Executive Director

The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is seeking nominations and applications for the position of Executive Director. Northwest Justice Project is Washington’s largest publicly funded legal aid program. Each year NJP provides critical civil legal assistance and representation to thousands of low-income people in cases affecting basic human needs such as family safety and security, housing preservation, protection of income, access to health care, education, and other basic needs.

With a staff of 340 and with 21 offices in Washington State, NJP pursues its mission through legal counsel and representation, community partnerships, and education to empower clients and combat injustice in all its forms. After 17+ years of consistent executive leadership and a recent period of significant organizational growth, NJP is poised for a new chapter of impact. The incoming Executive Director will have the opportunity to strategically review and guide the organization through structural, team, and programmatic advancements in alignment with NJP’s values.

Reporting to the Board of Directors and working closely with the Deputy Director and Senior Leadership Team, the Executive Director will collaboratively lead all aspects of both internal and external strategy to advance NJP’s mission and impact and will ensure NJP’s commitment to antiracism and equity both internally and in program work. The ideal candidate will be a strategic leader with deep knowledge of the roles that advocacy, social justice, and legal aid can and should play at community, state, and nationwide levels. The new Executive Director will be a seasoned manager with 10+ years of progressive leadership experience managing complex organizational processes and design, community and funder relations, and strong legal teams. The ideal candidate will hold a JD (preferably able to practice law in Washington State) and will bring strategic vision, seasoned management skill, relevant functional expertise and lived experience, and a track record of success in the leadership of values-based, legal services teams.

Success in this role will require an agile, innovative, and energetic leader with strong shared leadership values, a collaborative leadership style, and a deep equity fluency who is an effective communicator and champion for the work of NJP both internally and externally.

The anticipated base salary range for the role is $220,000 – 275,000. In addition, NJP provides a competitive benefits package.

ABOUT NORTHWEST JUSTICE PROJECT

In 1995, Congress placed many new restrictions on Legal Service Corporation (LSC) funding. Washington State responded to those restrictions creatively and organizations jointly agreed to reorganize to ensure the legal aid delivery system could provide as many services to as many low-income people as possible. This led to the splitting of Evergreen Legal Services into two new organizations, Northwest Justice Project and Columbia Legal Services. With a mission to provide legal aid to underrepresented communities in Washington State, Northwest Justice Project has a strong decades-long track record of success and service to communities in need and is now one of the largest publicly funded legal aid organizations in the country and the largest in Washington State. Since 1995, NJP has served more than one million people in Washington State, closing more than 500,000 cases. In 2023, nearly 30,000 people across Washington saw direct improvement in their lives due to NJP’s advocacy. Attorneys provided legal assistance and representation in 12,888 cases, helping families to stay housed, secure safety, gain financial security, preserve vital public benefits, access educational rights, and be freed from the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. NJP attorneys’ work has also benefited 12,308 children, 2,700 seniors, and 1,433 households with a veteran. They have represented 2,800 people in eviction proceedings, preserved $20.9 million in equity through foreclosure prevention work, helped 2,000 people with matters of family safety, and secured nearly one million dollars in debt relief.

NJP endorses and has signed onto the principles and commitments of the Race Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), an initiative that “seeks to coordinate and grow a sustainable statewide community of legal and justice systems partners and stakeholders who work together to eradicate racially biased policies, practices, and systems.” REJI informs NJP’s work to address and overcome racism as it manifests in society and most adversely impacts marginalized, low-income communities.

Because of the nature of NJP’s casework (such as Medicaid and housing), its impact extends beyond individual representation into systemic impact. Seen as a local and national expert on many civil legal aid issues, NJP is often called upon by lawmakers to share its recommendations on matters of critical importance for its client communities, including areas such as foreclosure, housing, criminalization of homelessness, consumer advocacy, and advocacy for survivors of violence.

