About the Legal Aid Justice Center:

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that partners with low-income clients and communities of color in Virginia to fight for racial, social, and economic justice. We understand that the harms our clients endure are inextricably linked to overarching systems of injustice. Together we are dismantling those systems through a combination of community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, public relations, and individual legal services.

Founded in 1967, LAJC has offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church and provides services under six key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice (focuses on the criminal legal system), Housing & Consumer Justice, Youth Justice, Health Justice & Public Benefits, Immigrant Justice, and Worker Justice. As examples of LAJC’s recent work, our lawsuit and organizing against the state forced reform of Virginia’s unemployment insurance system, including advocacy that resulted in the distribution of over $1 billion in illegally withheld payments to over 160,000 Virginians. During the pandemic, we demanded and secured a statewide eviction moratorium and emergency pandemic protections that helped hundreds of families avoid eviction. We reduced incarceration across the state, including reducing the population of a local immigration detention center down to historically low levels through a coordinated effort of organizing paired with impact and individual litigation. Our staff are on the front lines of some of the most important anti-poverty fights happening today.

With a staff of over 90, the past few years have been a time of exciting growth and opportunity for the organization. In addition to the growth of programmatic efforts including increased organizing capacity, LAJC has expanded its operations and administrative capacity, created new opportunities for professional growth and leadership among staff, engaged in ongoing race equity work, and explored changes to organizational structure to deepen its efforts to create long-term, sustainable, community-driven change. LAJC’s latest strategic plan is available at https://www.justice4all.org/lajc-strategic-plan-2022-2026/#area d For more information about LAJC’s work and programs, visit www.justice4all.org. 

About the LAJC Organizing Intern Cohort

Looking to hone your organizing skills in a supportive environment while working alongside experienced organizing in Virginia? The Legal Aid Justice Center is excited to open applications for our Organizer Intern Cohort! Interns will work on a part-time basis over a period of up to eight months across our main service areas in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Richmond, and Petersburg and pair up with experienced organizers to engage with the community and learn organizing skills. 

Our first cohort will begin on September 03, 2024, and we will have 2 organizing interns, one in worker rights and the other in police accountability.

The cohort will also have the opportunity to learn and work as a group. All interns will receive trainings, through the program on core organizing skills: one-on-one and base building, leadership development, group facilitation, campaign development, power mapping, coalition building and navigating conflict, as well as other development opportunities. 

Description of Internship Placement (one application per internship):

• Worker Justice Program Intern in Galax/Grayson County
  • https://www.justice4all.org/what-we-do/workplace/
  • This intern will pair with our Worker Justice Program Organizers Tonya Osinkosky and Jose Miguel Tejero to focus on collecting narratives on the impact of pesticides on worker and community health and to organize around worker rights. Candidate must be bilingual English/Spanish.
• Civil Rights & Racial Justice Intern in Charlottesville
  • https://www.justice4all.org/what-we-do/criminal-legal-system/
  • This intern will pair with our CRRJ Senior Organizer, Harold Folley to support the growth and work of the People's Coalition as they engage in campaign work around police accountability and to stop the expansion of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. 

Job Duties:

• Work with the organizer to engage the community via active listening, education, and information-gathering regarding issues relevant to the internship's programs. 
• Assist the organizer to work alongside low-income community members to identify needs and engage in community advocacy strategies. This includes, but is not limited to, direct action and community participation in local and state systems to carry out LAJC's mission and programmatic goals as they relate to the needs of the area the internship is based on. 
• Support a campaign that will build power and advance policies designed to combat poverty. 
• Promote racial equity across dimensions, including within LAJC and within your work in the community and with partners. 
• Racial Equity: Promote racial equity across all dimensions, including within LAJC, by doing the following:
  • Helping to recruit, retain, and support both staff and leadership that reflect the racial composition of our community. 
  • Cultivating respect for the work of and expanding resources for non-attorney staff that are disproportionately people of color. 
  • Creating spaces for staff to discuss issues of racial, gender, and all other issues of marginalization.
  • Pushing for institutional and cultural changes by management, the board, and staff to further promote racial equity.