Homelessness Outreach Specialist

King Street Ambassador

This job will be accepting job applications until the position is filled.

Annual Salary: $55,594.50 - $58,831.50

Hourly: $28.51 - $30.17

Department: Housing & Community Development, Urban & Community Development

Division: Persons Experiencing Homelessness

FLSA: Non-Exempt

Job Description:

In this role, you will serve the King Street corridor community, focusing on the area between Broad Street and Spring Street, to create a positive experience for all.

Examples Of Duties:

In this role, you will:

• Engage with a wide range of situations to include providing support for individuals experiencing homelessness or mental health issues, educating people about civility ordinances, and interacting with business owners and residents.
• Build relationships with individuals who are panhandling or living unsheltered in the target area.
• Help marginalized individuals identify goals and priorities and support them in building the skills, tools & resources to achieve those goals and make informed decisions about their health.
• Facilitate direct connections between marginalized individuals and appropriate services, actively providing follow up to ensure maintained engagement.
• Build relationships with King Street businesses to share information and assist with problem-solving, educating them about the Ambassador program and providing contact information so they can reach out when necessary.
• Regularly communicate and check in with King Street businesses to solicit feedback on their experiences, needs and priorities.
• Create handouts to provide to King Street businesses for the Ambassador program, describing the full range of outreach services, referral opportunities, and how to address situations that fall beyond the scope of the program.
• Serve as initial point of contact to King Street businesses when they have concerns about individuals with mental health, addictions, or other such cases with which they believe they need support but do not constitute calling emergency services.
• Use conflict de-escalation and non-violent crisis intervention techniques to diffuse potential concerns before they require emergency services.
• Safely approach people engaging in specific civility ordinance violations, assess and inform them of the violation, and encourage voluntary observance of the ordinances.
• Facilitate collaboration and coordination of services with appropriate community agencies, mental health professionals and case workers.
• Use computer and hand-held mobile device to collect data and track daily work activities.
• Prepare and disseminate pre and post project surveys to King Street businesses.
• Collate data collected over the course of projects with the purpose of generating final reports for the City of Charleston and the Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

• Associate's degree
• 1 year of related experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Valid state issued driver's license.
• Please include a cover letter and resume with your application.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Human Services, or a related field.

The City of Charleston is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) as a fundamental policy to be implemented and observed in our daily operation.