SHC Job Openings (backup)

Shelter Advocate (Overnight Shift)

Department: Services (Shelter)
Pay Range : $11.50 (non-exempt employee)
Immediate Supervisor: Shelter/Helpline Coordinator

Note: This position is 32 hours per week

Job Qualifications Education/Training/Experience:  One year of experience in a relevant social justice or human services field 

Experience/Abilities/Skills:

• Excellent writing and interpersonal communication skills;
• strong leadership and teamwork skills;
• computer proficiency, including with Microsoft Office and email and internet functions;
• Understanding of and sensitivity to the unique circumstances of underserved populations and to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault

Other Valued Education, Training, Experience, Abilities or Skills:

• Fluency in language(s) other than English
• Experience working with survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault
• Supervisory experience
• Public speaking experience
• A degree in a relevant social justice or human services field

Job Responsibilities

Security 

• Walk through the entire shelter every  hour or more if needed.
• Record pertinent information in the Residential Perimeter Log
• After hours, lock kitchen and all relevant windows and doors.  Ensure that nightly lock-up/security procedures are followed.
• Review shelter sign in and population board to assess resident safety and curfew adherence.
• Monitor the parking lot and grounds.

HelpLine Coverage

• Answer the HelpLine.  Ascertain if caller is a survivor of domestic violence or sexual assault.  Provide crisis counseling, information, referrals and safety planning to survivors and family members.  Refer other callers to appropriate assistance.
• Screen potential shelter residents.
• When possible, arrange to meet the specific needs of callers.  When it is not possible (because of the hour), safety plan with the caller on how to get through the night and be sure that the caller knows whom to contact in the morning.  If the caller can be reached during the day, make arrangements for the appropriate staff person to return the call in the morning.

Shelter Coverage

• Carry the shelter beeper on a rotating basis.  This includes being available for transportation nights and weekends, covering shifts due to illness or other unavailability of staff, providing consultation for night and weekend advocates, and covering the shelter on an emergency basis.
• Open the shelter door for volunteers, residents and other authorized individuals.
• Remain awake during the hours of 12a.m. through 8 a.m.

Welcoming and Assisting Residents

• Assist residents when they need things like medication, baby care items, personal care items, food from dry storage or locked areas of the kitchen, etc.
• Welcome new residents who arrive during the overnight hours, show them to their room and give them basic information about the shelter and how to get things that they need (such as personal care items and food).

Curfews, Chores and Other Aspects of Communal Living

• Utilize skills to facilitate communication among residents and to promote constructive mechanisms for coping with communal shelter life.
• Ensure that bedtime for children is followed.
• Ensure that any television programs or movies being viewed in a communal area are suitable (no violence or inappropriate content).
• Help to develop, implement and periodically review shelter residential life procedures.

Staff Communication

• Inform the appropriate shelter advocate when issues arise involving a shelter resident and/or that resident’s children.
  Read the shift change at the beginning of each shift and note any relevant details at the end of each shift.
• Communicate professionally with residents, co-workers and the public.
• Maintain a positive cooperative work approach and foster teamwork among co-workers.

Facility Upkeep and Maintenance

• Monitor proper functioning of the shelter facility.  Report any malfunctioning equipment or structural damage to the Facilities Coordinator and Shelter Coordinator.
• Assist with facility upkeep as directed by the Shelter Coordinator.

Inventory and Management of Storage Areas

• Manage the meds room, taking inventory and assisting with dispensing medication to residents upon request.
• Sort, put away and distribute donations that are stored in the meds room or shelter advocacy office.

Record Keeping

• Maintain case/call records and statistics as necessary and submit accurate data by stated deadlines.
• Maintain records of service participant contacts.
• Maintain records of all contacts related to service delivery (authorized phone calls to third parties, court contacts, etc.).
• Enter data into client database when necessary.
• Update case files regularly and thoroughly, following organizational procedures about file management.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Greet and assist people when they enter the public lobby.
• Participate in conferences, classes and workshops to enhance professional knowledge and skill..
• Sign up for some holiday shifts during popular holiday times (most notably – but not necessarily limited to – the time around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s).  Some limited holiday shifts will be required of all staff in order to keep our essential crisis intervention functions operational at all times throughout the year.
• Sign up for the required number of community education presentations, information tables or other outreach opportunities.
• Assist with special events when appropriate.
• Help to keep shared spaces orderly and take part in office-related light cleaning chores as assigned.
• Other tasks as assigned.