Director of Behavioral Health Strategies

ABOUT THE OFFICE: The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) advises the Mayor and First Deputy Mayor on criminal justice policy and is the Mayor’s representative to the courts, district attorneys, defenders, and state criminal justice agencies, among others. The office designs, deploys, and evaluates citywide strategies to drive down crime, reduce unnecessary arrests and incarceration, and improve the system’s fairness. MOCJ works with law enforcement and city agencies, non-profits, foundations, and others to implement data-driven strategies that address current crime conditions, prevent offending, and build the strong neighborhoods that ensure enduring safety.

ABOUT THE ROLE: The Director of Behavioral Health Strategies reports to the Chief of Staff at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and is part of the City’s team managing the day to day work of improving public safety and wellbeing, reducing the city’s jail population, changing the culture and purpose of NYC jails, developing a borough-based jail system. The Director of Behavioral Health Strategies will oversee the ongoing implementation and evaluation of behavioral health interventions and programs across the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice; including the portfolios of Strategic Interventions (including Diversion and Transition, Housing, and Community Innovations), the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, and other program areas as needed. The director will serve as a thought leader who develops innovative solutions to emerging issues and will be well-versed in behavioral health concerns spanning community, diversion, pre-trial, correctional, reentry and rehabilitative contexts with a special focus on the behavioral health needs of high utilizers of city hospitals, shelters and correctional facilities. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience building and implementing transformational, large-scale programs.

The ideal candidate is a thought leader with strong managerial, operational and analytic capacity. Among the tasks that this leader will need to execute are:

Oversight responsibility for behavioral health initiatives across MOCJ portfolios, supporting the unit heads and staff for each of those areas of work;

Facilitating policy and operational conversations related to behavioral health and the Borough Based Jail Plan among the City’s vibrant network of community partners, Criminal Justice/Reentry Advocates, Elected Officials and Community Boards as needed ;

Providing recommendations and strategy advice to MOCJ leadership on policy and operational matters, as informed by the Mayor’s agenda and stakeholder feedback;

Working closely with leadership across the Office to ensure timelines and project milestones are on track;

Acting as a primary liaison between MOCJ, City Agencies and City Hall on Justice Initiative Projects and Policies;

Researching, initiating, developing, and executing policy and programmatic projects and deliverables, both with a team and individually;

Specialized programmatic development and oversight for health and behavioral health matters within MOCJ initiatives including, but not limited to, housing, prevention/ diversion and reentry and community programs;

Working with agencies and City Hall to oversee implementation of the recommendations from intergovernmental Task Forces, Working Groups and community boards;

Coordinating with agencies and health and human service providers to improve jail and community based services for justice involved people;

Overseeing Points of Agreement commitments related to behavioral health and agency Culture Change components of the Borough Based Jail Plan;

Establishing and maintaining excellent relationships with national experts, persons with lived experience and thought leaders at the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health, other government agencies, community non-profits, advocates, and family members; and

Developing innovative and evidence-backed strategies in response to emerging trends, and securing additional resources for these strategies.

RESEARCH PROJECTS COOR(MA)-MGR - 0527A