Social Worker, Credible Westchester

About the Organization

Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) supports and builds power with people across New York State who have been affected by mass incarceration, criminalization and community disinvestment. Through a statewide network of direct services, advocacy and organizing, and by supporting the leadership of directly-impacted people, we advance civil and human rights for all New Yorkers. CCA works to build a world where everyone has what they need to thrive.


Why Join the Team?


At CCA, we are committed to fair transparent pay, and we strive to provide competitive market-informed compensation. The successful candidate's salary is determined by the combination of knowledge, skills, competencies, experience, and geography. Our goal is to continue to make CCA one of the most desirable nonprofit places at which to work, and in part, recognize the importance of work-life balance.


CCA is launching Credible Westchester (CW), a new countywide initiative designed to serve Westchester's most vulnerable and at-risk residents. CW will function as a community-rooted hub for individuals navigating homelessness, behavioral-health challenges, substance dependence, and chronic involvement in the criminal legal and social service systems. The program is entirely supervised and staffed by individuals with lived experience.The Social Worker (SW) will provide trauma-informed, clinically grounded, and community-rooted support within the Credible Westchester (CW) initiative. As part of a five-person team-Director, Social Worker, and three Credible Service Providers (CSPs)-the Social Worker will help stabilize, guide, and advocate for individuals navigating homelessness, behavioral-health challenges, substance dependence, and chronic system involvement.The Social Worker will conduct initial assessments, develop individualized case plans, and collaborate closely with CSPs to ensure participants receive coordinated, person-centered support. This role strengthens CW's mission "to increase the efficacy of service delivery... by increasing client engagement and investment" and to serve as a countywide "hub for... the most vulnerable and at-risk populations."

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Trauma-Informed Clinical Support & Participant Care (40%)

• Provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive behavioral-health support to participants experiencing crisis, instability, or chronic system involvement.
• Offer short-term counseling, motivational interviewing, and harm-reduction-aligned interventions.
• Support participants in accessing mental-health and substance-use treatment, ensuring services remain "trauma-informed, culturally competent, and community-rooted."
• Help participants understand treatment options, rights, and pathways through county behavioral-health systems.
• Work collaboratively with CSPs to ensure clinical needs are addressed through relational, dignity-centered engagement.

Initial Assessment, Case Planning & Ongoing Care Coordination (20%)

• Conduct comprehensive, strengths-based initial assessments for all new participants, integrating behavioral-health, housing, legal, and social-service needs.
• Develop individualized, restorative case plans that reflect participant goals, lived experience, and CW's relational engagement model.
• Update case plans as participant needs evolve, ensuring plans remain flexible, person-centered, and grounded in dignity.
• Coordinate care across systems, addressing the documented challenge that high-need individuals "struggle to navigate and effectively engage with these services."
• Ensure assessments and case plans support CW's role as a connector-not a duplicator-of existing county services.

Collaboration with Credible Service Providers & Restorative Team Culture (20%)

• Work closely with CSPs to co-manage participant needs, blending clinical expertise with lived-experience wisdom.
• Participate in restorative supervision circles, reflective practice sessions, and healing-centered debriefs facilitated by the Director.
• Build CSP capacity in trauma-informed care, crisis navigation, and behavioral-health literacy.
• Uphold CW's commitment that supervision and staffing honor lived experience as expertise, consistent with the program's design to be "entirely supervised and staffed by individuals with lived experience."

Cross-Sector Partnership & Systems Collaboration (10%)

• Collaborate with DSS, DCMH, OMH, DOCS, Legal Aid, shelters, hospitals, and community-based organizations to ensure coordinated, person-centered care.
• Contribute to the cross-sector planning committee, maintaining at least 50% lived-experience representation throughout the pilot.
• Help develop shared assessment tools, referral pathways, and data-sharing protocols.
• Support CW's role in disrupting siloed service delivery by fostering shared accountability, transparent communication, and coordinated problem-solving across systems.

Documentation, Reporting & Continuous Learning (10%)

• Complete clinical notes, assessments, and service plans in accordance with CW protocols.
• Contribute to weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting required by DCJS and county partners.
• Support restorative evaluation processes that center "participant voice, qualitative insight, and lived-experience expertise."
• Provide narrative insights that help identify gaps in service coordination and opportunities for systemic improvement.
• Maintain data integrity and uphold CW's commitment to both quantitative and narrative-based evaluation.
• Qualifications

Required

• Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) or related field; licensure (LMSW/LCSW) preferred or in progress.
• Demonstrated commitment to trauma-informed, restorative, and culturally responsive practice.
• Experience working with individuals impacted by homelessness, behavioral-health challenges, substance dependence, or the criminal legal system.
• Ability to collaborate with staff who bring lived experience as primary expertise.
• Strong crisis-intervention skills and comfort working in community-based settings.

Preferred

• Experience in reentry, harm reduction, street outreach, or behavioral-health navigation.
• Familiarity with Westchester County systems and community-based resources.
• Experience working in interdisciplinary teams that blend clinical and lived-experience expertise.

ALL APPLICANTS MUST SUBMIT COVER LETTER WITH RESUME.

• 12 paid holidays per year
• 20 days of earned time off (ETO) for full-time staff, with the ability to use it after 90-days of employment.
• Time off is earned starting on your first day.
• 7 days of paid sick time
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program

CCA Website: HERE