Street Outreach & Engagement Specialist at Shelter House Iowa

Description

You go to work everyday. Make the commute, clock in, do your job, clock out, and head home.

What if what happened in the middle changed everything?

At Shelter House, your work saves lives. Not just sometimes: every single day. Whether you help provide emergency shelter, support your colleagues with daily operations, assist shelter guests with finding and financing an apartment when they leave shelter, help clients find jobs, or provide support to individuals who left the streets after experiencing chronic homelessness and are now tenants in a supported apartment, your work advances the lives of people in crisis.'

Commute to work. Change lives. Head home.

That's the job. Join us.

Key Qualities:

• Commitment. You believe in Shelter House's mission to prevent and end homelessness in our community and are drawn not just to the work described in this posting, but to the fact that it is here.
• Curiosity. You have a habit of asking "why" or "how," which leads you to have excellent analytical skills and problem-solving ability.
• Organization. You know what needs to be done when, and you have methods in place to ensure you make that happen.
• Communication. When you write or speak, folks know exactly what you're saying, and the tone is appropriate to the audience.
• Detailed. Your record-keeping is accurate and complete.
• Consensus-building. You have excellent interpersonal skills and can both mediate misunderstanding and negotiate to resolve conflict.
• Flexibility. You can adapt to the changing needs of the organization, its employees, and its clients.
• Patience. You can work with a diverse array of individuals in crisis and seek to de-escalate situations.
• Awareness. You are alert, focused, and tuned into the work environment.
• Judgement. You model sound decision-making and respond in rapidly changing situations. You take action and involve coworkers and management when necessary, and first responders when warranted.
• Humility. You understand that no necessary task is beneath any of us when it will advance the mission.
• Cooperation. You work well with members of your team and with folks in other departments.
• Growth-minded. You know and embrace that there is always more to do and learn.

1. Key Responsibility 1 (30% of time): The Street Outreach and Engagement Specialist shall provide Outreach and Engagement services. Participants engaged should receive high-performing services in accordance with Shelter House policies, mission, vision, and values.

So That:

• Utilize a person-centered approach, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction models to provide direct services and service coordination for identified participants, maintaining flexibility, patience, trained engagement techniques, and empathy.
• Provide targeted street outreach, assuring appropriate geographic coverage, to communities within the Shelter House service area to identify unsheltered homeless persons living on the streets or other places not meant for human habitation (e.g., parking lots, bridges, storage facilities, forest preserves etc.).
• Establish rapport and reduce harm by providing clinical, life-saving resources such as food, water, clothing, blankets, and other necessities and determine the person's immediate safety needs. Using a trauma-informed approach, provide crisis intervention, practiced and proven competent engagement techniques, and other skills and strategies needed for engagement.
• Perform assessments and prioritize for assistance as sheltered person assessed through the coordinated entry process and make appropriate referrals into Coordinated Entry and perform and complete VI-SPDATs.
• Provide age-appropriate interaction and immediate referral to appropriate agencies with any homeless youth encountered.
• Work as a team with other staff members as appropriate to alternate responsibilities and negotiate tasks to ensure safety and engagement protocols are met, while offering multiple opportunities to say 'no' and making repeated offers of assistance as necessary throughout the engagement process.
• Ensure that encounters and interactions are respectful and responsive to the beliefs and practices, sexual orientations, disability statuses, age, gender identities, cultural preferences, and linguistic needs of all individuals.
• Follow safety protocols for vulnerable populations that involve fleeing domestic violence, as well as dating violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or prostitutions and make appropriate referrals with the appropriate level of support to each participant and client as needed.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of resources, services, and opportunities available to participants. Deliver high-quality crisis intervention and seek appropriate support to assist in difficult or emergency client situations.

2. Key Responsibility 2 (15% of time): The Street Outreach and Engagement Specialist will build rapport and maintain positive professional relationships and coordinate with Community Partners.

So That:

• Establish working relationships with community stakeholders, law enforcement, libraries, first responders, hospitals, health and behavioral health care providers, city staff liaisons, faith-based organizations, and other community-based providers.
• Coordinate with Housing Services' medical cooperative partners as applicable. Communicate and cooperate with staff from other programs and stakeholders as needed to ensure seamless delivery of service to clients with appropriate releases on file.
• Maintain a high-level of professionalism at all times with a high-level of advocacy for participants within community settings both private and public. Build and maintain positive relationships with community partners to ensure a high-level of collaboration to best provide care and services to populations served in this role.

