Community Program Assistant

Position Overview

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI), part of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), has a part‑time (50% FTE) Community Program Assistant position working on positive supports, telehealth‑related work, systems change and/or advocacy, and other activities related to ICI. Positive supports are research‑based practices that are person‑centered, sensitive to cultural and geographic differences, and include ways to assess whether the practices used are effective.

Telehealth related work involves the use of online and distance strategies to share information, and systems change means anything that changes the organization’s work or the way in which families are supporting themselves in everyday routines. This position involves providing advice and guidance based on lived experience with positive supports and other services. One or more successful candidates will attend meetings, co‑train in a variety of onsite and distance venues, work as a team member within ICI teams.

The successful candidate will have lived experience with disabilities receiving a variety of services. Experience with positive supports is preferred. Candidates who have social media experience and have worked in academic settings in the past are preferred.

The University of Minnesota encourages a healthy work life balance for employees. CEHD is committed to an excellent employee experience, offering a flexible work environment that meets the needs of students, staff, faculty, and the communities we serve. Flexible work arrangements may include flexibility in schedule and/or work location. Please note that 100% remote work requires approval prior to offer.

• Advise and provide guidance in internal team meetings
• Work with teams in academic settings as well as in systems change projects. Examples include: attend internal meetings that focus on project implementation; meeting with individuals in between meetings to provide advice; provide information about experience related to lived experience for researchers and technical assistance leaders; collaborate with team members on projects related to positive support training and technical assistance; share ideas and advice in team and individual meetings;
  
  assist with project development with team members. Examples include: meet with individual researchers and technical assistance leaders to provide guidance on plain language development of resources, tools, and documents, presentation development, and addressing advocacy‑related issues; work with teams to ensure projects are considering the viewpoints of people with lived experience.

• Website development and maintenance
• Work with the website and IT groups to communicate needs for online graphics, online modules, and other IT related projects
• Assist in social media and website maintenance including assessment of plain language
• Conduct dead‑link checks on websites
• Advise IT leaders in ICI on how to organize the website to help families and people with lived experience better understand the content

• Provide guidance and advice to local, regional, and state teams
• Serve as a university liaison to local, regional, and state systems‑change efforts
• Share information about the work occurring with various projects
• Present in local, regional, statewide, national and international events
• Review policies and systems change efforts. Examples include: provide plain language advice to academic, state, regional, and local professionals that will assist in the development of or changes in policies and implementation of positive supports; work with teams and individuals to make changes in training, data collection, and how events are organized; assist in communicating major messages in plain language; review materials created in team‑based context;
  
  provide advice on the development of products created using plain language; share website, briefs, and other materials with others.

• Participate in grant writing and funding efforts
• Work with teams to submit grants for funding. Examples include: reviewing within a team context…