Clinic director
Parkdale Community Legal Services
Parkdale Community Legal Services is seeking a collaborative, inspiring Clinic Director committed to working alongside community members, staff, students, board, and partners to fight the injustices that manifest daily in the lives of community members and to build movements for social change. A commitment to and understanding of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression principles and practices are essential, as is experience in human resource and financial management. While legal training and/or knowledge are assets, they are not a requirement for this position.
About PCLS
Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS) works to tackle social injustice through a combination of community development, organizing, and action facilitated by legal representation, summary legal advice, and community legal education. PCLS is also a teaching clinic for Osgoode Hall Law School and law students are our primary caseworkers, supervised by PCLS staff. We serve low-income clients in a culturally diverse community on the west side of Toronto, particularly in the areas of housing and homelessness, immigration and migrant rights’ law, workers’ rights issues, and social assistance, violence, and health issues, in conjunction with community development work to address systemic issues of poverty and social exclusion. PCLS is committed to advancing racial, cultural, and social equity in its work with the Parkdale community. For more information about PCLS please check out our clinic profile HERE and visit our website at www.parkdalelegal.org.
Responsibilities of the Clinic Director
As Clinic Director you will be responsible for animating the vision of PCLS to help build and mobilize an ever-increasing community movement for social change and to create the social and economic conditions to eradicate poverty and oppression.
Reporting to the Board of Directors, the responsibilities of the Clinic Director include:
- managing and directing all day-to-day activities of the Clinic, ensuring high-quality services to clients, and community outreach and development work
- providing leadership in support of the Board’s responsibility to develop and periodically review the mission, vision, and strategic plan of the Clinic
- maintaining a work climate that is consistent with the Clinic’s values, including its commitment to equity, anti-racism, and to anti-oppressive principles and practices
- collaborating with the Academic Director to ensure excellent experiential education for Osgoode students
- maintaining strong and effective relations with community partners in the PCLS catchment area
- ensuring positive and productive relationships with Legal Aid Ontario and Osgoode Hall Law School
Qualifications
Required:
- demonstrated commitment to the principles of community legal clinics, including the role of community organizing and systemic community work
- experience in poverty law (immigration, migrants’ rights, workers’ rights, social assistance, human rights, gender-based violence, and/or housing) or in other social justice work
- demonstrated commitment to and understanding of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression principles and practices
- commitment to working closely with low-income community members and community-based organizations
- demonstrated ability to work effectively as a team player in a collaborative and inclusive manner
- effective communication skills with demonstrated respect for differences of opinion
- experience with financial and human resources management
- experience in managing teams
Assets:
- experience developing community partnerships
- experience in outreach with marginalized communities
- experience working with or on Boards of community-based non-profits
- experience completing funding applications and reports
- experience managing within a unionized environment
- experience supervising students
- experience with teaching or training in a legal, human rights, or other setting
- experience with LAO or large funding agency
- familiarity with Parkdale or similar community
- lived experience with poverty
- legal training and/or knowledge
Salary Range
The salary range for this position is $125,000 – $150,000.
How to Apply
Apply in confidence by providing a current curriculum vitae, as well as a letter (of approximately 1,000 words) outlining what you would bring to the role, to PCLS, and to the Parkdale community. Applications are due by 5:00pm on 31 January 2022 and can be submitted by email to the attention of Tenzin Tekan at tekant@lao.on.ca. Only those who are short-listed for an interview will be contacted: we anticipate that interviews will take place between 7-11 February 2022. If you have any questions about the position, please contact John No (Interim Clinic Director) at noj@lao.on.ca or Janet Mosher (Board Co-Chair) at jmosher@osgoode.yorku.ca.
As an employer, PCLS is dedicated to building an organization that reflects the diversity of our clients and the communities we serve. This includes diversity in languages spoken, culture, race, dis/ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. We encourage applications from individuals from diverse, marginalized, and racialized communities and backgrounds. PCLS promotes the principles of anti-oppression and adheres to the tenets of the Ontario Human Rights Code. PCLS is committed to an inclusive, barrier-free selection process and accommodations are available at every stage of the process, including the submission of an application. If you require accommodations related to any protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code to assist in the submission of your application, please contact Tenzin Tekan at tekant@lao.on.ca.