Community Development Manager

Job Title

Community Development Manager - Edmonton

Management

Edmonton

Limited to programmed activities in the local area.

$65,000 to $75,000 per year

Hybrid - primarily onsite work with some work from home days.

Permanent Full Time, 37.5 hours/week.

Trevor Friesen

Operations Manager,

Edmonton

Veterans' House Canada (VHC) is a national charity whose mission is to help homeless veterans build a better future by providing permanent, affordable and supportive housing. VHC's facility in Ottawa, ON has been in operation since 2021 and is Canada's first community housing development built exclusively for homeless veterans. Our second facility, a 40-unit supportive housing project, located at  Ave NW Edmonton, will open this fall and requires a Community Development Manager to join the team and support our residents.

Veterans' House Canada is looking for an experienced and passionate individual to join our team as our Edmonton Community Development Manager. The Community Development Manager is responsible for providing onsite support and group programming for VHC tenants who may live with severe and persistent mental illness and/or addictions. The goal of onsite community development support is to assist tenants in maintaining successful tenancies and build a better future.

The community developer will work in collaboration with VHC, external mental health support workers, and a variety of community partners. The community developer will work as part of a team providing support and programming to Veterans' House tenants.

• Develop and operate trauma-informed programming in conjunction with residents’ needs and input which supports group cohesion, individual growth and skill building, development and improvement of self confidence; support to take positive risks in learning new skills; support in expressing negative content.
• Provide programming which enhances and supports compassion amongst tenants, encouraging curiosity rather than judgements, and which highlights human rights and responsibilities in various life domains such as housing (Residential Tenancies Act); privacy act (mental health diagnosis, sharing of medical information); rights and responsibilities under the law (know your rights in police interventions).
• Create educational programming to assist tenants in compliance with pest management practices; fire safety; complaint form procedures; and other tenancy-based skills.
• Providing programming which supports tenants in learning about mental health diagnosis, PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and how they present themselves; co-relation between substance use and mental health; substance use as a form of self soothing; emotions around regulation skills.
• Support tenants in exploring and expanding their circle of care.
• Supporting the community and individuals in coping with loss, bereavement.
• Encouraging tenants to discover their strengths and share their skills with their community (gardening skills, first aid, VAC or community system navigation, effective listener, cook, IT, pet knowledge, physical fitness, wellness and healthy living, etc).
• Support tenants in development and improvement of relationship with their pet and their neighbour' s pet; understanding pet bylaws; support with grooming, proper pet diet; supporting tenant in problem solving pet health and behavioural issues; pet sharing; development of pet care plan to ensure there is a back up tenant to take on pet responsibilities should owner go into crisis or hospital.
• Foster supportive group environment where tenants support each other in making positive changes in any chapter of their life through SMART goals and objectives.
• Support tenants in exploring new skills and program initiatives based on tenant feedback (ex: I always wanted to have a woodworking shed, to go camping with friends, to play a sport, etc); encouraging tenants to voice new ideas and support them in planning steps and engaging to make those ideas come to life.
• Supporting tenants through trauma informed, motivational counselling in navigating…