Community Health Worker - Bi-Lingual, Public Health Corps NYCHA COVID-19 Recovery Program

Work Location: Coney Island

Hours: Full Time - Monday - Friday 35 hours per week

Salary Range: $52,000 - $52,000

Program Overview:

Brooklyn Community Services has been awarded a contract to drive an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This requires that the communities hit hardest by the pandemic have access to the vaccine and testing, confidence taking the vaccine and have access to needed health and social resources. The Health Department’s COVID-19 Equity Action Plan recognizes that underinvestment and structural racism are the root causes of the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths seen in priority neighborhoods.

Five community and faith-based organizations will build up and utilize a workforce of community health workers (CHWs) to deeply engage with identified NYCHA neighborhoods in COVID-19 recovery, focused on increasing COVID-19 vaccination, addressing social and health factors that increase risk of severe COVID-19 illness, and leading community wellness programs and capacity building.

Position Overview:

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are essential public health workers who are trusted members of the community they serve and are passionate about social justice and supporting their communities. This trusting relationship enables CHWs to serve as a connector between the community and health/social services to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural humility of service delivery. CHWs can undertake various activities including outreach, community education, resource navigation, community wellness activities, social support, and advocacy.

CHW will play a critical role in supporting prevention and management of chronic conditions that are known to make individuals and communities more susceptible to severe disease and death from COVID-19. CHWs can also connect individuals suffering from the economic and psychological fall-out from the pandemic with resources for survival and coping.

Major Responsibilities

Key CHW duties include the following but are not limited to:

• Support community-based COVID-19 response including outreach and education (e.g., flyering, tabling, mask distribution, community wellness activities)
• Build community trust through service-based work and relationship-building
• Help people understand their health condition(s) and develop strategies to improve their health and well-being
• Deliver health information using culturally appropriate terms and concepts
• Link people to health care and social service resources including health insurance, food, housing, quality care and health information
• Provide informal counseling, support, and follow-up, and build individuals and community’s capacity to advocate for needs and services
• Soliciting and capturing community feedback, particularly on community strengths and needs
• Participate in group advocacy and community mobilization activities of the program and serve as a positive example and representative of the organization internally and externally.

Minimum Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED
• Knowledge of NYC’s resources including both governmental and non-governmental services
• Excellent problem-solving skills and crisis intervention techniques and motivational interviewing preferred.
• Must have previous experience working with high-need priority populations
• Must be in good standing with DOHMH/organization
• Attention to detail
• Experience providing coaching, mentoring, adult learning, counseling, outreach, workshop facilitation, and/or group/community presentations preferred
• A commitment to collective action and community organizing
• Knowledge and familiarity with NYCHA systems is a plus
• Knowledge of PHPC Salesforce system preferred
• NYCHA residents strongly encouraged to apply

Preferred Skills

• Bilingual (English/Chinese/Mandarin/Spanish/Haitian Creole)
• Ability to manage a caseload of up to 25 clients at a time
• Experience using client relationship management (CRM) software is a plus

BCS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities