Independent Living Coordinators

Job Description

Job Description

Independent Living CoordinatorsAdvocacy, Youth Engagement, Community Resources, and Nursing Home Transition

Full-Time Opportunities Currently Available

Location: Macon, Georgia, with travel throughout Middle Georgia

About Disability Connections

Disability Connections is a Center for Independent Living serving people of all ages and disability types throughout Middle Georgia.

For more than 30 years, we have worked alongside people with disabilities to remove barriers, pursue personal goals, exercise their rights, and participate fully in community life.

Centers for Independent Living are unique: they are disability-led organizations founded on the belief that people with disabilities are the experts on their own lives. A majority of our board members, staff, and organizational decision-makers are people with disabilities. This disability-led structure supports peer relationships, consumer control, informed choice, advocacy, and community change.

Qualified individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Lived experience with disability is valued as relevant professional experience.

Important: This Is Not a Direct-Care Position

This is a professional advocacy, education, peer-support, resource-coordination, and community-engagement position.

Independent Living Coordinators do  not provide personal-care or home-health services such as:

• Bathing, dressing, toileting, or feeding
• Medication administration
• Nursing or medical care
• Housekeeping or routine household assistance
• Lifting or transferring individuals
• Residential supervision or shift-based caregiving

Instead of performing tasks for people, our coordinators work  with people with disabilities so they can make informed choices, direct their own services, pursue their goals, advocate for themselves, and live as independently as possible.

About the Position

Independent Living Coordinators help people with disabilities increase their independence, access community resources, overcome barriers, avoid unnecessary institutionalization, and pursue goals they have selected for themselves.

The work may include:

• Information and resource referral
• Individual and systems advocacy
• Peer support
• Independent Living Skills Training
• Youth transition and instruction
• Nursing home transition and institutional-diversion activities
• Community outreach and education
• Accessible media and online-community activities

Applicants are  not expected to be experts in every area . We are interested in candidates whose experience and strengths align with one or more areas of our work.

Training will be provided on the Independent Living philosophy, required services, organizational procedures, documentation systems, and applicable programs.

Areas of Emphasis

Depending on experience, organizational needs, and assigned programs, a coordinator may concentrate on one or more of the following areas.

Independent Living and Peer Advocacy

• Listen to people with disabilities and help them identify their own goals and priorities.
• Provide information about accessible community resources, services, benefits, and opportunities.
• Help consumers understand their rights and develop self-advocacy skills.
• Provide peer support based on shared disability experience when appropriate.
• Provide individual and systems advocacy as part of the Center’s federally required Independent Living core services, including helping consumers understand their rights, develop self-advocacy skills, identify barriers, access community resources, and participate fully in community life.
• Work with consumers to develop and review Independent Living goals or plans.
• Document services, progress, communications, and outcomes accurately.

Youth Transition and Instruction

• Provide Pre-Employment Transition Services and other instruction to students with disabilities.
• Help young people strengthen self-advocacy, communication, independent-living, workplace-readiness, and community-participation skills.
• Develop accessible and engaging learning activities.
• Build working relationships with students, families, schools, VR counselors, and community partners.
• Support camps, workshops, online programs, and community events.
• Help ensure that materials and activities are accessible to students with different disabilities.

Nursing Home Transition and Institutional Diversion

• Work with people who want to transition from nursing facilities or avoid unnecessary institutional placement.
• Help consumers identify their preferred living arrangements and transition goals.
• Research accessible housing, home modifications, community services, assistive technology, transportation, and other resources.
• Coordinate information and communication among consumers, family members, service providers, and community partners—with the consumer directing the process.
• Advocate for consumer choice, community integration, and access to appropriate supports.
• Maintain accurate records of transition planning, activities, barriers, referrals, and outcomes.

Coordinators facilitate and advocate for transitions; they do not personally provide attendant care, nursing care, household services, or hands-on moving assistance.

Community Outreach, Online Community, and Media

• Help organize accessible in-person and online events.
• Develop and share helpful disability-related resources.
• Support community education and disability-awareness activities.
• Assist with articles, videos, social-media content, interviews, or success stories.
• Help manage online resources and community information.
• Build relationships with disability organizations, schools, service providers, and other community partners.
• Media experience is helpful for assignments in this area, but is not required for every coordinator position.

Core Responsibilities

All Independent Living Coordinators may be expected to:

• Treat people with disabilities as the primary decision-makers in their own lives.
• Promote consumer control, informed choice, dignity, and self-advocacy.
• Provide Information and Referral, Peer Support, Advocacy, Independent Living Skills Training, and Transition Services as assigned.
• Answer calls and respond to inquiries professionally and courteously.
• Research resources and share accurate, understandable information.
• Ask teammates for input when a consumer’s needs require additional knowledge or coordination.
• Enter complete and timely consumer records, service notes, goals, referrals, activities, and outcomes.
• Communicate effectively with consumers, coworkers, families, schools, agencies, and community partners.
• Participate in team meetings, training, outreach, and community events.
• Travel to counties within the service area when assigned. Mileage reimbursement is provided.
• Perform other duties that support Disability Connections’ mission and programs.

What We Are Looking For

A successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Respect for the rights, choices, autonomy, and abilities of people with disabilities
• Understanding of—or willingness to learn—the Independent Living philosophy
• Strong communication and listening skills
• Resourcefulness and willingness to research unfamiliar questions
• Ability to work cooperatively with a team while also completing assignments independently
• Reliable follow-through and professional judgment
• Strong organizational and time-management skills
• Accurate and timely documentation practices
• Comfort using computers, online databases, email, and project-management or documentation systems
• Willingness to learn new technology and accessibility practices
• Ability to manage multiple responsibilities and changing priorities
• Ability to work respectfully with people from different disability, racial, cultural, economic, geographic, and personal backgrounds

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or GED required.
• College education is helpful but not required for every assignment.
• Relevant lived experience, employment, volunteer service, advocacy, teaching, peer support, community involvement, or disability-related experience may be considered.
• Personal experience with disability is strongly valued.
• Experience working with people with disabilities is preferred.
• Additional experience in education, youth services, advocacy, community resources, housing, nursing home transition, communications, accessible media, or nonprofit services may be helpful, depending on the assignment.

We welcome applicants whose qualifications were developed through lived experience, employment, education, volunteer service, community leadership, or a combination of these experiences.

Disability Benefits and Employment

We understand that candidates may have questions about how employment could affect Social Security or other disability-related benefits. When appropriate, we can help connect candidates with qualified benefits-planning resources so they can make informed decisions.

Full-time and part-time opportunities may be considered based on program needs, candidate qualifications, and availability.

Accessible Application and Interview Options

Disability Connections provides reasonable accommodations throughout the application and hiring process.

Applicants selected for an interview may request an alternative, accessible interview format, including:

• Accessible video meeting
• Telephone
• In person
• Written responses
• Another reasonable and accessible format

The on-demand video interview is  optional . Requesting another interview format will not negatively affect an applicant’s consideration.

Application materials and employment information are available in alternative formats upon request.

Equal Opportunity and Disability-Led Employment

Disability Connections is an equal-opportunity employer committed to affirmative recruitment, employment, retention, and advancement of qualified people with disabilities.

Qualified applicants will be considered without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or another status protected by applicable law.

Because Disability Connections is a federally recognized Center for Independent Living, federal law requires the organization to be operated and staffed through disability-led principles. Qualified individuals with disabilities—including individuals from disability communities that have historically been unserved or underrepresented—are especially encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in advocacy, education, peer support, accessible communities, disability rights, or helping people direct their own lives, we encourage you to apply—even if you do not meet every preferred qualification.