Director, Research and Evaluation

Title: Director, Research & Evaluation

Status: Full-time Exempt

Reports to: Vice President, Research & Development

Supervises: Program Evaluator, Data and Compliance Specialist

Salary: Commensurate with experience

Hire Date: LCLC will close the posting as soon as we find an exceptional candidate

Who We Are

Lawndale Christian Legal Center (LCLC) was founded to provide a unique form of community holistic defense representation grounded in restorative justice values to minors and emerging adults (25 and under) in the North Lawndale area caught in the criminal justice system. LCLC’s highly relational, community-led model of representation is performed by an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, case managers, outreach workers, circle-keepers, and community partners. In addition to providing full criminal defense representation, LCLC’s community holistic defense team identifies and meets the legal and social needs of our clients at every phase of the criminal justice system: from diversion, arrest, through trial, and the completion of any period of probation, supervision, and parole.

In early 2025, LCLC will be opening a new $22 million facility named the Dr. Dennis Deer Community Justice Center. In this new facility, LCLC will own and operate a three-story office building plus twenty units of studio-style housing for emerging adult men, 18-25 years old, who are or have been represented by our community holistic defense team. The community holistic defense team will identify emerging adult men at high risk of going to prison and negotiate for them to stay in one of the twenty units of Deer Housing as an alternative to incarceration.

By serving justice-involved minors and emerging adults holistically in their community, LCLC is leading the transformation of the traditional criminal justice system by building out age-appropriate interventions and new best practices grounded in repair and restoration that are more effective, cost less, and result in greater public safety for all. Our holistic, community-led model of restorative justice is a template for creating a justice system that better serves Cook County and the nation. More information on LCLC can be found at

About North Lawndale

North Lawndale is a vibrant and resilient community, and we are proud to be a part of it. Our Freedom Center office site is located just next door to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Apartments and Exhibit Center, built on the site where Dr. King lived for six months during his Chicago Freedom Campaign in 1966. North Lawndale is tightly knit, and we are gratified by our affiliation with the Lawndale Christian Community Church and North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, two organizations that have done much to bring necessary health and legal services to the community.

As a result of decades of disinvestment, “white flight”, redlining, and other harbingers of systemic poverty and violence, North Lawndale suffers from high levels of poverty, economic hardship, violence, and over-policing. In North Lawndale, approximately 850 officers are assigned to the two police districts that patrol 35,000 residents. In addition, a significant percentage of specialized units (which are historically aggressive and abusive) rove in our community. More than 1,500 youth are arrested in North Lawndale yearly, the second highest rate in Chicago. Indiscriminate stops and searches of North Lawndale residents are a daily occurrence; 66% of adults surveyed perceived no legitimate reason for their most recent police stop. A startling 59% of adults in North Lawndale have been arrested, 30% convicted, and 27% jailed.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds that our youth encounter within North Lawndale, they demonstrate hope, resolve, and a drive to make their neighborhood a better place. We are continually inspired by our clients’ resilience and positivity in the face of external challenges. It is both an honor and a privilege to help them walk through and away from the criminal justice system and equip them to take control of their future.

What We Do

LCLC reaches over 350 minors and emerging adults in the criminal justice system annually with the following services:

• Community Holistic Defense for Juveniles and Emerging Adults: Free legal representation for indigent clients grounded in holistic defense practices which acknowledge that quality of representation and criminal legal outcomes are improved for youth when their unique developmental needs are simultaneously addressed by an integrated, interdisciplinary team of attorneys and social service providers.
• Community Housing: LCLC owns and operates 20 units of studio-style housing for emerging adult men, 18-25 years old, inside the Deer Community Justice Center. In addition, LCLC has created a network of approximately 275 private landlords and funders that place other LCLC clients and their families in subsidized affordable housing units.
• Restorative Justice Community Court: LCLC was the lead agency that gathered numerous community and Cook County court stakeholders together to design and launch the first Restorative Justice Community Court in the country in North Lawndale in September 2017. This court is based upon the tradition of restorative justice circle keeping and other restorative justice practices to enable repair and community integration for emerging adult men, 18-25, facing qualifying felony criminal legal charges. LCLC hopes to add a juvenile call to this court to serve minors 17 and younger under the same model.
• Community Holistic Juvenile Diversion: Since 2020, LCLC has worked with the Mayor’s office and the Chicago Police Department to close the Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC) and create a new model of juvenile diversion for Chicago. LCLC is one of eight service providers in the city and focuses on serving youth from the west side diverted from the courts by the Chicago Police Department.

