What are the responsibilities and job description for the Volunteer Liaison, Refugee Phoenix position at Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest?
General Description:
The Refugee Volunteer Liaison supports the LSS-SW goal of creating and embracing a culture of community-centric volunteerism, with specific emphasis on the placement and retention of volunteers within Refugee & Immigration in Phoenix. This individual will coordinate, enhance, and grow the relationships LSS-SW has with individual volunteers. The Liaison will maintain a healthy volunteer program by listening to and understanding the needs of the volunteers, paid staff, and clients and providing and/or creating resources. The Liaison will collaborate with the Director of Volunteer Engagement as well as the community engagement team to ensure consistency. This role requires sensitivity to the program population's cultural and socioeconomic characteristics.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
|
WEIGHT |
DESCRIPTION |
|
60 |
Needs Assessment, Recruitment, and Placement 1. Collaborate with Refugee & Immigration team members to understand current volunteer and in-kind needs. Observe and identify gaps where volunteers can serve and assist in design or editing of position descriptions. Conduct site visits of locations where volunteers serve. 2. Recruit individual volunteers to support refugee programs in Phoenix, including but not limited to, Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG), Women's Empowerment Program (WEP), Reception & Placement (R&P), Intensive Case Management (ICM). 3. Be apprised of all contractual goals related to volunteers in Refugee Phoenix programs; work to meet or surpass volunteer goals in collaboration with Community Integration Manager. 4. Identify pathways and cultivate partnerships for recruitment of individual refugee volunteers, in collaboration with Outreach Coordinator. 5. After placement occurs, welcome and train volunteer in collaboration with program staff. Maintain excellent communication with placed volunteers to monitor progress and perform regular check ins. Share volunteer highlights and discuss improvements needed with program staff. 6. Seek out and participate in professional development on volunteer management trends, refugee & immigration, and community-centric philanthropy. |
|
20 |
Information Development & Tracking 1. Request, review, and electronically save onboarding documents for individual Phoenix refugee volunteers. 2. Monitor hours reporting; review and/or enter volunteer hours and feedback entered by Phoenix volunteers within Better Impact database; conduct follow up, create systems, and assist volunteers in tracking 3. Utilize and track information within donor database, Virtuous 4. Ensure that tracking of any stated performance measures, outputs, and expected outcomes are added to databases for agency-wide and/or contractual reporting. 5. Support the communication of stories and advocacy efforts through the writing and sharing of stories and photos to build case for community support and share with community engagement team members for newsletters, campaign asks, etc. |
|
10 |
In-Kind Donation Support 1. Communicate with program staff to understand current Refugee Phoenix in-kind needs and communicate with volunteers and partners to solicit these needs. 2. Provide administrative support in obtaining in-kind receipts for all donations for Refugee Phoenix, provide excellent customer service with volunteers/donors running drives or dropping off donations. 3. Assisting with sorting donations and oversee the distribution of items to program staff for the clients, track notes regarding distribution in client database. 4. Schedule furniture pick ups with donors in collaboration with Reception & Placement team. 5. Support of seasonal campaigns through solicitation/sorting/distribution. |
|
5 |
Volunteer Appreciation 1. Plan and implement personalized appreciation efforts for Refugee Phoenix volunteers 2. Create opportunities for both educational development and social activities for Phoenix refugee volunteers to participate in together. 3. Participate and plan annual Volunteer Appreciation event(s) in collaboration with community engagement team. |
|
5 |
Team Collaboration 1. Participate in both Fund Development and Refugee & Immigration staff meetings and maintain knowledge of client services in Refugee & Immigration. Regularly share volunteer highlights at program meetings, in collaboration with our community engagement staff. 2. Assist with Fund Development events such as donor giving days and annual Building Foundations Luncheon. 3. Engage the refugee team in building a culture of philanthropy - publicizing spirit days and offering periodic trainings, spotlights. 4. Other duties as assigned. |
Qualification Requirements:
To perform this job successfully, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Significant understanding of and demonstrated success in philanthropy, development, interactions with faith communities and civic groups, volunteers, and program management. Bachelor's degree, with preference given for degree in a related field.
- Experience working with refugee and/or immigrant populations strongly preferred.
- Provide and maintain a current Level One Fingerprint Clearance Card, clear the Department of Economic Security Central Registry Background Check and a criminal background and motor vehicle screening; must maintain valid AZ Driver's License, a clear driving record and reliable transportation for the duration of employment.
- Obtain/Possess and maintain current certification in First Aid and CPR.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Ability to work with diverse communities, faith leaders and congregations.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills including the ability to articulate commitment to and passion for the Lutheran Social Services mission and refugee resettlement in public venues.
- Proficient computer skills and knowledge of Outlook and Microsoft Office Programs (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Ability to relate well with individuals of varied lifestyles, backgrounds and ethnicities.
- Experience in cultural diversity.
- Ability to participate as a member of a team, including collaboration, cross-training, and mutual assistance.
- Ability to work independently with high initiative.
- Ability to travel to throughout the state as requested.
- Team player who takes initiative, demonstrated networker, and ability to work with diverse populations cross culturally, cross faith traditions and cross programs.
- Demonstrated conflict resolution and problem solving skills, calm under pressure.
- Project management skills that include organizing, documentation, multi-tasking, prioritizing and meeting deadlines.
- Understanding and appreciation for a philanthropic culture and faith-based non-profit agencies.
- Ability to conduct all activities with a commitment to the organization's mission and strategic plan; focus efforts to inspire a client-centered approach to quality service delivery and operational excellence; uphold all policies and procedures.
- Ability to support, strengthen and build cross division support and partnerships within LSS-SW.
Language Skills:
Ability to communicate clearly. Ability to listen and perceive need. Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds non-judgmentally. Ability to effectively present and represent LSS-SW and the program's needs to religious and community groups as well as others in the social services community.
Reasoning Ability:
Ability to define problems, collect data, evaluate information, draw conclusions, and take appropriate action based on this information.
Physical Demands/Work Environment
The physical demands and work environment characteristics here are representative of those that are needed by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to sit or stand for long periods. The employee frequently is required to use hands to hold objects and operate office equipment.
- The employee is required to be able to listen and communicate effectively.
- The employee may be required to occasionally lift and/or move 25 lbs.
- The noise level in the work environment varies with the activity level of the facility.
- The employee must be able to orientate and navigate well within the Program's geographic boundaries.
All positions at Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest require a background check.