Community Connections AmeriCorps Member

The Community Connections and Collaborative Learning Team at the Food Bank does the following:
- Provide front-line assistance to people over the phone and in-person at The Market (onsite food pantry) to connect people to food resources and resources beyond food that will help meet their immediate needs and work to stabilize their lives.
- Provide outreach for the SNAP program and help people apply either in-person or over the phone
- Owning a project that will be helping to provide interested partners/member agencies with in-person help or the necessary training to be able to offer more resources to their guests that come to that partner/agency for food distributions. This will be taking the one-stop-shop concept of The Market and expanding it further into the community.

• Developing new program or services to address community needs
• Building relationships with community partners
• Developing and/or providing staff education or training
• Engaging stakeholders to understand goals, needs, priorities, challenges, and opportunities

• Self-starter
• Flexible
• Detail-oriented
• Able to communicate effectively with individuals or diverse backgrounds and identities
• Compassionate
• Organized, Able to build strong relationships, comfort speaking with others individually or in groups, community engagement/outreach skill, creative problem-solving skills

• Knowledge of AmeriCorps/Health Corps member requirements
• Skill with Microsoft Office or other software for a variety of data processing operations involving a range of problem solving, record keeping, correspondence, and service tracking options.
• Skill with Salesforce and understanding how our organization uses it to track data.

• Member uses initiative in carrying out recurring assignments following set procedures, independently
• The supervisor assigns service activities, advises on changes in procedures, and is available for assistance when required
• The supervisor assigns service activities in terms of project objectives and basic priorities and is available for consultation in resolving controversial issues.
• While we want the member to be a self-starter and work well independently, we work as a team and are available to answer each other's questions and help each other out.

• The service activities are reviewed for accuracy through spot checks, through complaints from customers, and through observation of the member at service.
• The member independently plans and carries out the projects and selects the approaches and methods to be used in solving problems
• Completed projects are reviewed very generally to determine that objectives have been met and are in compliance with policies and regulations.

• Written and oral guides provide specific instructions for doing service
• Most instructions are easily memorized and require little interpretation
• Guidelines are generally applicable, but the member independently makes adaptations in dealing with problems and unusual situations

• Member has to develop, analyze, or evaluate information before the service position can progress
• The facts or conditions of the service position are clear cut, predictable, and apply directly to the assignment
• There is an element of creative problem solving that is required.

• Member provides timely services of a personal nature to others
• The service position product or service affects the accuracy, reliability, or acceptability of further processes or services
• The service position product or services affect the social, physical, and economic well-being of a substantial number of people on an ongoing basis
• This position will be working with the general public, and while common problems arise and there is well-established criteria for connecting people to resources, other questions will arise from time to time for the member to work to figure out the best way to provide help to those in need.

• clients
• public
• community organizations

• To give or exchange information
• To provide customer service
• To motivate, influence, or educate people to support behavior change

• Valid driver's license required
• Unusual service hours, involving evenings, weekends, or long shifts
• Criminal history check requirements beyond those required by National Health Corps
• Position offers flexible hours/service formats for members who may need them due to childcare commitments, probation/parole requirements, or other obligations. If so, please describe the parameters of this flexibility.
• This position involves working every Saturday, and one weekday evening a week until 7pm.  Those hours all fall within a 40 hour work week though, and the member will have 2 full days off every week:  Sunday and another day during the week that is to be determined.  The Food Bank requires ACT 33/34 clearances (criminal background check and child abuse clearance done by the state of PA), as well as an FBI clearance that the Food Bank will pay for.  We offer flex time - for example, if someone needed to take Monday morning off, they could make up the time that week by working an extra evening or later hours on a Saturday.  Our start and end times are also flexible and we will work with someone to come up with a 40-hour work week schedule that works for them.

In addition to NHC Standard Checks, all NHC Pittsburgh members are required to complete and pass criminal history checks for Great Lakes Behavioral Research Institute/Diversified Care Management (DCM). Great Lakes/DCM is a third party vendor contracted with the Allegheny County Health Department (operating site for NHC Pittsburgh) to distribute NHC Pittsburgh member stipends. NHC Pittsburgh members are onboarded to Great Lakes/DCM system only when the checks have been completed and the member has passed those checks.  Along with these checks, ALL NHC Pittsburgh Members Are Required to be Vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The checks that all NHC Pittsburgh members would be required to complete and pass for Great Lakes/DCM are the following: 1) Act 33 (Pennsylvania Child Abuse Clearance), 2) National Sex Offender Registry Clearance,  3) Act 34 (Pennsylvania Criminal History Clearance, and 4) Act 73 (FBI Criminal History Clearance - ONLY completed via Identogo PA).

NHC members do not have to pay for the completion of these checks. Great Lakes/DCM will distribute payment codes for the Act 33 (Pennsylvania Child Abuse Clearance) and Act 73 (FBI Criminal History Clearance which is conducted through Identogo PA ( PA FBI fingerprinting agency). The National Sex Offender Registry Clearance and Act 34 (Pennsylvania Criminal History Clearance) will be completed by Great Lakes/DCM upon receiving requested information that members will be asked to submit.