Program Support Worker (Casual, On call)

FIRST UNITED is a registered charity that has been serving Vancouver's Downtown Eastside community for 140 years. We offer responsive, low-barrier services to individuals who are low income, underhoused or homeless. We pursue dignity, belonging, and justice to meet the daily needs of community members while engaging in systems change work to reduce homelessness and break cycles of poverty. If you're looking for purpose-filled work and want to make a difference in the community, this might be the opportunity for you.

Each job within the FIRST UNITED CHURCH Community Ministry Society should promote our accomplishment of our vision, mission, and values.

WHAT WE OFFER

Wage: $30.05 per hour.

An inclusive and progressive work environment.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

Reporting to the Manager of Community Services, this casual and on-call Program Support Worker position works cooperatively with other direct service staff, the Community Connection team, Food Services team and volunteers. The Program Support worker is a frontline role providing overdose prevention/intervention, referrals to community resources, program activation at the help desk, café, health and hygiene, dining hall for community meals and facilitation of social inclusion activities for the DTES community. Ensuring the smooth integration of programs while building rapport and ensuring the community feel connected and are treated with respect and dignity.

This position is a casual, on-call basis to help meet the needs of the team and the community.

SPECIFIC DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Community Help Desk:

• Providing exceptional client greeting services; providing helpful and knowledgeable assistance and informed referrals to clients, visitors, and the public in-person, over the phone and via email.
• Monitoring messages and answering the direct line.
• Ensuring the reception and client lobby area is clean, tidy, and sanitized
• Community mail – updating the community mail list and distributing the mail to the community, adding postage, and taking out the daily mail.
• Helping with lifting/moving office and supplies and/or furniture, as required.
• Advising the Program Manager when supply inventory is low.
• Program Support Data-entry - Providing administrative and statistical support for programs, word processing, formatting, and editing, reports and spreadsheets as requested
• Keeping statistics for Community Help Desk, and other community programs as required for grants and funders.
• Harm reduction and ensuring there are enough rig kits made well in advance, and other supplies are stocked as needed.
• Updating and maintaining the community message board
• Deescalating situations with the community

Program Support:

Community Meal Program

• Assisting with community meals in the dining hall at breakfast and lunch.
• Setting up and managing the line, ensuring bread, coffee is out and ready for each meal, and bussing and cleaning tables.
• Assisting community members as needed, to manage the line pick up food if they have wheelchairs or walkers.
• Managing the emotional climate of the line and dining hall to keep the service running smoothly.

In-Kind Donations

• Picking up and delivering donations from donors as required.
• Meeting donors onsite to accept approved donations.

Tax Program: assisting with intakes in receiving tax-related documents from clients, assistant with data entry, for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP.)

Community Engagement: Facilitate social inclusion activities and programs like foot care, health and hygiene, café, movies, card tournaments. Support community internal and external events onsite and within the local community.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Superior verbal and written communication skills.
• Superior organizational skills, with strong attention to detail; exceptionally resourceful, with the ability to effectively problem-solve.
• Demonstrated record of professional excellence, high degree of initiative.
• Proven ability to offer exceptional customer/client service(s) in person, via phone, email.
• Superior knowledge of windows-based applications (Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel)
• Ability to prioritize, manage time, and engage in multiple tasks effectively and efficiently.
• Ability to maintain complete confidentiality.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
• Strong sense of idealism and desire to give back to the community; and good sense of humour and ability to have fun while working.
• Ability to display a high level of professionalism.
• Ability to follow detailed instructions and procedures.
• Fluency in a second language such as Cantonese, Spanish and French is an asset.
• Valid Class 5 BC Driver’s License and clean driving record, with ability to drive cargo van.
• Physical ability to safely lift 23 kg (50 lbs.)

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• College/Associate’s Degree or equivalent education and experience.
• Minimum 2 years’ reception and/or administrative experience in a computerized office environment where tact, empathy and professionalism are valued.
• Minimum 2 years’ experience working with the DTES community in a direct service capacity.
• If applicable, a minimum of 1-year continuous sobriety is strongly suggested.
• Additional relevant post-secondary skills/training an asset.
• Mental Health First Aid training or certification is an asset.
• Managing hostile interactions training is an asset.

SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITY:

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Latitude:

This position reports to the Manager, Community Services. This individual collaborates frequently with colleagues in the Programs Department, management, as well as with bargaining unit staff.

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS:

Define any relationship accountability and communication needs with peers, management, leadership, Board of Directors, or external partners.

• Regular communication is maintained with all levels of management, staff, shelter residents, and community members.
• Communication is also maintained with management and co-workers as work is assigned and completed, and information is exchanged on an ongoing basis.

WORK CONDITIONS:

This position works with vulnerable adults in the downtown eastside community. The work has physical demands with occasional lifting of up to 50 pounds, high noise levels and demanding clients.

JOB CLASSIFICATION:

Bargaining Unit

Job Classification: CSSEA Provincial Agreement JJEP Classification 12

We are committed to becoming a more just, equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace, which extends to how we hire. We are continually learning new and unlearning old practices while examining systemic causes of inequity, including colonialism. We aim to be representative of the communities that we serve. We welcome everyone to apply, and we strongly encourage applications from members of communities that have been marginalized based on Indigeneity, race, colour, religion, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression. In order to achieve a representative team, preference may be given to people who are members of one or more of these groups.