Community Law Legal Assistant

About the Community Economic Defense Project (CEDP) & CED Law 

Our mission

We partner with low-income and working people to build economic and racial equity. We do this by confronting economic abuse and investing in community wealth. We use an ever-evolving set of legal, economic and advocacy tools to challenge and dismantle unjust systems, building quickly towards a world where all people have what they need to live and thrive. 

Our Organization

Working with clients, we built a deeply integrated approach to eviction, foreclosure, and homelessness prevention that centers the legal and financial needs of housing-insecure families and uses a variety of tools to keep them housed. 

Our team now serves more than 1,000 people per month, bringing together housing lawyers, economists, data analysts, policy-experts, organizers, and technologists to serve our clients. We have served more than 50,000 low-income Coloradans across 45 counties, distributing over $200 million in emergency assistance. We have also contributed to the passage of major legislation to prevent eviction, stop economic abuse, and make credit and life-saving medication cheaper.  CEDP’s model has been cited as a best practice by White House, HUD, the Urban Institute, and in the media.

Building on our work to stop evictions, CEDP has further expanded its integrated services model to include disaster response, predatory towing, debt collection, benefit access & navigation, long-term rental assistance, and homelessness response. Similar to CEDP’s work on rental housing, these efforts offer a continuum of care that includes navigation and advisory services, targeted payments, legal support, and the ability to participate in advocacy. 

More about the Community Law Legal Assistant Role:

CED Law, the law firm at CEDP, is seeking a Community Law Legal Assistant to help us advance our Community Law Program.

A successful candidate will have experience working at CEDP and a track record that demonstrates a commitment to providing the highest quality assistance to renters facing housing instability. The role will be directly supervised by the Community Law Program Supervisor. Work will largely focus on cultivating and maintaining strong community partner relationships and the development and delivery of educational legal trainings and technical support to community partners in furtherance of the Program’s mission to shift power back into the hands of the people. It is not uncommon for community law events to occur after 5 PM or on the weekend – when this is the case, the Community Law Legal Assistant will be able to flex hours during the workday/workweek. Additional duties include administrative and operational support for the Community Law Program. Spanish language skills are strongly desired but not required.

In This Role You Will: 

• Support CED Law’s Community Law Program by strengthening existing relationships with community partner organizations and cultivating relationships with new organizations and tenant-led initiatives.
• Be responsible for performing all administrative work related to community partner relations work, including all intake-related tasks, correspondence with partner organizations, maintaining the community partner database.
• Assist with the creation and implementation of client satisfaction measurement tools and data collection for community partners and community members.
• Lead the planning, logistics, and execution of community law events, including but not limited to: identifying and securing event space, creating agendas, developing presentations/trainings, creating promotional materials, coordinating advertising, preparing and organizing all materials necessary for the event such as printing handouts, securing necessary tech equipment and other supplies, and leading post-event debriefings with partners.
• Receive training on Colorado and federal landlord-tenant law and related topics. 
• Revise existing and develop new educational legal information trainings and materials for use by community partner organization membership in direct response to community-identified needs and desires.
• Track and maintain all data related to the provision of Community Law Program services, including service outcomes, impact and opportunities for growth, and all data necessary for grant reporting in collaboration with the Community Law Program Supervisor.
• Collaborate and listen to community partners and community members to help identify program priorities and understand barriers to justice in the housing rights space. 
• Lead community law events and provide educational legal information to tenant households at amounts that enables the program to meet firm-wide goals as developed by the Community Law Supervisor,  Directors of Eviction Defense and/or Chief Legal Services Officer.
• Engage CED Law and CEDP staff in community outreach efforts and staff community law events as appropriate.
• Assist the Community Law Program supervisor to provide comprehensive information and updates about Community Law Program work across CEDP.
• Perform all other tasks that arise as necessary to successfully advance the goals and priorities of the Community Law Program.

Position Requirements: 

• Ability to travel to and work throughout the state of Colorado, primarily in the Denver metro area but also to rural communities in order to provide Community Law services.
• Ability to work after 5 PM on weekdays and on the weekends to lead community law events. Flex time for after hours and weekend work will be provided as appropriate.
  
• Experience as an employee performing direct client service at CEDP or CED Law.
• Familiarity with CED Law’s current Community Law Program.
• Strong oral presentation and public speaking skills.
• Experience and expertise in creating engaging, high quality presentations and educational materials for a wide range of audiences. 
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Proven ability to manage administrative work and follow administrative procedures and policies closely with attention to detail.
• Previous experience in legal aid, social work, community organizing, or other related professional fields with an emphasis on providing direct support to members of vulnerable populations, including low-income individuals, migrants/refugees, individuals with disabilities, youth or seniors is desired but not required.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with people of diverse personal and professional backgrounds with a focus on social and racial justice and equity.
• A creative and self-driven mindset.
• Knowledge of MS Office suite, specifically Excel and PowerPoint, Google Suite, and Canva or similar graphic design tools.
• Ability to read, write, and speak/translate Spanish fluently is preferred but not required.

Additional Details: 

• Candidates must reside in Colorado, ideally within the greater Denver Metro area. The position includes competitive pay, flexible time off, benefits package (including medical, dental, vision), and 401k. 
• A competitive base salary of $60,000 per year plus a $1,000 per year hybrid employee salary adjustment and eligible for an additional language stipend. Current CEDP employees would enter the role at their current organizational year within the grade.
• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be received by 12/31/2024
• The estimated time to complete the recruitment process will be by 01/20/2025
• As in-person work is required, all employees at CEDP & CED Law are expected to maintain current vaccination status in keeping with CDC recommendations.
• CEDP is an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.