Community Legal Services, Inc. of Philadelphia (CLS) is a non-profit public interest agency providing free civil legal services to low-income Philadelphia residents. As the largest provider of free civil legal services in the Philadelphia area, CLS is both locally and nationally renowned as a premier legal services provider dedicated to ensuring access to justice for all low-income individuals and communities.
CLS seeks to hire an Administrative Coordinator to perform the day-to-day administrative operations of its Housing Unit as it expands to provide Right to Counsel for all tenants in eviction proceedings. The coordinator’s primary responsibilities will be coordinating intakes and incoming voicemails and referrals both internally and with external partners, as well as scheduling meetings, coordinating onboarding and trainings for new staff, maintaining office needs for on-site and court-based offices, and other administrative tasks to support the Housing Unit in providing excellent services to its clients.
JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILIITIES: Intake & Referral Coordination & Scheduling:- Triaging incoming referrals for intakes, sending out daily intake assignments to staff and tracking intake information and follow up.
- Setting intake and court shift schedules for unit and maintaining unit calendar for events, work schedules and court and meeting dates.
- Coordinating flow of referrals with partner agencies and facilitating regular meetings with external partners to ensure coordinated intake process across all tenant advocacy groups.
Client Outreach:- Updating PhillyTenant.org website on regular basis with new content.
- Assisting with drafting and formatting informational materials and flyers. Ensure necessary materials are translated appropriately.
- Sending out weekly mass mailings to tenants with information about their rights.
- Scheduling and maintaining list of community education events.
- Helping to print/copy flyers and collecting other items needed for community education events.
- Deliver outreach materials including resource guides and flyers to the court, city council and partner agencies on a regular basis.
File Maintenance: - Assisting Housing Unit staff in sending letters to clients.
- Assisting Housing Unit staff in closing files after completion of representation and ensuring completeness of all documents uploaded to client computer tracking system.
- Running regular reports from LegalServer to remind staff of pending representation decisions as well as upcoming case closing and compliance deadlines.
Clerical tasks:- Copying editing/proofreading.
- Backup IT support.
- Scheduling meetings and logistics.
- Taking and distributing meeting notes.
- Assembling materials for meetings.
- Compiling data and reports for quarterly reports and various contracts.
- Sorting and distributing mail.
- Helping with onboarding new staff.
- Maintain office supplies, route supply requisitions, purchase orders and check requests.
- If licensed, notarize documents.
- Organizing regular trainings for our staff as well as partner agencies on relevant topics.
- Managing and organizing internal unit documents on shared drive.
SKILLS AND ABILITITIES TO: - Provide unit staff with a comprehensive level of secretarial and administrative support to ensure that work is produced in an accurate and professional manner.
- Provide a positive interactive liaison between the case handlers and their clients and other professionals and external partners.
- Ensure that there is a flexible flow of support around the daily activities faced by CLS staff.
- Provide mentoring assistance to new staff members as appropriate and necessary in order to ensure consistent staff development.
- Be dependable, show initiative and concern for the interests of clients.
- Work cooperatively with other staff.
- Deal with people in a non-judgmental, empathetic, patient and understanding manner, which shows sensitivity, tact and professionalism.
- Exercise superior judgment, creativity and decisiveness.
- Be efficient in an environment that is subject to many interruptions.
- Establish, organize, and maintain files.
- Listen to and understand information and ideas as presented verbally.
- Communicate information and ideas clearly and concisely verbally and in writing.
- Maintain a good attendance record and be punctual for the start of the business day and upon returning from lunch and breaks.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:- High school diploma or GED.
- Demonstrated ability to type 55 wpm.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple tasks, deadlines and priorities.
- Fast learner and ability to adapt to and excel in a rapidly changing environment.
- Strong background in planning and/or coordinating trainings, outreach, or other community focused engagements.
- Experience with relationship building and relationship management.
- Experience effectively managing volunteers.
- Knowledge and skills in MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and initiative to improve and maintain proficiency.
- Knowledge of basic office procedures and equipment (i.e., copier, scanner, photocopier).
- Familiarity with the court and administrative agency systems and practices.
- Interest in housing justice issues.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:- A minimum of three (3) years secretarial experience preferred.
- Spanish fluency preferred.
To Apply: CLS will accept applications on a rolling basis until the position has been filled. However, priority consideration will be given to applicants who apply by
Friday, January 3, 2025. You can submit your application on CLS’s website online at:
Careers - Community Legal Services (clsphila.org) OR submit your application below by clicking
"Apply Now"
What to Include in your application: Please include a cover letter, resume, three professional references (past or current supervisors preferred) identifying your relationship, and one brief writing sample (10 pages or less). CLS values a diverse work environment and strongly encourages women, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ, people with disabilities, people who have experienced poverty or homelessness and people who have had prior contact with the juvenile, criminal, or child welfare systems to apply.
CLS invites all applicants to include in their cover letter a statement about how your unique background and/or experiences might contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and legal services practice.This is a full-time position covered by the collective bargaining agreement between CLS and the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFL-CIO and its affiliate District 1199C.
CLS asks for a minimum two-year commitment from individuals who accept an offer of employment. The current minimum starting salary is $45,780 for entry-level applicants but that salary is subject to change or adjustment if an applicant has relevant years of experience and according to the provisions of the current collective bargaining agreement. Raises and benefits are also governed by that agreement.
Benefits: CLS offers a very generous and competitive benefits package including 100% employer paid medical (including gender affirming care), life, and short/long-term disability benefits, a 403(b)-retirement plan with employer contribution, and a generous leave package, including 13 paid holidays and five personal holidays each year
Community Legal Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. CLS, Inc. does not discriminate in the selection of employees on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, genetics, age, national origin, disability, or veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, CLS complies with all applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall and transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.