LCLC looks to continuously innovate our program portfolio to build upon new best practices for serving minors and emerging adults and better serve our communities.

Position Summary

The Director, Research & Evaluation creates, coordinates, conducts, leads, and oversees all aspects of data collection, program evaluation, and research projects for LCLC. The Research & Evaluation Director is responsible for providing leadership to oversee and align the collection, management, and architecture of all data for LCLC that contributes to the organization’s mission, vision, and goals and objectives. She or he builds evaluation plans with input from a multidisciplinary team, clients, and other stakeholders. She or he is responsible for developing evaluation tools and strategies to measure, track, and report on outcomes and ensures that the program is meeting its goals and is furthering LCLC’s mission. Under the supervision of the Vice President, Research & Development, and in collaboration with other members of LCLC’s data team, the Research & Evaluation Director is responsible for leading, completing, and coordinating all evaluation and performance measurement activities. This position is responsible for translating complex data and evaluation outcomes into actionable metrics and sharing findings/learnings with both internal and external audiences. A critical role of the position is supporting and educating staff, partner organizations, and the community in the planning, implementation, and understanding of data collection and analysis. The Director, Research & Evaluation serves as a key leader for the organization.

Responsibilities

• Manages and directs all functions related to the research, evaluation, and quality assurance of LCLC programs.
• Implements all aspects of high-quality research, evaluation, and quality assurance activities and promotes effective utilization of data and information.
• Ensures the ethical conduct of all research and evaluation activities.
• Assists the executive management team in utilizing data for decision making and strategic planning.
• Creates data infrastructure and evaluation plans for new programs.
• Manages a team responsible for the analysis, verification, interpretation, and production of data and visualizations to support LCLC.
• Validates and analyzes strategic data for accuracy and completeness and refines it into format for specific responses or summary reports.
• Writes reports and makes presentations related to critical evaluation data.
• Establishes methods to monitor and evaluate program outcomes and assures the organization’s ability to track program-level data with a focus on outcomes.
• Structures data collection processes and reporting to ensure necessary measurement and reporting tools are in place for grant compliance.
• Develops and executes evaluation and data collection plans. Designs and coordinates implementation of quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments and materials.
• Ensures secure storage of gathered data and confidentiality of participants.
• Works in partnership with LCLC Directors and staff to execute LCLC’s strategic plan and implement new processes and approaches to achieve goals and ensure that the entire organization is focused on LCLC’s mission.
• Drafts data entry policies, practices, and trainings for LCLC team.
• Designs and leads research requests when needed.
• Works with external evaluators and serves as the project lead and point of contact on external evaluations.
• Leads internal training efforts around LCLC database, data collection, metrics, outcomes, etc. Trains staff and provides ongoing technical assistance on database and data-related topics.
• Performs performance improvement and continuous quality assurance activities; improves services by informing new strategies, service design, and operations based on data.
• Creates inspiring, accurate, and thorough grant reports, annual reports, and other reports documenting youth served, services provided, outcomes, etc.
• Conducts ongoing research regarding strategies and practices developed in criminal justice and violence prevention fields that show promise and might be incorporated in our service model.
• Equips LCLC to lead the field of criminal justice reform and public safety by helping design developmentally appropriate supports for acutely high-risk, justice-involved minors and emerging adults.
• Recommends design changes to LCLC’s database and leads the LCLC team in the design and management of the database.
• Represents LCLC on various internal and external committees, task forces, and professional organizations.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Advanced degree in research methods, statistics, public health, social work, or a related field.
• 3+ years of program evaluation experience, preferably in a nonprofit setting.
• At least 1-year supervisory experience.
• Experience with designing and conducting qualitative and quantitative evaluations.
• Knowledge of research and evaluation methodologies.
• Ability to handle multiple concurrent activities, work under pressure, and prioritize work effectively to meet deadlines.
• Ability to manage conflicting and changing priorities, adapt and lead through ambiguous projects.
• Excellent organization and time management skills.
• Ability to maintain confidential and sensitive information.
• Ability to operate with a high level of autonomy and decision-making responsibility.
• Builds relationships; thinks and acts strategically.
• Can conduct multiple projects with minimal supervision.
• Exhibits decisiveness – takes initiative in identifying problems and solutions.
• Demonstrates good judgment under pressure.
• Ability to work in teams and independently.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Superior communication skills (written and oral).
• Ability to work effectively with diverse staff, clients, and community partners.
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and statistical software packages such as Python, SPSS, STATA, R, etc.

Lawndale Christian Legal Center is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and organizational needs. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative of those we serve.

North Lawndale residents and minorities encouraged to apply.