Social Worker or Senior Social Worker

JOB TITLE: Social Worker or Senior Social Worker

PRACTICE GROUP: Social Work Team

REPORTS TO: Social Services Manager

LOCATION: Sacramento Bay Area Fresno Los Angeles Ontario or San Diego - Hybrid (Only in California)

EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Regular; Exempt Full time 37.5 hours/week

SALARY RANGE: $62000- 98000. We base salary and position offers on experience and an internal equity analysis.

EXCELLENT BENEFITS including 8% 401k Match LRAP (Loan Repayment Assistance Program) that pays up to $300 per month depending on salary and debt BBS license renewal fees supervision for licensure CEUs fees professional membership dues PSLF-eligible employment and $50 monthly remote work stipend.

Application Deadline: Open until filled. Applications must be received by November 25 2025 to be considered for first round interviews.

WHO WE ARE

Disability Rights California (DRC) is a statewide non-profit legal organization dedicated to advancing the rights of Californians with disabilities. DRC works to achieve fairness and justice for people with disabilities through individual and impact litigation state and federal policy and regulatory advocacy and community education and training.

DRC is seeking a (Senior) Social Worker to join our Social Work team. This is an opportunity to work across a variety of DRC advocacy areas including housing/homelessness ADA special education Regional Centers and Department of Rehabilitation.

This position would be housed in the Equal Access and Housing Practice Group (EAH) which focuses on fighting discrimination and inaccessibility for people with disabilities particularly in the intersection of low-income communities and communities of color. The team provides individualized legal advice and social work support to address legal issues. Our goal is to empower individuals with disabilities to advocate for their rights as tenants and community members. We also work with unhoused people to identify needed services and overcome accessibility barriers.

In addition to direct work with clients we adopt a multi-pronged approach by providing Know-Your-Rights trainings workshops advocating with government agencies and housing providers to improve access and forming strategic partnerships with other service providers and community groups to leverage our resources and maximize the number of people we can assist.

We are a diverse and collaborative team that values flexibility adaptability and innovation in a legal landscape which has been significantly changed by the pandemic.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Social Worker or Senior Social Worker works under the direct supervision of the Social Services Manager and in collaboration with other Disability Rights California attorneys advocates and social workers in their legal advocacy and outreach efforts. Through a combination of direct client work and collaborative community outreach the goal is to provide individualized help to prevent homelessness and combat systemic housing stability issues while meeting federal and state grant requirements.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

As part of multidisciplinary team the Social Worker shares responsibility with other legal and advocacy staff for providing information referrals advice brief service technical assistance outreach training and limited representation in administrative proceedings to clients on legal matters.

Social Worker essential functions include:

Assist Clients 75%

• Participate in statewide intakes on housing-related issues including unlawful detainers housing discrimination complaints sub-standard conditions and other legal issues that may impact housing stability. The majority of intakes will be by telephone though we aim to explore new technologies to enhance remote intake as well as some limited in-person intakes.
• Issue-spot during intake calls triage and case conference meetings to identify needs that may adversely affect or create barriers to housing stability.
• Identify clients social supports and eligibility for services and resources.
• Navigate various systems (social services mental health health education shelter etc.) to improve clients access to services and resources.
• Communicate and advocate with community agencies and care providers to address clients unmet needs.
• Provide referrals and link clients to needed services and resources.
• Assess for risk and protective factors.
• Assess for mental health concerns including conducting MSEs and competency assessments.
• Create self-advocacy tools for a variety of advocacy matters including sample letters and other materials that a potential client can use to help access or maintain needed resources or services.
• Identify systemic problems that affect our clients housing rights and address these challenges through collaborations with other practice groups within DRC.
• Other duties as assigned.

Community-Based Advocacy 25%

• Outreach and networking with community agencies to establish effective working relationships and strategies to facilitate warm handoffs particularly in underserved communities (including language or ethnically distinct communities rural communities LGBTQI communities individuals who live in facilities and people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness)
• Engage in holistic legal advocacy practices with clients with disabilities particularly clients experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
• Organize and participate in community-based legal clinics. This can include working with various community-based organizations to develop and schedule clinics working within Disability Rights California to staff the clinics attending legal clinics and providing clients with information and advice at in-person legal clinics.
• Collaborate on the design and presentation of trainings on various disability-related legal topics for service providers and the public.
• Develop and build relationships with community leaders with a focus on working in underserved communities (which includes language or ethnically distinct communities rural communities LGBTQI communities individuals who live in facilities and people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness).
• Other duties as assigned.

