£29,250 Pro rata for 0.4FTE Permanent Post plus Stakeholder pension
Sustainable Communities UK is a vibrant new social enterprise established in 2021 which supports a number of community activities and carbon reduction initiatives across London and nationally. Our overall aims are:
- Supporting and developing community voices and good governance
- Supporting, nurturing and empowering disadvantaged communities
- Supporting the development of our living environment towards net zero
These include community carbon reduction sessions for young and for older people, community film projects and supporting the needs of older LGBT+ people and those surviving domestic abuse. We seek to empower local community groups by understanding and working on what is important to them. We want to be there for people when they need us most. We do this through our 1:1 support services, our counselling, our peer support groups, our online community, our community engagement and outreach programmes, our partnerships and more. We work closely with Rainbow Communities, a ‘by and for’ registered charity partner, who will help deliver our services and activities for the LGBT+ community.
This is a unique opportunity for a passionate and community-minded person to develop their skills within our London wide operation. We are seeking a 0.4 FTE LGBT+ Community Development Co-ordinator supporting
1) Rainbow Dementia Memory Café for LGBT+ older persons across London who are living with dementia and the LGBT+ carers of people living with dementia, including facilitating our peer-to-peer practice model.
2) Rainbow Friends, a befriending service operated by volunteers which supports older individual LGBT+ Londoners and runs community activities such as a monthly lunch club and weekly meet up for coffee and chat.
Given the limited hours involved your tasks will primarily involve co-ordinating, overseeing, supporting and supervising the work of sessional staff and volunteers, setting up new LGBT+ community activities and providing back up office admin and support.
We are looking for someone with ideas and enthusiasm. Our ideal candidate will already possess a relevant qualification (such as an NVQ Level 3 in social work, care, health, education) or equivalent experience and evidence of a commitment to continuing learning and professional development.
We are looking for someone with strong people skills (working with staff, volunteers, service users and partners) and excellent organisational skills. You will be required to coordinate a variety of volunteers, groups and outreach work.
This position will require the staff member to be flexible including working outside of standard office hours – including evenings and the occasional weekend.
Self-Identification
As all of the work involved will be working with the LGBT+ community it is a requirement for this job that applicants self-identify as LGBT+.
Professional
- Oversee the delivery of on-line and in-person groups for a variety of LGBT+ Rainbow Cafe Dementia Service and Rainbow Friends communities
- Help coordinate the successful delivery of an annualised programme of events and activities for the benefit of older LGBT+ people in London
- Supervise sessional workers and volunteers who support the Rainbow Dementia and Memory Service and Rainbow Friends Programmes
- Proactively advertise, promote and raise awareness of all Sustainable Communities groups and associated activities and events
- Keep coherent records of all activity in line with service protocols. Process, document and co- ordinate all evaluations and facilitators notes from groups
- Engage with LGBT+ communities to discuss their concerns and needs, and develop ways to address them.
- Work collaboratively on projects aiming to tackle discrimination and remove barriers to LGBT+ people thriving in London
- Facilitate engagement consultations with LGBT+ communities and groups across London using a diverse range of communications including virtual media tools.
- Assist in identifying people from local LGBT+ communities who want to become involved as volunteers and ambassadors /community champions.
- Help recruit and screen volunteers.
- Develop training and reference material for service users, partners and the general public
- Provide practical and emotional support to service users presenting with multiple and complex challenges
- Follow Sustainable Communities protocols and best practice in the assessment and ongoing management of risk and safeguarding concerns, making disclosures to the appropriate agency/colleague where necessary.
- Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or service users, where appropriate.
Data and Information
- Maintain the highest standards of record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and responsible exercise of professional self- governance.
- Ensure electronic recording of activity meets the required standards, recorded accurately and in a timely fashion to meet the timely reporting of KPIs.
- Produce activity reports as requested by your line manager.
- Comply with Sustainable Communities’ Information, Governance and Data Protection policies, ensuring that all sensitive information is dealt with in line with organisational standards
General
- Contribute to the development of best practice within the service.
- Work with relevant colleagues to increase awareness of the service, supporting the development of promotional materials and updating service information on Sustainable Communities ’s website.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and procedures in relation to the scope of the service
- Keep abreast of issues, challenges and developments that may affect the LGBT+ community
- All employees have a duty and responsibility for their own health and safety and the health of safety of colleagues, service users and the general public.