Each NJP office has a connection to its local community and develops an engagement plan specific to their office’s region and the civil legal issues most pressing in their area. NJP’s community engagement efforts are designed to ensure a strong community presence through on-going relationships with low-income populations and community stakeholders at all levels. Community engagement is widely recognized as essential to legal services programs' ability to understand and effectively respond to their client communities' needs. As such, along with individual case work and other advocacy activities, community engagement is an essential component of NJP’s overall advocacy efforts.

Community engagement is intended to further NJP’s understanding of existing and emerging client community needs and the obstacles to addressing such needs, particularly those that may not be perceived or readily present as legal issues or amenable to legal responses. These activities include attendance at community forums organized by local social services or client community organizations; targeted outreach to client community and social service leaders, organizations and stakeholders working to address the social and economic needs of low-income communities; and participation in or helping to arrange focus groups. These community engagement activities are meant to inform and include local communities and stakeholders around NJP’s advocacy efforts.

Each office’s plan is connected to the Northwest Justice Project’s overall mission and vision. Some examples of the civil legal issues addressed are:
• Family: safety and security
• Protection of income: social service benefits, or unemployment benefits
• Consumer issues: debt collection abuse, fraud, predatory lending, and protection from medical debt
• Education rights: special education discrimination, language access, and disciplinary proceedings
• Housing stability: foreclosure prevention, landlord/tenant issues, eviction prevention
• Access to medical care or benefits: Medicaid, basic health, Medicare, home health
• Employment issues: lost wages, discrimination, workplace health and safety, particularly for farmworkers
• Other basic needs and protections

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

In addition to referrals from community partnerships, most of Northwest Justice Project’s clients access services through 211 or through its centralized, statewide toll-free intake and referral hotline called CLEAR (Coordinated Legal Education Advice and Referral). CLEAR serves as the statewide, centralized point of access for clients seeking free legal help, including advice, education, limited legal services, self-help materials and, where available, referrals to other legal aid and local volunteer lawyer programs. CLEAR also refers cases to NJP offices around the state, where attorneys provide assistance and direct representation in high priority, complex cases, including cases that address barriers to accessing the justice system as well as engage in community education efforts.

As a supplement to direct services, NJP maintains Washington Law Help, a public website containing an extensive library of legal resources and self-help materials including do-it-yourself court forms in areas of law needed most by low-income persons, the great majority of whom are forced to appear in court unrepresented. In 2023, 1.5 million people accessed this site and completed nearly 25,000 forms available on the site. NJP is also an integral member of and provides support for the Alliance for Equal Justice, Washington’s coordinated statewide civil legal aid delivery system, which brings together a network of volunteer attorney programs, specialty legal aid providers, and supporters working to ensure equal justice for all low-income communities in Washington.

NJP also has specialized units or projects that serve particularly vulnerable populations, including farm workers, Native Americans, Western State Hospital patients, veterans, victims of crime, survivors of domestic violence and persons over 60 years old. NJP services are free for eligible clients.

NJP hosts a number of specialized units covering specific issues and populations:

1. The Campesina Digna project, part of the Northwest Justice Project’s Farmworker Unit (La Unidad Campesina), provides legal representation to farmworkers who have been victims of sexual harassment in employment cases and immigration applications.

2. Eviction Prevention Unit (EPU): NJP launched the EPU in 2021, after a new Washington State law established a right to a free attorney for low-income renters facing court eviction. NJP is the largest organization providing legal representation to low-income renters facing eviction statewide. NJP also operates the statewide central intake system for renters requesting representation when being evicted in court. The EPU’s statewide team of more than 20 lawyers operates in nearly every Washington county and collaborates with its partnering right to counsel providers to ensure that every eligible tenant has a free lawyer assigned to their case.

