Careers

Spokane County United Way is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Job Title: Spokane Anchor Community Initiative Coordinator

Department: Community Impact
Reports to: Community Impact Director

The position will be employed by Spokane County United Way, the fiscal sponsor for the Initiative. This position will report to the Community Impact Director at Spokane County United Way. This position will join the Functional Zero team at Spokane County United Way and be responsible for working with the Built For Zero (BFZ) Coordinator on initiative alignment and implementation. 

City of Spokane will host the position within Community, Housing, and Human Services Department and provide supervision and technical assistance, including CMIS (Community Management Information System) resources, to support the development and implementation of plans to address youth homelessness.  

Position will work closely with the Continuum of Care Board (CoC) and CoC Committees and its administrative staffing, so that strategies for securing and deploying public and private resources towards the goals are coordinated.  
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Effective Date: Upon hire
Compensation:  $24-27 per hour range

This is a Full Time (40 hours per week) grant funded position.  Work hours and days are typically Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. This position requires flexibility to work evening and weekend hours as needed for meetings and special events. 

To perform this job successfully, an individual must meet the minimum qualifications listed below. These qualifications are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required to perform this job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties/responsibilities of this job.  

Job Summary

Key community stakeholders are working together in Spokane County to respond to the crisis of youth and young adult homelessness.  In 2019, Spokane County was selected as a participant in A Way Home Washington’s (AWHWA) Anchor Community Initiative (ACI). In 2021, we need to accelerate local plans and aspirations to grow the initiative into a more effective, collective community response to this challenge.   The Initiative engages local youth, providers, education, government, business, and philanthropy partners to develop and implement a systemic community approach that will reduce youth homelessness to “functional zero,” with resources sufficient to say “yes” when a homeless youth requests services.  The Spokane Anchor Community Initiative Coordinator will manage Spokane’s efforts under A Way Home Washington’s Anchor Community Initiative and ensure that solutions are locally responsive and sustainable, as well as centered in youth voice, data driven cultures, continuous improvement and racial/LGBTQ+ equity

All positions within Spokane County United Way will be expected to fulfill United Way’s Vision, Mission and Commitment to our Community through:

• The 5 Pillars for Action: Execute Impact, Create Visibility, Build Relationships, Drive Giving and Exhibit Leadership. 
• All positions within SCUW will •practice direct, honest, and compassionate communication •build trust through keeping our word and being accountable to each other •respect and listen to our customers and coworkers •take pride in quality work, putting forward our best efforts, knowing that our best efforts are subject to change •encourage creativity in others •lean into challenges •link everyone together in plans and processes •celebrate our individual and collective accomplishments.  
• Spokane County United Way's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We believe that equity is a non-negotiable core value in achieving our mission of improving people’s lives in Spokane County. We acknowledge that racism is a system of oppression that has served to marginalize and dehumanize individuals from varied racial and ethnic identities over the span of U.S history and the region in which we reside. Furthermore, we know that systemic racism creates barriers for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); upholds all other forms of oppression; and is an injustice to us all. We oppose and condemn all forms of oppression. We are aware that change takes time. Missteps will occur and we will use them as opportunities to learn and grow.
• Leveraging all of our assets (time, resources, energy) to create more equitable communities.
• Continuing to prioritize funding for community programs that are led by and/or support historically underserved and marginalized populations and communities.
• Expanding and incorporating the voices of our most vulnerable and marginalized communities in decision making by bringing diverse viewpoints to our Board and committees.
• Building, enhancing, and sustaining relationships by listening, interacting, and convening partner agencies and community members.
• Actively engaging those most impacted by the issues, especially members of our BIPOC communities and other marginalized populations.
• Acknowledging that to address our priorities we need to look for solutions at the personal, community, system, and structural levels.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

The core functions of the position include but are not limited to the following:

LEADERSHIP

•    ACI Coordination: Uphold and lead implementation of the ACI model locally, including centering youth voice, data driven cultures, continuous improvement and racial/LGBTQ+ equity. Enable local stakeholders to effectively leverage coaching and technical assistance provided by AWHWA.  
•    Serve as the liaison/key point-of-contact with the AWHWA team to ensure that their project management support is effectively utilized, and that Spokane’s system is developed in alignment with statewide ACI goals and strategies.  This includes: 
•    Regular check-ins with the Lead Coach, the Anchor Community Core Team Lead and the AWHWA team;
•    Coordination with the Lead Coach to plan, facilitate and document results of local stakeholder meetings (e.g. Core Team, Community Team);
•    Tracking progress of Spokane’s work plan through proven project management practices; 
•    Participation in statewide collaboration efforts of the ACI. 
•    Coordination of community learning and resources (Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, Centralized Diversion Fund, Innovation Grants, CoC funding opportunities, etc....)
•    Serve as the liaison/key point of contact with the City of Spokane and CHHS team to ensure that ACI goals and priorities are in alignment with CHHS activities, programming, and policy implementation within the community. 
•    Regular check-ins with ACI Lead on City of Spokane staff team, CHHS team, and CHHS Leadership. 
•    Coordination with the CMIS Team on management of YBNL and monthly data submission. 
•    Participation in CoC wide activities relating to ending youth and young adult homelessness
•    Coordination of County-wide learning and resources (Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, Centralized Diversion Fund, CoC funding opportunities, etc....)

