with the community and help ensure positive legal outcomes through excellent client interactions. Though you will be providing hands-on support to clients and guests, this role is not a clinical position and hours worked do not qualify for any social work or other mental health profession supervision or licensing hours.

Responsibilities

• Ensure Open Door Legal is accessible to all by providing trauma-informed care, crisis de-escalation, and case management to guests who struggle to engage with traditionally delivered services, such as guests with mental health concerns, histories of trauma, substance use disorders, or cognitive impairment.
• Provide social service referrals, public benefits assistance, and re-entry connections for guests that have holistic needs.
• Work with Frontline Partners (FLPs) to identify guests that need support services, and help FLPs practice skills like crisis intervention, de-escalation, guest management, and preventing vicarious trauma.
• Maintain a guest support caseload with the goal of improving legal outcomes through such activities as helping obtain relevant documents, connecting with necessary holistic support, ensuring they get to their scheduled appointments, performing capacity assessments, and more.
• Conduct targeted outreach to ensure community-based organizations are aware of Open Door Legal and how to refer to us, paying particular attention to groups that work with seniors, unhoused communities, and re-entry populations.
• Establish and manage relationships with providers of services around mental health, homelessness, job training, re-entry, for the elderly, and all other potential holistic needs; ensure our referral database is accurate.
• Provide critical guest support by operating the front desk to ensure continuity of services in the event of absences.
• Embrace and embody our mission of universal access to civil legal aid and ensure that everyone in our service area with a viable legal problem gets appropriate help.
• Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Requirements

• Desire for direct experience working with individuals with low frustration tolerance, with poor interpersonal skills, who may be easily agitated, and/or who have a history of mental illness.
• Highly adaptable, with excellent time management skills in order to prioritize client accessibility and needs.
• Demonstrates the forward-thinking attitude, knowledge, and skills to coach clients and staff in a culturally humble, trauma-informed, and accessible way.
• Ability and willingness to travel locally within San Francisco to our Bayview and Western Addition offices at a minimum, throughout the community, to clients’ living spaces, and with clients to court and other appointments (as needed).
• Must be self-directed, able to work independently, and able to solve difficult problems and handle multiple tasks and prioritize your workload at a high-volume level.
• Willing to learn legal basic concepts around housing, family, employment, personal injury, foreclosure, consumer, immigration, estate planning, and elder abuse law.
• Comfortability using advanced technology and being able to type lengthy documents and reports efficiently.

Bonus Points

• Comfort practicing, translating, and interpreting in Spanish and/or Cantonese (this comes with a slight compensation increase).
• Current enrollment in a degree program in social work; social welfare; marriage, family, and child counseling; counseling psychology; social psychology; or comparable relevant work experience.
• Experience working in a legal environment preferably a legal non-profit or government agency.
• Experience working with seniors, especially those over age 80.
• Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper.
• Experience using Salesforce.

Starting compensation is $20.25 hourly.

This is a temporary position expected to last six to nine months.

Perks and Benefits

• Flexible work hours
• 401K/Retirement Account
• We believe everyone is always learning. In this position, you’ll have the opportunity to work directly with clients alongside passionate legal professionals and learn more about legal aid and the landscape of direct community services in San Francisco.
• We are a fun and hard-working office with best-in-class technology solutions for anyone who’s passionate about making a meaningful and measurable difference.

Applications received before November 15 will receive priority consideration.

Ideal starting date: December 2, 2024

Open Door Legal is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at whitney [at] opendoorlegal [dot] org.

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