Outreach Specialist- Tenants’ Right to Counsel

Organization Background: Maryland Legal Aid (MLA) provides life-changing civil legal assistance to eligible residents in every part of the State. Since 1911, MLA has provided high-quality legal services to low-income, and marginalized individuals and communities–helping them remedy their civil legal issues and become empowered to overcome challenges, achieve stability and independence, and an overall better life.

MLA is dedicated to preserving the basic human needs and basic human rights of clients, particularly as they navigate the justice system. MLA staff, pro bono attorneys, community partners, and general supporters all play important roles in ensuring that the legal playing field is leveled so that those most in need achieve equal access to justice. It is because of this diverse support that MLA can be a voice to tens of thousands of economically disadvantaged and vulnerable Marylanders every year.

Access to Counsel in Evictions(“ACE”) Program Background: Enacted in 2021 and launched in autumn 2022, Maryland’s Access to Counsel in Evictions Program mandates that low-income tenants have access to legal representation in eviction and subsidy termination proceedings. Maryland was just the second state to pass right-to-counsel legislation and joined a national movement to achieve housing stability, prevent disruptive displacement, and uphold the dignity of renters through the provision of legal representation.

Eviction is a persistent crisis in Maryland, where landlords filed nearly 320,000 eviction cases in fiscal year 2022. The pervasive threat of housing displacement disparately impacts low-income residents, households with children, people of color, and people with disabilities. As of July 1, 2023, the “ACE” Program has begun implementation across Maryland as federally funded rental assistance is nearly depleted and eviction filings are exceeding 40,000 per month for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Approximately 100,000 renter households were behind on rent in Maryland in the summer of 2023.

Spanning from metros to rural areas, MLA’s Tenants’ Right to Counsel Project (TRCP) strives to be a leader in the statewide “ACE” effort to bring the right to counsel to bear in every eviction docket. The TRCP team of over 40 attorneys, paralegals, and other staff has represented over 1,500 households since October 2022. To grow the visibility and impact of “ACE,” TRCP is investing in targeted community outreach aiming not just to get the word out, but to change, at a grassroots level, the narrative about housing court and to learn how our implementation of “ACE” will be accountable to directly impacted communities.

Job Summary: MLA seeks an organized, collaborative, creative, impassioned individual as the TRCP Outreach Specialist who will lead targeted outreach activities for TRCP’s implementation of the “ACE” law in the Cecil/Harford office in Bel Air, MD. The TRCP Outreach Specialist will work closely with the Assistant Advocacy Director for TRCP, the Advocacy Director for Housing and Community Development, the Chief Attorney for the Office/Unit, and the Supervising Attorney for the Office/Unit on developing and executing strategic, data-informed, relationship-driven outreach to communities with high need for information about the “ACE” law, tenants’ rights, and MLA’s legal services.

The Outreach Specialist will engage externally with tenants’ organizations, community anchor institutions, service providers, and grassroots partners to develop strategic relationships and to foster collaborations centered on tenants’ rights and the “ACE” law. The position will also require analysis and application of internal and external data to develop targets and high-impact strategies for outreach. The position will also entail frequent collaboration with MLA colleagues on coordinated outreach strategies, effective messaging, and creating media opportunities. Depending on Office/Unit need, the incumbent’s interest, and training, the Outreach Specialist may conduct paralegal duties related to outreach.

Duties and Responsibilities:     

• Build stakeholder relationships in furtherance of the targeted outreach objectives; foster and grow collaborations among tenants’ organizations, grassroots organizations, service providers, and community anchor institutions.
• Strategize, plan, and execute outreach, training, and media opportunities in communities in partnership with community-based entities or leaders focused on housing stability and affordability.
• Identify larger trends and issues for community members and clients, working with MLA staff, external partners, and directly impacted residents to develop strategies; research and adapt national best practices to respond to those trends and needs.
• Actively contribute to and participate in community-based and tenant-led meetings and activities.
• Contribute to required programmatic reporting and provide quantitative and qualitative data for evaluation of the Office/Unit’s outreach strategies.