Intake and Service Specialist

Job Description

Job Title

Intake & Service Specialist

Reports to

Program Manager

Department &

Worksite

Navigation

North Hollywood Navigation Center

Management &

FLSA Status

Non Management

Full Time, Non Exempt

Hope Mission Statement

The mission of Hope the Mission is to prevent, reduce and eliminate poverty, hunger, and homelessness by offering immediate assistance and long-term solutions.

Position Purpose and Summary

The Intake/Service Specialist is responsible for welcoming and connecting individuals experiencing homelessness to services offered at the Navigation Center. Navigation Center Services include use of on site amenities and case management intake through the Los Angeles Continuum of Care Homeless Management Information System Coordinated Entry System (LA CoC HMIS). This position is responsible for acting as an initial point of contact at the Navigation Center and connecting participants to services.

An important aspect of this position is its responsibility to facilitate access to CES, to identify all available services that may benefit a participant and to administer them completely from greeting at the point of entry to services fulfillment. The role requires active collaboration with all site staff and security to ensure smooth center operations and a safe, welcoming environment.

All services will be administered using Housing First, Low-Barrier, and Trauma-Informed Care approaches, with dignity and respect for all participants.

Responsibilities

Reception & Administration

• Greet Participants upon arrival with kindness and consideration
• Administer documentation within the participant's master file in HMIS
• Ensure the safekeeping and confidentiality of all records in a locked filing cabinet (double locked)
• Ensure compliance with all documentation as detailed in the Navigation Center's Scope of Required Services (SRS)
• Maintain an environment of confidentiality, discussing participant information only when appropriate and related to matters at hand
• Answer multiple phone lines, assist with taking messages and directing calls; Engage in computer and administrative work including clarity card printing
• Participate in audit preparations and data retrieval activities, as needed
• Ensure that all new participants receive a Clarity card, track and record services for existing clients.
• Respond to participant inquiries in person, by phone, or email
• Ensure timely completion of work including evaluations and assignments

Intake & Services

• Coordinate and oversee access to any on-site amenities which may include hygiene, storage, etc.
• Conduct initial intake and screening administering CES triage tools as necessary
• Identify and administer next step solutions that remove barriers to quickly access alternative housing interventions (crisis, bridge, shared, etc.). Schedule Intake appointments.
• Actively listen to participants and engage in problem-solving strategies through trauma-informed conversations.
• Provide emergency service referrals (crisis housing, drop in centers, domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, mental health) and warm handoff referrals when appropriate
• Liaise and coordinate with hygiene attendant and bin runners, ensuring warm handoffs and coordinated work that identifies each participant by name

Other

• Call 911, as needed, in the event of an emergency
• Collaborate with all on-site staff and security personnel to ensure safety of participants, staff, volunteers, and visitors
• Attend staff meetings , case conferences, training workshops, and community meetings as needed
• Self-identify potentially unsafe systems, processes, or situations and take initiative to report them to a manager or supervisor
• Observe department guidelines concerning absences. Report absences in accordance with department procedures.
• Other duties as assigned by management

Requirements

• Must be able to meet the standards of an Annual TB Screening

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of the population served and inherent challenges of working therein. Experience preferred but not required.
• Ability to work well under minimal supervision
• Capacity to take direction and complete work with a strong attention to detail and compliance
• Physically capable of lifting and moving objects up to 30 pounds as necessary

Physical, Demands, Environmental Conditions, Equipment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job; including but not limited to the inherent challenges involved with serving in escalated moments of crisis intervention. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Employee is routinely required to

• Sit/stand/be mobile for extended periods of time
• Work on a computer (with screen time) for significant periods of time
• Tolerate an Indoor / Outdoor environment
• Some degrees of mobility required (e.g. - ability to bend, twist, kneel, and lift up to 50 lbs.)
• Visual, auditory and hearing abilities required
• Use a desktop / laptop computer and ancillary office equipment
• And more

Mon - Fri: 7:30 AM - 4 PM