Experienced applicants may be considered for the title of Senior Social addition to the above job responsibilities the Senior Social Worker:

• Has experience in one or more substantive issue areas.
• Handles a higher volume of brief service cases.
• Coordinates the Social Work Internship program.
• Provides supervision to assigned student interns and volunteers including training scheduling and mentorship.
• Promotes professional development of staff through teaching modeling and the development of structured learning opportunities.
• In collaboration with program managers and directors participate in agency-wide program development and evaluation to ensure that Social Work Teams work is effective efficient and consistent with DRCs mission and goals.
• Participate in team meetings and supervisory sessions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience

The minimum qualifications for Social Worker are:

• BSW or Bachelors (BA BS) degree in a related field from four-year college and 3 years of social work or similar experience

OR

MSW degree and 2 years of social work or similar experience

OR

equivalent combination of 7 years of social work or similar experience and/or training.

• Demonstrated ability to interview people in a variety of methods including on the phone in person on video or over email.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines in an efficient and timely manner.
• Effective oral and written communication skills and documentation skills.
• Ability to listen to and synthesize information in a clear manner and to communicate information to individuals in a variety of formats depending on the clients needs.
• Demonstrated ability to lead client groups organize client events and work with clients in innovative ways.
• Experience in presenting or training in front of varied and diverse audiences.
• Experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons with disabilities and/or experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons from multi-ethnic communities.
• Experience working with people across a variety of backgrounds in the community including individuals from language or ethnically distinct communities people with disabilities people at risk of or experiencing homelessness elderly populations and a variety of socioeconomic groups.
• Awareness of cultural humility and intersectional issues.
• Familiarity with housing barriers and housing navigation services.
• Experience with public benefits and social services systems.
• Expertise in at least one additional substantive area(s) of social work or disability related legal rights that DRC regularly provides advocacy or training in.

In addition to the above the minimum qualifications for Senior Social Worker include:

MSW degree and 5 years social work experience

OR

MSW degree and LCSW license

OR

Alternative to the MSW degree and LCSW license a combined 10 years of social work experience

Demonstrated supervisory experience

Demonstrated program development or program leadership experience

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- MSW degree

- LCSW licensure

- Familiarity with laws affecting rights of and services for people with disabilities.

- Familiarity with various housing barriers including the eviction process.

- Expertise and proficiency in housing and working with unhoused

individuals/families

- Familiarity with social determinants of health.

- Knowledge of resources in Santa Cruz San Bernardino or other underserved/rural counties in CA.

- Experience in community organizing or development.

- Experience working directly with the public in a high-volume setting.

- Experience in a legal setting or legal systems.

- Experience with brief services and short-term solution-focused practice

models.

- Demonstrated experience in working effectively on teams.

- Demonstrated flexibility in adapting to dynamic client programmatic and

agency needs.

- Experience in telehealth telemental health or televisits.

- Experience with older adults dependent adults and Adult Protective

Services.

- Experience in harm reduction and motivational interviewing.

- Experience in crisis intervention and/or trauma-informed advocacy

- Demonstrated ability to develop training materials self-advocacy materials or training modules.

- Ability to communicate fluently in Spanish Chinese Tagalog Vietnamese Korean or American Sign Language.

- Life experience as a person with a disability OR direct experience as a caregiver of a family member with a disability.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

Occasional travel required: Ability to travel occasionally for activities such as out-of-town meetings training or outreach activities up to 25% of the time.

CORE COMPETENCY SKILL LEVELS

The competencies below represent the knowledge skills behaviors and/or abilities required to be successful at DRC with or without disability related reasonable accommodations.

Advocacy

Ability to participate in stakeholder meetings with government officials/offices. Ability to provide legal advice and represent individuals in litigation. Ability to lead individual litigation. Ability to influence public policy.

Diversity & Inclusion

Embraces an environment of learning about valuing encouraging and supporting differences. Seeks opportunities for inclusion in a variety of settings. Promotes and sustains a community that acknowledges and celebrates differences.

Communication

Ability to read analyze and interpret complex legal documents/terminology laws financial reports medical records or technical journals. Ability to respond and present written advice information and documents for clients meetings hearings regulatory or government agencies. Ability to make complex ideas laws facts and/or policies understandable to diverse audiences governmental entities facility leadership public groups/officials and/or boards of directors.

Critical Thinking

Understands that few things are black and white. Ability to explore factors in any situation for the purpose of determining the array of best possible solutions. Incorporates facts impact on others and communication strategy into problem solving methodology.

Relationship Building

Ability to take proactive steps to reach out to clients community partners facilities and/or community agencies in more direct relevant and personal ways. Addresses issues in an open constructive professional manner and persuades others to approach issues in the same manner. Seeks to resolve confrontations and disagreements constructively. Focuses on the situation issues or behaviors rather than the people. Supports the good ideas of others.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The following describes general working conditions and requirements of the job which can be performed with or without disability related reasonable accommodations. Duties are performed between an office environment and the field in a wide range of settings including health care facilities; in client group or family homes; community agencies; or in community-based outpatient settings. Work areas are often noisy. Duties frequently require sitting talking and/or hearing and occasional periods of standing stooping kneeling and crouching. Weights to be lifted and/or moved up to 10 pounds are frequently encountered. Must be able to transport oneself to work-related meeting centers etc.