3. Farmworker Unit: The Farmworker Unit, centered in Yakima, provides advocacy and individual legal representation to farmworkers and their families to ensure that they are afforded a full range of legal protections. Advocacy focuses on workplace health and safety, sexual harassment and employment discrimination, wage theft, enforcement of protections within the H-2A temporary worker program, combatting human trafficking, and equal access to state and federal programs. NJP attorneys and community workers visit labor camps and farmworker housing throughout the state of Washington to talk with workers about their legal rights and the resources available to them. The Farmworker Unit gives legal advice, legal representation, and community education.

4. Foreclosure Prevention Unit: NJP stands ready to protect homeownership for the low and moderate income and marginalized communities, for whom homeownership provides not only the security of shelter but is often the only source of equity and promise of a brighter future for generations to come. The Northwest Justice Project has protected homeowners since 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008, eventually opening its own Foreclosure Prevention Unit in 2011. Pandemic related job loss and sickness have resulted in many homeowners not being able to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. With limited funding from the CARES Act, temporary cushion from pandemic protections, and an overall decline in programs, NJP re-launched its Foreclosure Prevention Unit in December 2021 in response to the end of COVID protections and to increases in mortgage, tax, and Homeowner Association (HOA) foreclosures.

5. Native American Unit: The Native American Unit (NAU) is a statewide unit with staff in Seattle and Eastern Washington. NAU aims to address the unique legal needs of Native American communities, advocating in state, tribal, and administrative courts on issues of critical importance for Native clients. The NAU emphasizes cases involving state and federal agencies’ policies and practices that have had disproportionate, adverse impacts on Native communities.

6. Veterans Project: NJP serves veterans across all of its programs. King County funds NJP to provide on-site services and accept referrals from the King County Veterans Program. Pierce County and Kitsap County also have dedicated funding for veterans' services.

Consistent with NJP’s commitment to combat injustice by improving access to the civil justice system, all NJP facilities are accessible. NJP provides language and sign interpreters for persons needing assistance to access its services. As a statewide organization whose staff, Board, and clients are diverse in background, experience, culture, and other qualities, NJP is also committed to a policy of equal opportunity and fosters a mutually respectful environment free of barriers and discriminatory practices in all its activities. NJP works to ensure its commitment to basic fairness by adherence to NJP’s Guiding Principles.

NJP Funding
NJP is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that receives funding through a variety of public sources, foundation, and private donors. The Washington Legislature provides the majority of NJP’s funding through the Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA). The activities of the Office of Civil Legal Aid are governed by RCW 2.53.020 and 2.53.030. Congress provides funding through the national Legal Services Corporation (LSC), established in 1974 to promote equal access to justice and to provide high quality civil legal assistance to low-income persons. Visit the LSC website to find the LSC Act, Regulations, and published guidelines. NJP receives significant funding through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), administered by the Washington State Department of Commerce Office of Crime Victims Advocacy, and sub-contracted through the Office of Civil Legal Aid. NJP also receives funding from the Legal Foundation of Washington (LFW) established by the Supreme Court to administer Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) funds in the State of Washington. LFW is the primary funder for Washington’s Alliance for Equal Justice.

In addition to public dollars, NJP’s development team supports fundraising events and nurtures relationships with private individual and corporate supporters.

A TIME OF CHANGE
NJP has significant and exciting structural and strategic opportunities on the immediate horizon. LSC changes, program successes, and new state-funded opportunities to better serve undocumented communities are necessitating the development of an LLC subsidiary to subsume a large portion of NJP programming and complement the operations of the 501c3 in new ways. The new ED will partner with the board, senior leadership, and external stakeholders to lead all aspects of the introduction of this new subsidiary including the structural rollout, staffing, workflow, team norms, and leadership configuration. This structural shift at NJP further affords new leadership the opportunity to clarify and reimagine strategic development and growth goals to clarify mission and values and to meet current and evolving needs of Washington’s underserved communities.

