Community Empowerment Advocate

Organization Description

Hmong American Partnership (HAP) is a social service and community development organization whose mission is to empower the community to embrace the strengths of our cultures while achieving our potential. HAP’s vision is to create profound social, economic, and educational transformation by providing culturally responsive services, housing stability programs, and wellness support for the Southeast Asian and immigrant/refugee populations.

HAP’s vision is to reach out to the world with profound social, economic, and educational transformation.

Primary Function of the Position

Under the direction of the Program Manager, Community Empowerment, the Community Empowerment Advocate will provide comprehensive, coordinated, culturally specific supportive services to members of the local Hmong and Karen communities who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA), dating violence and/or stalking. This position will take a comprehensive approach to supporting participants, including linking them to financial, housing, and counseling resources as well as empowering them to lead a life of recovery and create their own career paths as a source of economic self-sufficiency. Additionally, this position is responsible for the coordination of support groups for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and/or violence prevention groups for both youths and adults. This includes program planning, creating curriculum, providing direct service, and collaborating with other Advocates as assigned.

The candidate must demonstrate a strong work ethic, as well as integrity, accountability, and high performance in previous work experience. The best candidate for this position is someone who can align themselves to our outcomes driven culture and understands the unique challenges of an immigrant and refugee community. We are looking for someone who is taking a victim-centered approach and has a pulse on the trends of culturally specific and family advocacy work.

Position Responsibilities

Program Design and Development

• Coordinates program events that bring all participants together to meet and network and assists with recruitment of new youth participants.
• Create culturally specific material for training, workshops, program information to share with participants and the community.
• Organize and conduct consistent support groups for victim/survivors of DV/SA to help move them towards healing and recovery.
• Regularly updates curriculum content to represent the interests and feedback of youth in group education.

Community Relationship Building and Program Recruitment

• Conduct community outreach to identify Southeast Asian victim/survivors in need of support.
• Develop and sustain working relationships with community partners; participate in community meetings, outreach initiatives/events, trainings and conferences assigned/needed.
• Provides culturally relevant coordination of program sessions to Southeast Asian families and individuals focused on strategies around pride in self, resiliency, wellness, and resource navigation.

Data Management and Reporting

• Collect and track client intake and data, ensuring participant eligibility to receive services.
• Support in providing client demographic data and assists in completing program reports, as necessary.
• Other duties as assigned, and as needed, to further the goals of the program and in alignment with HAP’s mission.

Advocacy Work

• Maintains resource and referral information and procedures necessary to assist participants in achieving their goals. 
• Provide trauma-informed direct services and case management to victim and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, specifically in the Southeast Asian community.
• Supports victim survivors with a cultural lens on safety planning, DV/SA education, and crisis intervention.
• Takes the appropriate steps to deal with emergency situations with the goal of maintaining safety of participants. Connecting participants to HAPs wrap around services.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Bilingual in English/Hmong or English/Karen required; Reading and writing skills in Hmong or Karen are preferred. 
• Demonstrated experience to communicate compassionately and effectively with limited-English speakers, potentially under duress.

• Strong cultural intelligence and understanding of the experiences of Southeast Asian refugees in America.
• Previous training in domestic violence/sexual assault preferred.
• Knowledge of domestic violence and abusive international marriages preferred. 
• Knowledge of available community resources that provide services to low-income families. 
• Ability to work with diverse stakeholder groups and sustain community partnerships.
• Compassion for and commitment to alleviating suffering of those who have experienced or are experiencing violence.
• Skills and experience with trauma-informed workplaces
• Ability to set boundaries effectively and kindly.
• Maintains composure in highly stressful or adverse situations and prioritizes the safety of participant and self.
• Strong organizational skills including multi-tasking, prioritizing, planning, and effective time management.
• Proficient in Office 365 programs, Google Suite, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx preferred.
• Ability to manage and track multiple projects simultaneously.
• Effective group facilitation and meeting management skills.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, while also being a strong team player.
• Ability to achieve program coordination and reporting outcomes in a pro-active, timely manner.

• Familiarity and comfort with electronic forms of communication, including ready access and responsiveness to e-mail correspondence.
• Valid driver’s license, active insurance policy, and access to reliable transportation.
• Work hours vary because of service provision, flexible schedule, ability to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed.

Education and Experience

• A minimum of a high school diploma; Associate degree or equivalent experience in social work, behavioral health, counseling, human services, public health, program development or related field is preferred.
• At least two (2) years of experience in case management and intervention work with victim/survivors of DV/SA, or a combination of equivalent experience and education.

Essential Functions

The following position requirements are representative of those that will be encountered while performing the responsibilities of this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer, phone, and keyboard.
• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for sustained periods of time in an indoor setting.
• Ability to tolerate moderate noise levels (i.e., shared open office space with computers, phones, printers, light traffic).
• Must have the ability to move about the office to access files and office equipment.
• Must have access to reliable transportation for occasional travel for meetings at other HAP office locations, events, and offsite meetings.
• Occasional moving or lifting of boxes or files up to twenty pounds.
• Able to focus on data, analyze the information and draw conclusions.
• Frequent interactions with coworkers and participants requiring the ability to communicate effectively.
• Frequent communication via email requiring ability to fluently read and write in English.
• Frequent preparation and analysis of figures

HAP is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Our organization will not discriminate against or harass any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, familial status, membership, or activity in a local human rights commission, or status with regard to public assistance.

Individuals with disabilities in need of accommodation should contact us at hr@hmong.org.