Frontline Advocate (Brooklyn Location-Spanish Speaker Preferred) - Arab American Family Support Center

JOB TITLE: Frontline Advocate

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full-Time

REPORTS TO: Program Manager

LOCATION: Brooklyn Family Justice Center

SALARY: $48,410

ABOUT AAFSC:

The Arab-American Family Support Center (AAFSC) is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization established in 1994 to provide culturally and linguistically competent, trauma-informed social services. Our mission is to empower immigrants and refugees with the tools they need to successfully acclimate to the world around them and become active participants in their communities. While our doors are open to all, AAFSC has developed cultural and linguistic expertise in serving members of NYC’s Arab, Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian immigrant and refugee communities. AAFSC promotes mental and physical well-being and community power. We ensure families are knowledgeable about their rights and equipped to participate in civic society with confidence and security. We help prevent child abuse and work to end domestic- and gender-based violence. We provide the tools for learners of every age to succeed. Finally, we help lift up the voices and needs of under-represented communities and champion gender-, racial-, restorative-, and immigrant justice.

JOB SUMMARY:

The NYC Family Justice Centers (FJCs) are an initiative of the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence to reduce barriers faced by survivors of domestic and gender-based violence (GBV). GBV can include intimate partner and family violence, elder abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. The NYC Family Justice Centers are colocated multidisciplinary service centers providing vital social services, civil legal, and criminal justice assistance for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence and their children—all under one roof. Arab American Family Support Center is co-located at the FJCs and partners with the Mayor’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, and other civil legal and community-based organizations to provide a safe and welcoming place for victims to receive various services. AAFSCNY staff at the FJC provides crisis intervention, case management services, advocacy, information and referrals, and practical assistance to survivors, providing client-centered safety assessments and risk management plans.

The Frontline Advocate will greet clients at the Reception Desk in the Hospitality Suite. They will check clients in for a scheduled appointment or briefly assess a walk-in client’s initial reason for the visit, help determine the appropriate next steps, and monitor the Hospitality Suite and waiting areas to ensure that client needs in front of the FJCs are being met.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Staff the Reception Desk welcome all clients to the FJC in a respectful and friendly way and use telephonic interpretation, as needed.
• Answer the telephone and provide information and referrals as needed.
• Call back voicemails left on the FJC’s main phone line and do virtual screenings as needed.
• Provide clients with FJC-related documents as directed by ENDGBV/FJC administrative staff, explain the mission and operations of the FJC and what services are available.
• If it is determined that a client is not eligible for FJC services, provide service referrals and warm hand-offs/linkages.
• If the client has children eligible to use the FJC Children’s Room, explain the option of the Children’s Room and contact the FJC Children’s Room staff to register the child into the room.
• Coordinate and manage client flow, including notifying on-site staff when clients arrive for appointments (via phone, Instant Message (IM) or in person), determining appropriate next steps for an effective client visit, assisting on-site staff with scheduling future appointments for clients, directly linking clients to additional on-site and off-site services and assessing urgent client needs and notifying appropriate personnel to address such needs.
• Maintain communication with clients while in the front reception areas and hospitality suites to answer questions, provide information, provide updates about estimated wait times and assist with practical needs, including but not limited to, making copies of important documents, accessing public computers, and accessing the FJC food pantry, clothing closet and MetroCard’s.
• Monitor the Hospitality Suite and Reception areas to ensure materials are updated and well organized and that the space is organized and inform FJC administrative staff if any reception area client supplies are running low.
• Notify and maintain communication with FJC administrative staff and AAFSC supervisor if a client is distressed if a client asks to speak to a supervisor and/or if the client is experiencing a physical or mental health emergency.
• Work collaboratively with the reception staff at the relevant FJC’s District Attorney’s Office to refer appropriate clients and make appointments for those clients, as needed.
• Enter client information into the FJC client application (aka database) daily and track additional data or client needs as requested by ENDGBV/FJC administrative staff.
• Provide clients with information about special events and programs and assist with client registration for those events, as appropriate.
• Support ENDGBV’s ongoing efforts to solicit client feedback regarding FJC operations including notifying all clients of their opportunity to complete a client satisfaction survey after every FJC visit and contacting clients after their visits to the FJC’s to complete the surveys and reconnect them to any needed follow-up services as appropriate;
• Provide coverage for the Client Navigators, as needed.
• Maintain a respectful demeanor with partner staff and clients.
• Adhere to AAFSC and FJC confidentiality practices and protocols; and
• Other tasks that enhance the mission of the FJCs, as mutually agreed upon by AAFSC and ENDGBV.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Associate degree and relevant work experience or at least three (3) years of relevant work experience (i.e. experience working with survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, providing advocacy services and/or customer service) as well as an understanding of the dynamics and complexities of domestic and gender based-violence, the systems that impact survivor’s lives, and a demonstrated commitment to utilizing trauma-informed engagement practices with survivors of domestic and gender based violence.
• Must understand the dynamics and complexities of domestic and gender-based violence, the complex systems that impact survivor’s lives, the effects of childhood and adult trauma on survivors and a demonstrated commitment to utilizing trauma-informed, client centered engagement and intervention practices with survivors of domestic and gender-based violence
• Experience collaborating within a multi-disciplinary, diverse team, maintaining a healthy work environment that encourages equity, professionalism, respect, diversity and continuous professional growth and improvement.
• Commitment to delivering services grounded within a racial equity lens that centers the impact of race, gender and other identities on a client’s willingness and ability to access services.
• U.S. Work Authorization required.

All prospective job candidates must meet the screening requirements of both AAFSC and the Family Justice Centers, which may include a background check, fingerprinting, and State Central Registry clearance.

We are an equal-opportunity employer that values diversity at all levels. All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.