Benefits Hub Program (Direct Service)
START/END DATE: 7/6/2020 - 7/6/2020
Notice to Applicants: Please note that United Way of King County has moved to remote operations and will reopen pending public health guidance. As such, be prepared to partake remotely in interviews and trainings, and to work from home should we move forward with your candidacy. If technology presents a barrier to applying, interviewing, or accepting the position, please reach out to unitedwayamericorps@uwkc.org for accommodations.
Everyone deserves fair and equal access to an education. Help students at some of the most diverse colleges in Washington State get by, get ahead, and stay ahead while pursuing their education! With much of the national dialogue around college focused on access and affordability, United Way Benefits Hub focuses on improving persistence and completion rates for low-income students, students of color, and parenting students. Students of color, immigrants, and women are disproportionately impacted due to systems in place that were originally built for white, cis, heterosexual men. Benefits Hub prioritizes using a student-centric approach to provide culturally relevant financial tools and resources to students while seeking to undo unjust systems and interrupting racism, oppression, and injustice.
Program Overview
Education is a proven pathway out of poverty as it leads to increased income. However, living in poverty makes it that much harder for students to stay in school. Seattle has one of the highest concentration of college students living below the poverty line when compared to cities of similar size—this impacts graduation rates and significantly lowers the number of people who go on to increase earnings and build wealth. According to a 2019 basic needs assessment by Hope Center, 19% of WA state community and technical college students are homeless and 41% do not know where their next meal will come from. United Way’s Benefits Hub help disrupt poverty for economically disadvantaged students by providing financial interventions to help keep students in college when they would otherwise dropout.
Benefits Hub is a one-stop, coordinated access point for financial tools and resources designed to help low-income community and technical college students meet their educational goals. We target our efforts towards connecting students of color, parenting students, and first generation college students with everyday financial tools in order to take steps toward undoing systemic inequities. In the 2020 – 2021 school year, Benefits Hub will provide 20,000 interventions to 8,000 students and ensure that 1,000 students demonstrate increased financial knowledge.
Benefits Hub Team
The Benefits Hub team is a dynamic cohort of 24 direct service AmeriCorps members working in collaboration with AmeriCorps VISTAs, community based organizations, and campus faculty and staff to connect community and technical college students to financial resources. As part of this cohort, you will be supported and provided with trainings, tools, and resources to be successful.
We will be hiring for TWO different roles on this team:
1) Benefits Hub Coach (Direct Service)
- Position Start/End Dates: 8/31/2020 – 8/27/2021
- You will become a resource navigation expert in financial coaching, housing support, public benefits enrollment, and financial aid assistance. As a Benefits Hub Coach, your role will be to meet with students individually or through facilitation of a workshop, and connect them to critical financial resources and information that support students in achieving their educational goals. Please be aware that at times, this position is similar to role of a social worker, with your clients being students.
Position Locations (hiring Benefits Hub Coaches at the following campuses)
- Bellevue College
- Green River College
- Highline College
- North Seattle College
- Shoreline Community College
- South Seattle College
- Renton Technical College
- University of Washington, Bothell/ Cascadia College
Benefits Hub Coach Roles and Responsibilities:
- Provide direct services to students by assessing their needs, making appropriate referrals, and assisting students in navigation and access of Benefits Hub resources and services
- Deliver workshops on financial literacy topics and tailor content to meet the needs of students
- Ensure quality service delivery by attending bi-weekly trainings and responding to email and phone calls daily during service hours
- Maintain confidential and accurate files in our online database (Apricot)
- Effectively manage your weekly schedule to accommodate drop-in hours, student appointments, data entry, and other service tasks as assigned
- Develop and maintain professional communication with team, partners, staff, faculty, and other resource organizations to ensure full continuity of support for students
- Outreach and engage students for the purpose of strengthening relationships or helping students access additional services
- Promote and connect students to other United Way services, including but not limited to tax preparation, meal services, and AmeriCorps opportunities
2) Benefits Hub Housing Navigator (Direct Service)
- Position Start/End Dates: 8/3/2020 – 7/30/2021
- You will become a resource navigation expert in housing navigation and client services. As a Benefits Hub Housing Navigator, you will support our service delivery partner, Neighborhood House, in providing housing support services to community and technical college students experiencing housing insecurity. Please be aware that at times, this position is similar to role of a social worker, with your clients being students.
Position Location: Housing navigators will serve from the Neighborhood House office located in South Seattle.
Housing Navigator Roles and Responsibilities:
- Review housing assistance applications submitted on online portal for completeness and compliance with program requirements
- Compile and process rent applications by working closely with Neighborhood House staff, students, Benefits Hub coaches, and vendors
- Support Neighborhood House program staff in developing housing support resources and referral information for students and Benefits Hub coaches as needed
- Work closely with Neighborhood House staff to develop and implement strategies to connect students to Benefits Hub/Neighborhood House services, and outside resources
- Input data into United Way and Neighborhood House database systems and ensure data integrity and compliance with documentation requirements
- Ensure quality service delivery by attending team trainings and responding to email and phone calls daily during service hours
- Develop and maintain professional communication with team, partners, staff, faculty, and other resource organizations to ensure full continuity of support for students
- Promote other United Way services, including but not limited to tax preparation, meal services, and AmeriCorps opportunities
- Perform other duties as assigned
Desired Qualifications:
- We believe that the communities we serve must be centered in the work we do, therefore people of color, first generation college students, and community college graduates are highly encouraged to apply
- Second language skill is highly desirable so that we can offer Benefits Hub services to students in their preferred or native languages
- Social work or client services drive and experience is a plus (not required)
- Ability to learn and implement new and complex skills quickly, as we provide immediate and on-going training in service delivery and professional development
- High emotional intelligence is important to be able to manage stress and emotions of your own and students
- Strong self-management, organizational skills, and flexibility to balance the variety of service activities and any potential shift in student/program priorities
- Cultural humility and commitment to racial equity is a must to ensure that services are relevant and accessible
- We have ambitious goals in support of our community, and therefore ask that you have a comprehensive understanding of poverty in our region and are committed to addressing systemic inequities
- Excitement for working on a team in order to foster collaborative and productive relationships with staff, partners and teammates
Eligibility
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Must be a U.S. citizen, national, or legal permanent resident of the United States
- Must be available 40 hours a week for 5 days a week
- Able to serve a full year and reach a total of 1700 service hours.
- Must go through a Washington State Patrol background check, FBI background check and National Sex Offender Registry Check, plus state of residence background check if not living in WA currently
- F1 VISAS are not sufficient
Benefits
- $2000 monthly living stipend (pre-tax)
- Loan deferment on qualified student loans during your service
- Payment of interest on qualified student loans that are accrued during service term
- An Education Award of $6,195 upon successful completion of service
- Health benefits that meet minimum standards of ACA compliance
- 10 days of sick leave, 10 days of personal leave
- Childcare assistance
- Unlimited Public transportation pass (ORCA)
- Opportunity to be a part of an innovative, high-impact program
- Working across teams of various community organizations
- Gain valuable personal and professional development experience
- Becoming a member of a large network of current AmeriCorps members and alums
To Apply: Create an application on My AmeriCorps Portal or click here: https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?fromSearch=true&id=90127