- Ensure compliance with Sustainable Communities ’s policies, procedures, management and monitoring systems.
- Comply with our Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy and procedures and display a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity, intersectionality and an understanding of the issues faced by LGBT+ communities and the aging process.
- In common with all staff, you have a responsibility for your own personal and professional development and training, and for drawing attention to your own training needs as well as those of colleagues that you work with.
- All staff are required to contribute, at an appropriate level, to the organisation’s public profile, including media coverage and presenting the organisation at public events
- At Sustainable Communities, staff have a part to play in raising resources for the organisation. All staff are required to support, at an appropriate level, our fundraising activities.
- All staff are required to take an active role in the organisation and coordination of community outreach activities and events, and volunteer recruitment drives. This may include some out-of- hours work.
- Any other duties commensurate with the skills and abilities of the post holder as directed by your line manager.
- All staff are expected to maintain a flexible approach to their roles and respond to Sustainable Communities ’s changing needs. The responsibilities of this post may be changed subject to review, over a period of time. This will be done in consultation with the post holder.
- This role, in common with other staff at Sustainable Communities, will be expected to display a range of competencies specific to their grade and area of work. These will be measured during annual performance appraisals, and there will be an expectation that staff will be able to evidence the ways in which they have met these competencies over the course of the year.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential
Applicants must self-identify as LGBT+
Education/ Qualifications
Relevant qualification (such as an NVQ Level 3 or above in social work, care health, education) And/Or Equivalent experience and evidence of a commitment to continuing learning and professional development
Knowledge
Knowledge and understanding of some of the
common experiences and needs of LGBT+ people Knowledge of the issues facing trans, non-binary and questioning people in LondonUnderstanding of, and commitment to, diversity, human rights and addressing health inequalities
Knowledge of key research and strategic documents with LGBT+ Communities
Desirable: Knowledge of the health and well-being issues involved in ageing Understanding of a community development and engagement approach Understanding of rights and entitlements of older persons, refugees and asylum seekers, key statutory and non-statutory agencies, and LGBT- specific issues Knowledge and understanding of some of the common experiences and needs of LGBT+ Older persons.
Experience
Experience of running community engagement activities Experience of running groups and workshops Experience of working with a wide range of communities Experience of networking and partnership working Experience of writing reports to demonstrate impact Experience of evaluation and monitoring to demonstrate impact
Desirable: Experience in delivering training and presentations Experience of community consultation Experience of working with volunteers.
Skills & Competencies
Ability to manage own time Excellent communication skills Ability to consult and work with community members, staff, and volunteers Computer literacy in CRMs, social media, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Office 365 Able to develop and maintain boundaries with service users Able to develop and maintain authentic working relationships with service users
Desirable: Knowledge of Google Work Space
Other Requirements
Regard for others and respect for individual rights of autonomy and confidentiality
Desirable: Ability and willingness to travel by public transport to different locations
Method of assessment
Application Form, Interview, Certificates & References
Summary, Terms & Conditions
LGBT+ Older Persons’ Community Development Worker
0.4 FTE 3 years fixed term contract
The post holder will mainly be required to work within standard office hours (usually Monday to Friday 9:00-5:30pm). The nature of this post may require some evening and weekend work and some flexibility is required.
The post holder is entitled to 20 days leave per year pro rata, plus public holidays (pro rata for part-time hours).
Sustainable Communities operates a flexible working policy, to contribute to work-life balance and family-friendly working practices. Some home working is involved. Accrued hours may be taken off as time in lieu, with the agreement of and prior agreement of the line manager. TOIL should be taken within 6 weeks of the date accrued.
There is a three-month probationary period for this post. The post holder will negotiate probationary objectives as part of their induction process. These will be a set of achievable service and professional development objectives
The post holder is expected to attend management supervision with their line manager and to have relevant service data available as requested. Management supervision should provide the primary professional support for the post holder. The post holder/s is also expected to take part in the annual staff review process to identify professional development goals.
Any offer of employment is subject to the satisfactory receipt of two references and the satisfactory completion of an Enhanced DBS Check. Referees should be people who can comment on your abilities, but must not be relatives.
Sustainable Communities offers a Stakeholder Pension
A contract will be issued to the successful candidate subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS Check, which Sustainable Communities will administer.
Sustainable Communities works with recognised trade unions and all staff are welcome to join a Union of their choice.