The Opportunity

Essie Justice Group (Essie) is building grassroots power to dismantle the incarceration system — the most egregious generator of racial and gender injustice of our time. We are a loving and powerful community of women with incarcerated loved ones, including cis and trans women, formerly incarcerated women, gender-expansive people, elders, and young people.

After more than a decade of building a strong, engaged membership across California and nationally, Essie is deepening its care and leadership infrastructure to support women with incarcerated loved ones and advance a Black feminist, abolitionist vision of community safety and liberation. The Reentry Caseworker & Community Care Specialist role is a cornerstone of this work and will provide healing-centered, individualized, and strategic support for members across our network — from members navigating acute crises to Black mothers and caregivers recently bailed out by Essie.

Since 2017, Essie has partnered with National Bail Out on the Black Mama’s Day Bail Out campaign, and bailouts remain a vital part of our work. In addition to post-bail care, this role will staff Essie’s member-led Care Team, facilitate strategy circles in crisis response, hold healing circles, coordinate and innovate mutual aid, and connect members with essential services and referrals. We are seeking someone who is deeply aligned with Essie’s values, politically grounded in Black feminist abolition, and able to show up with love, rigor, and consistency in every interaction.

Core Responsibilities

Care Navigation & 1:1 Support

• Lead Essie’s care offerings end-to-end, ensuring women with incarcerated loved ones and formerly incarcerated women receive thoughtful, coordinated support and responsive navigation through available resources.
• Serve as the primary point of relationship-based support for approximately seven mothers/caregivers bailed out during Essie’s annual Black Mama’s Bail Out, stewarding their reentry journeys.

Skilled in communicating with care and compassion with people who are navigating trauma or high-stress situations

• Conduct comprehensive intakes and develop individualized healing and care plans rooted in each mother’s/caregiver’s goals, needs, and vision for their future.
• Coordinate referrals and build connections to trusted community-based services, including housing, mental health, employment, and wellness supports.
• Provide consistent 1:1 support through in-person and remote check-ins, cultivating long-term relationships grounded in trust, accountability, and growth.
• Organize and coordinate member participation in court support to ensure women feel held and accompanied during critical moments.

Program Implementation & Expansion

• Stay abreast of care offerings from peer organizations, gathering insights on how care is offered and applying learnings to strengthen Essie’s internal practices.
• Continually assess Essie’s current care infrastructure and develop clear, actionable recommendations for improvement.
• Support the redesign and implementation of Essie’s Immediate Needs Program processes to ensure timely, responsive, and values-aligned care.
• Lead care navigation and post-release support for at least one new bail action in the coming year, ensuring integration of participants into Essie’s broader community and organizing efforts.
• Travel to other office sites to support care infrastructure and foster strong cross-site collaboration.

Care Infrastructure & Internal Collaboration

• Use internal systems (e.g. Salesforce) to track care plans, engagement, and outcomes in a respectful and non-punitive way.
• Participate in internal team calls, and cross-department coordination as needed.
• Work alongside the member-led Care Team to strengthen systems of healing, wellness, and connection that sustain our California and National sisterhood
• Help build internal practices and protocols to support high-quality care rooted in dignity and justice.
  
  

Who We’re Looking For

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in care coordination, healing justice, case management, or similar relational support roles, especially with Black women and formerly incarcerated communities.
• Strong grounding in Black feminist, abolitionist, and anti-carceral values.
• Demonstrated ability to hold non-punitive, loving accountability, and consistent support in 1:1 settings.
• Experience coordinating services, navigating systems (e.g. housing, healthcare), and advocating on behalf of others in complex situations.
• Deep listening and relational skills; someone who follows up, follows through, and can be trusted with people’s stories and needs.
• Experience working across teams or organizations and comfort with documentation, tracking, and care reporting systems.
• Willingness and ability to travel to Oakland for team retreats, care program collaboration, and internal development.

Qualities

• Rooted in care, politicized in action: You don’t separate healing from justice. You believe deeply in the power of care as a political tool, and you act with integrity, humility, and fierce love.
• Relationally Attune: You’re someone people open up to and trust. You can navigate sensitive, painful topics without judgment — and you know how to show up and stay consistent.
• Organized & Intentional: You can juggle multiple care plans, follow-ups, and logistics with grace. You’re the kind of person who remembers details that matter and can hold long-term support arcs.
• Emotionally Grounded: You don’t need to be perfect, but you can self-regulate, ask for help, and bring a steady presence to moments of challenge or crisis.
• Additive Energy: You bring warmth, flexibility, and clarity into spaces. You see struggle and possibility as intertwined, and you hold a sense of humor and community wherever you go.
• Discerning, Honest, and Trustworthy: You are a thoughtful team member who acts in alignment with your integrity and are unfailingly trustworthy.
  

To Apply

Please address a personal, specific, and thoughtful cover letter to the “Essie Hiring Committee” and submit along with a resume through our hiring portal (https://essiejusticegroup.bamboohr.com/jobs). Your resume tells us what you can do; your cover letter should tell us who you are and why you want to work with Essie.

Essie Justice Group provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all staff members. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and skills. Essie does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, immigration status, socioeconomic status, ancestry, age, size, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, familial status, veteran status, disability, AIDS/HIV status, medical condition, prior conviction, arrest history, traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, or any other characteristic protected by law.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, performance assessment, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

About Essie Justice Group

Essie Justice Group is a non profit organization of women with incarcerated loved ones taking on the rampant injustices created by mass incarceration. Our award-winning Healing to Advocacy Model brings women together to heal, build collective power, and drive social change. Essie is
Great Place to Work-Certified™ and a recognized leader in Black feminist institution building.

Learn more at www.essiejusticegroup.org.