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACING THE NEXT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The next Executive Director will work closely with the board, staff, community partners, and funding partners to guide vision, leadership, and values-centered management of NJP to ensure equal access to justice in the legal system for all in Washington State. The ED will have the support of a strong senior leadership and management team and will have the opportunity to further advance shared leadership values, role clarity, and accountability structures throughout the organization. The new ED will work in close coordination with the Deputy Director and the Board of Directors to engage immediately in the following opportunities for sustained impact:

Providing Leadership and Vision During a Time of Change and Opportunity
• The next Executive Director will join NJP at a time of both great success in its programs and immediate opportunity to evolve organizational structures and ways of working. Having grown to meet expanding community needs, NJP is poised for continued programmatic and structural development including the launch of the aforementioned new LLC subsidiary to house portfolios of work not possible in the existing infrastructure. The ED will provide leadership, vision, and strategy to that work ensuring the board, staff, and external stakeholders are aligned in a vision for the future.
• The ED will report to and support the strategic functioning of a high-level board of directors at NJP ensuring their continued successful next-level vision, direction, and partnerships for the organization as well as empowering the board as a resource for the organization’s healthy structural and team development.
• The Executive Director will provide strong public leadership and trusted partnership to the legal aid community of Washington State and will nurture relationships and collaboration externally to ensure NJP continues to be a leading voice for low-income and underrepresented communities in Washington State and beyond and that the organization’s work is strategically and programmatically aligned with partner organizations to increase impact.
• The new ED will inspire and renew commitments to NJP’s values and culture and will build staff and board alignment and competencies in service to anti-racism and racial equity work both within the organization at all levels and in its services and practices with client communities and community partners.

Operationalizing Strategy and Values Through Effective Team Management, Structures, and Practices
• The new ED will have the chance to launch NJP’s next-level strategic planning process to collaboratively set goals for NJP and build alignment and accountability across program, structure, and mission at all levels of the organization. The new ED will work in close partnership with existing leaders at NJP to evaluate program, workflow, staffing, and metrics of success and will bring shared leadership skills and equity fluency to operationalize healthy management at all levels of the organization.
• With over three hundred employees distributed across Washington State and including remote presence in additional states, NJP will need the new ED to provide leadership and strong practices in support of healthy internal communication and community-building in support of a thriving, transparent, mission-driven culture that celebrates the successes of the organization and its team.
• The new ED will support a healthy unionized workplace environment and will have opportunities to work collaboratively with NJP union representatives to periodically review and advance improvements to workplace culture and employment proposition.
• The new ED will lead and make key decisions about evolving infrastructure and support internally, including the introduction of the new LLC, and the recruitment of additional senior leadership team members, i.e., Director of Communications, to support next generation programs and staff.
• The new ED will support a culture of role clarity and accountability at all levels of the organization and especially among leadership to ensure policies, practices, and norms are consistently and equitably upheld throughout the organization.

Embody, Invigorate, and Inspire a Culture of Belonging and a Commitment to Equity
• The new ED will embed equity values into organizational structures, programs, practices, and policies that support a culture of belonging for the team and center communities served by NJP.
• The ED will actively support and guide leadership for NJP’s Race Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) and will identify new opportunities for values-based team culture building.
• In this leadership transition and next level strategic planning work, the new ED has an opportunity to reinvigorate and affirm NJP’s mission and values with an explicit commitment to advance anti-racism and equity both internally and externally.

Nurturing External Partnerships and Funding Streams
• The ED will work collaboratively with the Board of Directors and senior leadership team to effectively steward relationships both in-state and nationally in support of healthy program alignment and funding streams. This will include providing foresight, financial skill, and strategic leadership to NJP relative to the flow of funds at the federal and state levels in a dynamic political climate and planning to ensure NJP’s long term stability and success.
• The new ED will either bring existing or quickly develop strong relationships with leadership across the Washington legal aid community and will be an effective and trusted partner in working together to serve communities in need.
• While NJP is heavily state and federally funded, there are opportunities for the new ED to continue to evolve a culture of fundraising and friend-raising for NJP in partnership with the senior team in development and the board.