Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Analyst, Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (RMEL) (Brooklyn)

Who we are:

The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grasstop organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.

Vera has a staff of 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.

Vera’s Impact Pipeline

Vera generates ideas to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems and takes them to national scale. Following the completion of our strategic plan in 2020, we are expanding and formalizing our infrastructure for this multistage ideation and scaling process—which we call the Impact Pipeline. This staged process helps Vera staff generate ideas with potential for national impact, pilot those ideas, adapt and improve them, and evaluate their effectiveness. 

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team is a new team that plays the key role of ensuring that strategic learning and continuous improvement are integrated throughout the Impact Pipeline. The MEL team partners with colleagues across Vera’s Initiatives to define meaningful impact goals and milestones, co-create measurement and assessment tools, and provide regular and actionable feedback to inform and refine strategies. Our approach to MEL is collaborative and equitable: we strive to evaluate and learn in partnership with colleagues across the institute, community partners, and people directly impacted by our work and embrace MEL as a tool for shifting power. We also support an internal culture of learning, reflection, and strategic decision-making and help build MEL capacity and adaptive learning skills across the institute. 

Who you are:

You are passionate about using data and evidence to drive change and work towards social and racial justice. You are an analytical and systematic thinker, and curious listener, with experience collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. You can support multiple projects simultaneously, working both independently and collaboratively with diverse colleagues. 

Position summary:

The analyst will work as part of a team, supporting initiatives at all stages in the impact pipeline by managing, analyzing, and presenting data for monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Reporting to the Director of MEL, the analyst will be an important member of the MEL and Impact Pipeline teams. The analyst’s primary responsibilities will include:

• Cleaning, managing, and coding qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation data
• Preparing analyses of qualitative and quantitative data, statistics, infographics, and other presentations of findings for use by diverse internal and external audiences
• Supporting data collection (e.g. interviews, surveys, etc.) with supervision from senior staff
• Compiling and synthesizing data from various sources (e.g. MEL, program, and publicly available data)
• Coordinating and collaborating closely with MEL and Impact Pipeline colleagues and contributing actively to team meetings and activities

The analyst will work with other members of the Impact Pipeline team to advance the Impact Pipeline goals, actively engage in team meetings, and support efforts to integrate Vera’s race, equity, and inclusion priorities in MEL.

In this role, you will:

Data analysis and reporting

• Analyzing qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation data
• Preparing statistics, infographics, and summaries of analyses for monitoring reports that will inform program decision-making
• Compiling and synthesizing MEL, program, and publicly available data
• Tracking results using databases and/or other tracking tools  

Support the dissemination and communications of MEL processes and results. This may include:

• Developing templates for presenting MEL data to teams
• Drafting reports, briefs, and infographics
• Creating PowerPoint presentations, other meeting materials, and presenting data and analyses to colleagues

Support data and knowledge management. This may include:

• Managing, cleaning, and/or coding data
• Drafting documentation of data processes
• Updating and organizing information on our team SharePoint site and Airtable collaboration tool
• Support setting up a “knowledge pool” with lessons learned from pipeline initiatives

Support a learning culture and evaluative thinking as part of the Impact Pipeline team (10%). For example, by:

• Thinking about how we can continuously improve our ways of working
• Proposing ways to combat biases in our work
• Making connections and seeing patterns across different pieces of work

Other duties as assigned

What qualifications do you need?

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or 1+ year of related work experience or equivalent experience
• Commitment to racial equity and its intersections and experience engaging in conversations about race, equity, and inclusion
• Some familiarity with and/or interest in research and evaluation methods and organizational learning
• Strong task management and organizational skills
• Excellent communication, writing, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work on multiple projects effectively and efficiently, both independently and collaboratively with a team
• Knowledge of or lived experience with criminal and immigration legal systems preferable

Preferred:

• One to three years of experience outside of school in a similar setting, candidates with direct, lived experience of the criminal legal and/or immigration systems are encouraged to apply
• Experience conducting qualitative analyses and basic statistical analyses.

List of Required Software applications:

• Experience with data analysis software (e.g. SPSS, R, STATA, NVivo, Dedoose)
• Experience with Microsoft Office

Compensation and Benefits:

The compensation range for this position is $56,600 – $59,800. Actual salaries will vary depending on factors including but not limited to experience and performance. The salary range listed is just one component of Vera Institute’s total compensation package for employees. As an employer of choice in our field, supporting Vera staff—both personally and professionally—is a priority. To do this, we invest in the well-being of our staff through other rewards including merit pay, generous paid time off, a comprehensive health insurance plan, student loan repayment benefits, professional development training opportunities and up to $2,000 annual for education costs and fees relevant to Vera work, employer-funded retirement plan, and flexible time and remote work schedules. To learn more about Vera’s benefits offerings,  click here.

Applications may also be faxed to:

ATTN: People Resources / Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Analyst, Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (RMEL)  

Vera Institute of Justice
34 35th St, Suite 4-2A, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Fax: (212) 941-9407
Please use only one method (online, mail or fax) of submission.
No phone calls, please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

As a federal contractor, and in order to ensure a healthy and safe work environment, Vera Institute of Justice is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccine before their start date. Employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of a disability/medical contraindication or sincerely-held religious belief may request an accommodation (e.g., an exemption) to this requirement.

Vera is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status. 

Vera works to advance justice, particularly racial justice, in an increasingly multicultural country and globally connected world. We value diverse experiences, including with regard to educational background and justice system contact, and depend on a diverse staff to carry out our mission. 

For more information about Vera, please visit www.vera.org