3. Key Responsibility 3 (35% of time): The Street Outreach and Engagement Specialist will coordinate services and provide referrals, while using a Housing First approach. Street Outreach does not impose preconditions to make referrals to permanent housing, shelter, or other temporary housing, such as sobriety, minimum income requirements, absence of a criminal record, completion of treatment, participation in services, or other unnecessary conditions.

So That:

• Ensure that a trauma-informed workplace, no matter the location, is achieved and maintained demonstrating a balance of kindness, competence, and care toward self, others with whom we work, and those for whom we provide care.
• Deliver high-quality crisis intervention and seek appropriate support to assist in difficult or emergency participant situations. Make immediate connections to emergency shelter or temporary housing to provide safe options while individuals and families are on a pathway toward stability.
• Make connections to stable housing with tailored services and supports of their choice, such as health and behavioral health care, transportation, access to benefits, and more.
• Perform warm handoffs to Coordinated Entry or to shelter, housing, and service providers (e.g., outreach staff may offer to physically accompany the individual to appointments to provide support).
• Be mindful of racial inequities and disparities among people experiencing homelessness and tailor and customize their efforts to ensure that equity is being achieved within their outreach activities and outcomes.
• Utilize problem-solving techniques to identify strengths and existing support networks, explore possible safe housing options outside the homelessness service system, such as reunification with family, and connect the individual to community supports and services.

4. Key Responsibility 4 (20% of time): The Street Outreach and Engagement Specialist must accurately record and maintain participant data and statistics including, but not limited to, demographics, outcome measures, goals, face-to-face notes, medical information, collateral contact, and grant-specific requirements, and maintain all participant records to ensure accuracy, confidentiality, and security in a timely manner.

So That:

• Document all street outreach contacts and housing placements in and obtain the appropriate licensure to access Service Point/Well Sky: Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS).
• Review and complete incident reports as required. Ensure confidentiality in participant information is always maintained. Ensure that intake and exit procedures are thoroughly conducted in a timely manner, including any relevant program record-keeping programs, Service Point HMIS documentation and other agency-required paperwork. Appropriate program forms pertinent to client information and confidentiality are organized, as complete as possible, and secure.
• Actively engage with programming and department matters, supporting other staff when crises arise.
• Attend and are actively engaged in required agency meetings, such as all-staff and department meetings, and attend and are actively engaged in required trainings. Carry a cell phone at all times when on duty or when on-call. Respond to issues in a timely and professional manner.
• Complete all other duties as assigned.

This position description is not intended to be a complete list of responsibilities, duties, or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of the organization.

Reports to: Emergency Services Program Manager

Requirements

Qualifications:

1. Knowledge, skills, and abilities consistent with a degree in Human Services field, or a minimum of three years of related experience.
2. Demonstrated knowledge and ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with area services, community partners, and resources.
3. Commitment to operating within a trauma-informed workplace and community that demonstrates a balance of kindness, competence, and care toward self, colleagues, and populations served.
4. Ability to assess and respond responsibility in a wide variety of situations and crises.
5. Minimum of one-year direct care experience with persons with mental illness, homelessness, or disabilities.
6. Proficiency in Windows-based computer environment and Microsoft Office Suite, or related software.
7. Good written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, organizational and time management skills.
8. Ability to work independently, prioritize multiple tasks, and be flexible in job duties and schedule.
9. Possess a valid driver's license and reliable transportation to get to and from work shifts.
10. The ability to tolerate extreme weather conditions.
11. The ability to be insured under company commercial auto insurance policy.

Hours:

• This a full-time, benefit eligible role
• 40 hours per week
• Flexible schedule

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to walk up and down stairs.
• Must be able to life up to 30 pounds at times.
• Prolonged periods of sitting, standing, and walking around.

The physical demands and work environment are representative of those that must be met or encountered to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ACA), Shelter House will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

Interviews with qualified applicants will be conducted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Shelter House is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a United Way Agency.