PDX Outreach Practitioner

Job Details Job Location:
Portland Ops Office - Portland, OR Position Type:
Full-Time/Part-Time Salary Range: $20.00 - $22.00 Hourly

Position:
Outreach Practitioner
Term:
Full-time, hourly
Pay: $20-22/hour + health insurance, paid time off, and other benefits

Location:

Portland, OR

Reports To:

Care Coordination Manager
Direct Reports:
None

Organization Description:

Urban Alchemy is a nonprofit organization with the mission of transforming people and places through respect, compassion, and love to heal communities challenged by the intersection of extreme poverty, mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. The name Urban Alchemy references the process of spiritual and social transformation that our staff engage in – both internally and in practice with all members of the public.

Since our founding in 2018, Urban Alchemy has grown into a thriving social enterprise with over 1,100 employees. We provide community outreach and engagement, temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness, mobile bathrooms and showers, and street cleaning services. Urban Alchemy currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, Austin, Texas, and Portland, Oregon. Over 95% of Urban Alchemy employees, including leadership, experienced incarceration and/or homelessness.

Project Description:

Urban Alchemy conducts outreach designed to help adults experiencing homelessness who are living in encampments or the streets in Portland. Urban Alchemy has Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Teams that each consist of two Outreach Practitioners and one Care Coordination Practitioner. The teams conduct outreach and connect guests to services designed to meet their immediate and long-term needs with a focus on housing.

Position Summary:

The Outreach Practitioner must establish positive relationships with individuals in unhoused communities and encampments in the target areas. These relationships are critical to leverage effective communication and de-escalation when responding to unhoused community member’s needs. The Practitioner must possess highly attenuated emotional intelligence to accurately assess individuals they are responding to, understand and regulate their own emotions and triggers, and quickly develop a strategy to respond to the crisis in a calm and warm manner that de-escalates the situation and results in satisfactory resolution of the presenting issue.

The Practitioner is expected to work collaboratively with members of their team to implement evidence-based strategies that contribute to the well-being and successful resolution of unhoused individuals experiencing distress.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Position Specific:

• Promote health and safety in the assigned area.
• Build positive relationships and trust with community members in the assigned area.
• Support unhoused individuals by connecting them with services and referrals.
• Work collaboratively with other Urban Alchemy staff and partners to serve people in need.
• Help meet immediate needs of guests, including the use of Narcan for opioid overdose reversal.
• Complete all required data collection using the digital platforms required by Urban Alchemy.
• Provide trauma-informed, harm reduction, strengths-based, and person-centered outreach.
• Use a housing first approach when working with guests.
• Engage with individuals in distress, assess the cause, and use strategies to de-escalate the situation.
• Support individuals to resolve any identified issues, de-escalate potential or existing conflicts and/or heightened emotions.
• Remain calm and attentive during crises, which may occur multiple times during a shift.
• Practice self-awareness and cultural humility; be conscientious and sensitive to power and other interpersonal dynamics.

Project Specific:

• Provide transportation for guests to get to appointments and make home-visits as needed.
• Work flexible hours and/or shifts, weekends, and on-call shifts.
• Will support all staff with meeting the needs of guests.
• Will work primarily in the field at various assigned locations, some of which may be remote.
• Lead Outreach Practitioner will also assist with scheduling and supervision.

General:

• Will treat all Urban Alchemy guests, staff…