Summary:

The Community Connector supports people with disabilities served by Redwood Coast Regional Center who live in and around McKinleyville. The primary goal of this role is to help individuals cultivate a meaningful sense of belonging within their local community. The Community Connector facilitates a person-centered planning process with participants and their circles of support to develop individualized “plans for belonging.”

These plans focus on identifying each person’s interests, strengths, and goals related to community life. The role involves building relationships with local community members, businesses, and service providers to create supportive connections that help participants access places, activities, and relationships that are meaningful to them.

In addition, the Community Connector implements a curriculum designed to help participants and their support networks learn how to carry out and sustain their plans over time. Through this work, the Community Connector helps participants develop lasting community connections and multiple anchors of support that contribute to a fulfilling and inclusive life in their local community.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

1. Acts as the first point of contact for participants seeking assistance with identifying local services and supports to meet their needs.

2. Maintains a thorough understanding of the McKinleyville and surrounding communities’ resources available to the participants.

3. Provides guidance and support to participants seeking community resources, including healthcare, education, employment, and recreation.

4. Encourages participant-driven direction, choice and self-advocacy and their chosen circle of support to engage in a person-centered process focused on community belonging.

5. Develops a person-centered plan that gives a map for the participant and their circle of support to facilitate the community belonging desired by the participant’s goal.

6. Conducts outreach and engagement activities to build relationships with community organizations and resources.

7. Provides solution-focused person-centered plans that support the participant’s progression towards independence.

8. Maintains daily progress notes for services provided.

9. Communicates with Executive Director or Board President and other agencies as appropriate.

10. Attend meetings and training as required.

11. Develops and submits person centered plans for belonging to funding source.

12. Submits semi-annual progress reports for participants to funding source.

13. Measures outcomes, ensuring programmatic impact, and expectations are met.

14. Performs administrative and general office work as required, including preparing reports and correspondence, attending staff meetings, etc.

15. Recruits and trains We Are Up volunteers as needed.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Positions Supervised: We Are Up volunteers.

Benefits:  

Benefits available after 60 days of employment.

Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience:

· Strong knowledge of McKinleyville

· Knowledge of McKinleyville resources

· Demonstrated experience with navigating resources within the local McKinleyville community and greater area.

· Bachelor’s degree in one of the following: education, psychology, counseling, nursing, social work, applied behavior analysis, behavioral medicine, speech and language, rehabilitation, marriage and family therapy, or a comparable degree in a human services field; and

· At least one year of experience supporting individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.

Language Skills:

Ability to read and interpret documents, individual service plans, individual program plans, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals. Ability to write highly unique reports and correspondence.  Ability to speak effectively before groups of We Are Up staff, families, participants, funding sources, and community organizations. Must possess strong communication skills. 

Mathematical Skills:

Ability to apply concepts of basic, everyday abilities to comprehend and use numbers including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, fractions, and decimals.

Reasoning Ability:

Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of variable concerns in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret information in a variety of formats and instructions provided in a written, oral, diagram and/or schedule form.  Must possess strong problem-solving skills.

Certifications, Licenses, Registrations:

First Aid & CPR, TB clearance, Fingerprint clearance, and reliable transportation.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by the employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disability to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands or fingers, handle or feel tools, and/or controls.  The employee frequently is required to talk and/or hear.  The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, climb or glance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision. Clear close-up vision is needed to read all varieties of source documents, records, and paperwork.

Other skills and abilities:

Ability to prioritize job responsibilities and relate to people with disabilities.  Ability to effectively support people to access resources and build meaningful relationships.  Must possess the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with participants, community organizations, and government agencies.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounter while performing the essential functions of his job. All employees must possess the ability to work with a caring attitude toward their co-workers, participants, and the community. Reflects culture, and behavior that exemplifies the organization’s mission, vision, and core values.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: 

We Are Up is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability, exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local laws or ordinances. Applications submitted for this position do not constitute a promise of employment.