Job Description

CDEL Social Work Intern

The Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL) provides free legal services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. CDEL's clientsindividuals often marginalized by age, disability and povertymay have difficulty accessing the legal system. CDEL strives to provide access to the legal system to help our clients to assert their legal rights and live better lives.

CDEL's organizational structure consists of a modest in-house staff which supports a network of hundreds of volunteer attorneys, students and paralegals. CDEL staff and its volunteers provide legal representation in a wide range of civil practice areas including guardianship, simple estate planning, landlord/tenant, consumer debt and fraud, and real estate.

CDEL seeks Social Work Interns to work with CDEL's attorneys to help provide holistic services to CDEL's clients. This position will help support seniors and people with disabilities, particularly with housing, public benefits, health care, and case management needs.

The Internship is unpaid. However, CDEL will work with schools offering externship credit, as well as any funding options available for Interns through schools or outside agencies.

Responsibilities:

• Assess clients' needs in both in-person and phone interviews.
• Facilitate direct referrals to appropriate services and organizations, such as housing assistance organizations, employment assistance services, case management services, and mental health services.
• Consult with CDEL attorneys and staff on behalf of clients, including analysis of social work and mental health issues impacting clients and identification of services to resolve issues which arise during the legal representation.
• Participate in case acceptance and evaluation meetings and other legal training to learn about our work.
• Assist CDEL staff in making informed decisions about case management issues, including assessing client's capacity to benefit from proposed services.
• Conduct in-house training and education for CDEL staff on mental health, social work, and related issues.
• Manage client case load under supervision.
• Connect with community organizations to learn about their services and share information about CDEL's services.
• Build CDEL's referral resource list in the areas of food assistance, housing, and mental health.

Qualifications:

• Must be currently enrolled in a Masters of Social Work program
• Experience and competence working with people from diverse backgrounds including but not limited to race, gender, identification with the LGBT+ community, culture, age, language, and ability level.
• Dedication to working in an interdisciplinary setting with a strong commitment to collaboration and teamwork.
• Interest in or experience in implementing social work skills in a law setting.
• Strong interest in case/client work.
• Commitment to social justice
• Excellent oral and written skills.
• Internet and computer skills, including familiarity with Microsoft Office.
• Spanish fluency preferred, but not required.

Work Environment:

CDEL's offices are located in the loop but we are a community-based organization and hold outreaches, workshops and clinics in the communities where our clients live. We work a hybrid work setting working at the office, from home and in the community.

CDEL is Committed to DEI:

CDEL is an equal opportunity employer. We are a welcoming community that engages, encourages and empowers those who are members of underrepresented communities. We are a dedicated advocate for our clients who hold many diverse identities and experiences, across race, color, sex, age, religion, class, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military discharge, source of income, housing status and gender identity. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized and underrepresented communities to apply for this position. We also encourage you to read our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement available on our website.

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