Volunteer Coordinator – Dilley Team

Volunteer Coordinator – Dilley Team

Dilley or San Antonio

TRLA seeks a Volunteer Coordinator for its Family Detention Project who will support TRLA’s efforts to provide free civil legal services to asylum-seeking women and children who are detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center (“STFRC”) in Dilley, Texas. 

STFRC is the nation’s largest immigration detention facility. It is located 70 miles southwest of San Antonio and houses up to 2,400 women and children, including children who are only one year old. The Dilley Pro Bono Project – a non-profit collective comprised of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and CLINIC - maintains a small team of on-site lawyers and paralegals who facilitate a non-traditional model of legal services with the goal of providing every woman and child meaningful legal representation.

The Dilley Pro Bono Project (“DPBP”) recruits teams of volunteers nationally who commit to arriving in Dilley on a Sunday, attending a mandatory orientation, and providing legal services to families throughout the week. After an exhilarating and exhausting week, the volunteer team leaves the following Saturday, and a new team arrives to take over their caseload and carry the work forward. DPBP’s radical model of providing services to refugees in the United States has received national attention and support. You can learn more about DPBP’s incredible work and origin at How to Crowdsource a Refugee Rights Strategy

Duties:

All candidates should possess a sense of urgency to end family detention and protect asylum-seekers from deportation, empathy, and the ability to stay calm and collected in the midst of crisis. The Volunteer Coordinator’s work with detained families inside STFRC will include, but not be limited to, the following duties:

• Coordinate volunteer orientation and logistics;
• Lead volunteer orientation, when appropriate;
• Ensure volunteers have access to their Law Lab account upon arrival and answer questions specific to Law Lab data entry;
• Facilitate volunteer engagement to ensure appropriate and timely data entry and database integrity;
• Review post-Dilley volunteer surveys and provide critical information to Family Detention Project management;
• Develop and maintain project systems for tracking volunteer concerns on behalf of the Family Detention Project so they may be effectively shared with DPBP project partners;
• Work with non-Spanish speaking volunteers to ensure their access to volunteer interpretation assistance while they are in Dilley;
• Lead Big Tables, when appropriate;
• Provide logistical assistance to long-term volunteers, including students who participate in the Family Detention Project’s summer internship program;
• Meet regularly with the Family Detention Project’s management team and staff, formally and informally, to assess volunteer needs and challenges; 
• Provide assistance with San Antonio volunteer recruitment;
• Serve as primary liaison between OTG and volunteers upon conclusion of their week in Dilley; and
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Fluency in English and Spanish
• College degree
• Excellent oral and writing skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends and accommodate an irregular work schedule
• A proven commitment to supporting vulnerable immigrant populations

Preferred:

• Dedication to and experience in serving low-income populations
• Experience working with survivors of trauma
• Experience coordinating or participating in volunteer-based projects

How to Apply and Related Timelines:

For consideration, applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and three references with “Volunteer Coordinator – Family Detention Project” in the subject line, to the following individuals:
To: Monica Bustamante, Recruitment Manager, at employment@trla.org
“cc”: Shalyn Fluharty, Director – Family Detention Project, at shay@caraprobono.org

The consideration of candidates is ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. The position is available immediately, although the start date is somewhat negotiable.