SSI Social Worker

Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) staff provide a range of free civil legal services to individuals and families living in poverty in the San Franciso Bay Area. We address the impacts of poverty by providing access to the legal system, focusing on legal issues that identified as the most pressing, including: housing, public benefits, healthcare, and safety from interpersonal violence, etc. We are committed to professional excellence, client-centered advocacy, and the highest ethical standards in legal representation.

BayLegal’s San Francisco Social Security Disability/SSI Advocacy Team is a collaborative, interdisciplinary legal team that includes attorneys and social workers who assist individuals with physical, mental, and cognitive disabilities in obtaining Social Security Disability, SSI, and CAPI benefits. The team engages in community outreach and works closely with the San Francisco Human Services Agency, community-based organizations, and healthcare providers to support clients in securing benefits and achieving long-term stability.

Position: BayLegal seeks a passionate, self-reflective, and empathic social worker to work with unhoused San Franciscans with disabilities who are being represented by BayLegal in their claims for Social Security disability benefits. Social workers and attorneys at BayLegal work collaboratively in case assessment and strategy, forming an interdisciplinary team to support clients, help them connect to healthcare, housing, and income supports, and to move their legal case forward. Social Security cases can last months to years, providing the opportunity for building strong rapport with clients and helping them work towards their goals.

In addition to experiencing the trauma of housing instability and homelessness, our clients are often coping with physical and mental health disabilities, substance use, domestic violence, and poverty. We seek someone who is skilled at helping our clients navigate these different issues to engage with their legal case and increase their economic and housing stability.

This position is located in San Francisco and requires frequent travel throughout the city/county to best serve our clients where they are. As a member of BayLegal's regional practice, there may also be travel within BayLegal's broader service areas for training, organizational meetings, and broader advocacy.

As a BayLegal Social Worker you will have the opportunity to:

• Support clients in identifying their needs, setting goals, and developing a structured plan for achieving those goals through appropriate evidence-based clinical practices.
• Meet clients in various settings, such as home, shelters, street, public benefits offices, medical clinics, and hearings.
• Provide crisis intervention and crisis counseling, and develop emergency safety plans, and long-term plans as a team with the client and attorney.
• Help clients connect to housing support services and housing, and refer clients for help to maintain housing. All BayLegal’s unhoused SSI Advocacy clients have been prioritized for housing by the city’s Coordinated Entry system.
• Help clients identify physical, behavioral health care, and substance use treatment needs, connect clients to care, provide case management to prioritize, set, and follow up on health care appointments.
• Support clients' applications for Social Security disability benefits by assisting with some forms, appointments, supporting clients at hearing and other interviews. Assist and follow up with applications for other benefits programs, such as County Adult Assistance, CalFresh, and MediCal.
• Develop relationships and engage in collaboration with a range of public and private community partners, including governmental agencies, medical and behavioral health care providers, and community-based organizations, to ensure integrative services and address systemic barriers facing BayLegal's client community;
• Engage as part of a multi-disciplinary team in other tasks and projects that further BayLegal's mission and operations as a non-profit.
• Collaborate with social workers across BayLegal to provide consultation and agency-wide training as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Humility in working with colleagues and clients across the spectrum of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, immigrant status, religious identity, physical and mental disabilities, and/or limited English proficiency.
• Must be fully vaccinated or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination by date of hire and be fully vaccinated to be considered. Proof of vaccination required.
• Advanced degree in social work, social welfare, marriage, family and child counseling, counseling psychology, or social psychology or three years of equivalent experience.
• Excellent verbal, writing, client interviewing, and organizational skills.
• Strong personal work ethic and ability to organize time, manage diverse activities, and meet critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to work collaboratively with a dynamic team.
• Curious and self-directed with an ability to anticipate what needs to be done.
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects while maintaining a firm grasp of individual project details.
• An interest in being part of an interdisciplinary team with attorneys to support clients.
• An interest in issues pertaining to homelessness, economic justice, disability, and social determinants of health.

Preferred Qualifications

• Licensure (e.g., LCSW, LMFT) or progress towards licensure (e.g., ASW, MFT Intern or Trainee).
• In-depth knowledge of, and experience with, social services agencies, housing support services, and behavioral health providers in San Francisco County.
• Experience working in a variety of settings in the field with individuals with physical and mental health disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, and those impacted by complex trauma.

HYBRID WORK OPTION: BayLegal is committed to the health and safety of our staff, clients, and community. Being accessible to our client communities and reducing barriers for them to access our services is integral to our mission and commitment as a direct services community-based law firm. BayLegal has health and safety protocols to minimize risk of exposure. BayLegal has an evolving plan to continue to safely increase in-person services and activities in our offices and community-based advocacy sites. BayLegal employees are expected to work on-site and in-person three (3) days per week and as needed for client services and office staffing needs. Employees may work remotely from home on a part-time basis. Employees are expected to reside in California and at a distance allowing them to commute to their physical BayLegal base location, and to other service-delivery locations as needed, during the standard work week.

Compensation and Benefits: We offer a diverse, family-friendly environment, and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. BayLegal's benefits package includes 100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and up to 40-50% for dependents; BayLegal student debt reimbursement program; long term disability insurance; employee assistance program; wage differentials for multi-lingual employees whose non-English language skills are regularly used in the provision of work tasks and pass a request test of fluency and/or proficiency; dependent childcare employer contribution program; employer paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees; and 401k retirement plan with BayLegal contribution following first year. BayLegal has a generous paid leave policy which includes: sick leave; parental leave; 14 holidays each year; 3 floating holidays each year (days chosen by employee); and vacation (starting at 13 days and increasing with additional years of employment). This is a union position (Bay Area Legal Aid Workers, “BALAW”), and the salary ranges from ($65,860 - 106,724 depending on years of experience and education. The salary scale can be found here: 2022-26 BayLegal-BALAW CBA.pdf

WORK ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Work Environment: This position is primarily sedentary and currently hybrid remote. When in the office, the applicant can expect to be working at a desk in a temperature-controlled office, in a modular space or individual office. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Physical demands: While performing duties of job, employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; talk and hear. Employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Applications: BayLegal is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Reasonable accommodation is available upon request.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

We offer a diverse, family-friendly environment, and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. BayLegal's benefits package includes 100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and up to 40-50% for dependents; BayLegal student debt reimbursement program; long term disability insurance; employee assistance program; wage differentials for multi-lingual employees whose non-English language skills are regularly used in the provision of work tasks and pass a request test of fluency and/or proficiency; dependent childcare employer contribution program; employer paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees; and 401k retirement plan with BayLegal contribution following first year. BayLegal has a generous paid leave policy which includes: sick leave; parental leave; 14 holidays each year; 3 floating holidays each year (days chosen by employee); and vacation (starting at 13 days and increasing with additional years of employment). This is a Union position (BayLaw).