•    Local Planning & Collaboration: Build on and accelerate planning and progress achieved to date by local stakeholders.  
•    Ensure local Core Teams are meeting regularly, accessible for young people, and that the team is making progress towards local ACI goals
•    Ensure that the local Initiative is managed in collaboration with the Continuum of Care Board of Directors and its Homeless Youth Subcommittee (which also functions as the Anchor Community Team).
•    Promote and facilitate participation of a broad range of community partners, funders, and service providers to generate public support for the Initiative.
•    Work with stakeholders to establish goals, collaborative action plans, data collection strategies, timelines, and indicators of success.
•    Establish and support equity as a core value of the Initiative.
•    Lead efforts to address disproportionality for QTBIPOC and work with By and For organizations to implement best-practice interventions. 
•    Ensure that young people with lived experience are effectively engaged in developing solutions

EXECUTE IMPACT

•    Data & Evaluation: Support the management and continued development of a quality Youth-By-Name-List (YBNL) of all youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability within Spokane County
•    Help communities use data to develop, test, implement, and spread changes to reduce the number of YYA experiencing homelessness
•    Coordinate and support monthly data submission for ACI dashboards and coordinate responses to other surveys and requests
•    Ensure local yes-to-yes plans are updated at least monthly, and that system-level data and improvement project summaries are reported to AWHWA in a timely manner each month
•    Work with City staff, homeless youth providers, and other stakeholders to establish intersystem protocols and local data infrastructure to ensure the community’s youth by-name list:
•    represents full geographic coverage of Spokane County through coordination of street outreach and other youth system access points;
•    formalizes relationships between the homeless system and other key systems such as child welfare, public schools, and juvenile justice; and
•    has adequate policies, procedures, and data reporting capabilities to ensure that information about youth experiencing homelessness is reliable, up-to-date, and actionable.
•    Utilize quality data from YBNL to drive system change efforts and improvement projects within the scope of the ACI and CoC strategic planning.
•    Functional Zero Department
•    Work together with Director of Partner Relations and Assessment and BFZ Coordinator at United Way on Functional Zero initiative’s shared purpose, alignment, strategy, and implementation of the model in Spokane County. 
•    Work with the BFZ Coordinator on providing content expertise, insight and consultation based on the By-Name List work within the Youth and Young Adults.

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

•    Promote and facilitate participation of local youth, service providers, education, government, business, and philanthropy partners to generate public support for the Initiative.
•    Increase engagement from community stakeholders working with youth and young adults to continue to expand the efficacy and reach of initiative goals. 
•    Coordinate with appropriate entities to ensure young people receive stipends for all ACI work in accordance with AWHWA’s stipend guidelines
•    Prioritize empowering and building relationships with organizations and people with lived experience. 
•    Continue to develop and progress collaboration with key regional partners (City of Spokane, City of Spokane Valley, Spokane County, Spokane City Council, etc.).

CREATE VISIBILITY

•    Support AWHWA’s statewide efforts to reduce and end youth and young adult homelessness as needed.
•    Support Spokane County United Way’s local communications and presence as needed.
•    In coordination with AWHWA and United Way, regularly give presentation within the community and sharing initiative level goals and the impact of ongoing efforts. Continued educational and advocacy with the community in alignment with ACI and community priorities. 

•    Performs all other duties as necessary or assigned.

Required Skills/Abilities: 

•    Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to work effectively one-on-one with a broad range of individuals as well as part of a team, providing technical support and assistance as needed over the phone and via email
•    Ability to be focused and detailed, set priorities, meet deadlines and juggle multiple tasks, be organized and effective, self-directed while maintaining priorities
•    Strong project management skills
•    Works independently, as well as collaboratively
•    Ability to run reports and provide data analysis of information
•    Excellent written and verbal communication skills
•    Comfortable presenting to wide range of audiences in small group settings and community forums to advocate for policy or program initiatives. 
•    Ability to handle confidential, proprietary and sensitive information requiring judgment and discretion
•    Persistent and intentional negotiating between systems of care towards community goals
•    Patience, agility, and orientation towards long-term goals

Education and Experience:

•    Bachelor’s Degree in social work, public policy, community development, marketing or other relevant field, or significant, relevant work/life experience
•    Experience developing community partnerships and collaboratives
•    Project management and program planning experience

Preferred Qualifications: 

•    Familiarity with local issues related to youth and young adult homelessness, and/or knowledge of youth-serving systems and homelessness in general
•    Demonstrated ability working with and bringing together diverse communities and commitment to supporting inclusion, both internally and across our efforts to serve all youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in Washington state
•    Strong background in working with understanding the functionality of Tableau and the processes

Additional Desired Qualifications: 

•    Experience working successfully with housing providers, service organizations and community partners on youth-related issues
•    Strong connections and relationships in the Spokane community
•    Working knowledge of applicable state and federal laws and programs that directly impact youth experiencing homelessness (e.g. rights of minors, health care, housing, employment, education, licensing, and child welfare)
•    Experience with data sharing agreements and general knowledge of FERPA, HIPAA and/or other laws governing data and confidentiality.
•    Experience working with homeless and/or at-risk youth 

Certificates and/or Licenses:  To perform this job successfully, an individual must: 

•    Have a valid Driver’s License or reliable transportation
•    Successfully pass background check applicable to position

Working Environment/Conditions/Travel/Potential Hazards: 

While performing the essential duties/responsibilities of this job, the employee may experience the following environmental conditions at the frequency indicated: 
•    Exposed to noise consistent with a standard office environment
•    Office environment during in-office hours
•    Variable environment when in the field
•    Regular local travel within Spokane County; occasional travel outside the area for trainings or conferences
•    Extended viewing of computer monitor
•    Comfortable working in exclusively in-person, online, or hybrid environments 

Physical Requirements
Examples:
•    Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
•    Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times. 
•    Ability to drive and/or access reliable personal transportation

Other duties
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. 

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