Full-time Resource Center Specialist (Kona)

Location of Position: Kailua-Kona, HI
Status: Non-exempt                                                                
Reports To: Team Leader

The Resource Center Specialist supports the designated Resource Center. This includes resource referrals, general counseling, and “ministry of presence” involving daily conversations with guests, distribution of hygiene items and clothing, facilitating storage and phone calls, coordinating meals, showers, laundry, volunteer coordination, de-escalation and conflict resolution, general security, and safety of all guests at the Resource Center. A substantial amount of time is spent meeting with and assisting Program Participants. Working hours will be flexible and varying dependent upon program needs.

To oversee a comprehensive resource program that offers both information and a support system to families in need and works toward accomplishing two primary goals: Strive to eliminate obstacles that may hinder their pathway to housing. Connect each individual with a variety of community-based agencies and offer individual information that will enhance their quality of life.

Using a multi-disciplinary skill set, the Resource Center Specialist must be able to exercise the following skills:

• Execute services to program standards;
• Manage volunteers, community groups, and walk-in participants utilizing services at the Resource Center, including usage of laundry, shower, and locker facilities.
• Based on the individual's service/housing plan, help the participant with his or her goals, strategies, and interventions to achieve housing.
• Monitor, track, and document participants' progress in achieving their goals.
• Make appropriate referrals and linkages to community mainstream programs that participants may be eligible for, including TANF, General Assistance, SNAP, SSI, SSDI, SSA, and Veteran care.
• Make appropriate referrals and linkages to mental health care, dental care, substance abuse treatment, psychiatric care, and general health care services.
• Assist participants with housing and employment search, including subsidized, temporary transitional, and permanent opportunities. Includes housing applications, appropriate photo identification, and resume development.
• Work with the resource center team, including the director, outreach housing navigators, shelter housing navigators, and housing team members, to move families and individuals into housing as quickly as possible.
• Collect and maintain participant documentation, web-based case management records, and data.
• Complete encounter verification in the established web-based case management information system within 24 hrs. of participant contact.
• Ensure that services are provided in a safe, respectful, and effective manner;
• Communicate effectively with the local community and external agencies to provide wrap-around services and foster relationships that enable needed resources to be accessed.
• Coordinate the provision of services with other programs within the community;
• Document program participant outcomes, including electronic and hard-file records, ensuring that data is entered accurately, promptly, and in accordance with agency and regulatory standards and funder requirements;
• Resolve complex community issues involving the program and its participants;
• Model effective Housing First Case Management techniques and strategies, including: Motivational Interviewing, Assertive Engagement, Stages of Change, De-escalation, and Active Listening;
• Assess risks and develop appropriate plans to help ensure continuation of service;
• Help participants establish goals and an individualized service plan;
• Knowledge and practice-understanding of mental health issues, trauma-informed care, mental health and addiction assessments, client-centered treatment;
• Excellent communication skills in all mediums;
• Respond to crisis situations calmly and professionally, ensuring the safety of clients and staff. Provide crisis debriefing after incidents, as appropriate.
• Actively participate in staff meetings and trainings;
• Other duties as assigned.

The Resource Center Specialist must be able to fulfill duties in accordance with the Housing First approach, including:

• Housing as the first essential step, without any requirements for sobriety, participation in treatment, medication protocol, compliance, or demonstrated “housing readiness”;
• Recovery orientation related to mental wellness and cognitive functioning;
• Reducing harm to the individual and broader community;
• Remaining non-judgmental in the behaviors, practices, beliefs, and actions of service participants;
• Promoting and empowering meaningful choices and service access options, as well as allowing the service participant to influence the type, duration, frequency, and intensity of supports;
• Absence of coercion, tricks, or contracting; Supporting greater independence over time;
• A professional relationship without dependency that supports “doing with” instead of “doing for”;
• Expressing empathy and positivity;
• Remaining future-oriented, not anchored to past events, with a strong sense of promoting hope and possibility in a realistic manner;
• Transparency and disclosure of information with the service participant using full informed consent;
• Balancing the needs of the client, community, and landlord in each situation;
• The right to refuse or revoke services and/or seek restitution or grieve instances where they feel services are inappropriate or inadequate.

The Resource Center Specialist must have considerable knowledge and expertise in the areas of:

• Legal requirements and risks to perform this type of work, including the relevant legislation that impacts decisionmaking in particular situations;
• Rental housing and requirements of tenants and landlords by law;
• Homelessness, especially chronic homelessness;
• Dependency on substances;
• Aboriginal culture and impacts on cultural identity;
• Economic poverty;
• Income support services;
• Child welfare;
• Health care, mental health care, and addiction services;
• Harm reduction;
• Trauma and abuse;
• Domestic and intimate partner violence (victim and perpetrators);
• Life changes and ageing;
• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders;
• Brain injuries;
• Privacy and confidentiality;
• Self-care;
• Corrections and criminal justice.

In the course of performing the duties of the Resource Center Specialist it is not uncommon to see, engage or be confronted with first hand – or have staff encounter first hand – the following: violence and threats of violence; profane, racist and/or sexist language; bodily fluids; conflict; interactions with First Responders; alcohol and other street drugs; cigarette smoke; death of service participants or her/his associates; nudity of service participants or her/his associates; friends/family dynamics with service participants; people involved with sex work; people involved in the drug trade; persons used against their consent, will or knowledge; people in conflict with the law; and/or other situations that may be unsettling. Measures are taken to train staff to appropriately deal with these situations, but those in the position should reasonably expect these types of things to occur, and the Resource Center Specialist must provide appropriate direction and support in these situations.

Minimum Qualifications:

• High School Diploma and two years of experience serving vulnerable and challenged individuals.
• An Associate’s Degree or higher may substitute years of experience.
• Ability to assess individual needs and make appropriate referrals.
• Highly organized, with attention to detail.
• Ability to coordinate and prioritize tasks and complete them effectively Ability to present facts and recommendations effectively in oral and written form.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with other professionals (including staff, community organizations, and donors), as well as volunteers and participants (including persons experiencing homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, and incarceration).
• Flexibility to work in and implement high levels of detail in a fast-paced environment, utilizing sound judgment and discretion.
• Availability to work as-needed on evenings and weekends.
• Current driver’s license and clear traffic abstract.
• Personal vehicle with current and adequate insurance.
• Availability to work occasional evening and weekend shifts.
• Ability to relate to persons with diverse backgrounds, particularly homeless, low-income, and mentally disabled persons.
• Current driver’s license and traffic abstract.

Candidates must display and/or demonstrate physical ability to:

• Climb and/or walk up and down stairs and/or walkways.
• Sit for periods of up to 30 minutes at a time.
• Walk and/or stand for up to 30 minutes at a time.
• Lift, carry, pull, and/or push items up to 30 pounds at a time and for short distances. Such motions may include reasonable bending, stooping, reaching, and twisting.

We are a diverse team that includes people who have lived experience with housing insecurity, homelessness, and the justice system, and we encourage those who have lived experience to apply.

Starting Pay range: $24/hr - $31.21/hr
Employment Type: Full Time

VISIT: hopeserviceshawaii.org/employment to APPLY NOW!