Host Site: Rebuilding Together Montgomery County

Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland

AmeriCorps Program: CapacityCorps

Title: AmeriCorps Client Outreach Coordinator

Commitment: September 1, 2024 – July 31, 2025

About Our Community

Montgomery County, Maryland is a diverse community that draws people from all over the world to live and work near the nation's capital. The cost of living is extremely high, and while Montgomery County is ranked among the 20 wealthiest counties in the United States, RTMC clients have an average annual income of less than $20,000. As clients make difficult decisions about which necessities to prioritize their income on, home repairs often go unaddressed. By serving as a resource to make repairs for local low-income homeowners, RTMC ensures clients can continue to live in safe and healthy homes. In an area where the cost of living includes high rents, RTMC's services help prevent clients from losing what may be the only affordable housing option available.

Through direct involvement with clients and community partners, the AmeriCorps member will have a significant impact on the local community. They will have opportunities to interact with local residents daily, with the goal of improving the application intake process. The AmeriCorps Client Outreach Coordinator will process applications, communicate with applicants, and help provide a smooth client services process. This will allow the rest of the program team to more efficiently and effectively provide home repair services to clients.

Summary of Position

As the AmeriCorps Client Outreach Coordinator, you will oversee key aspects of the client/homeowner experience of receiving critical repair services from Rebuilding Together Montgomery County. You will strive to build trust within the community and awareness among targeted populations most in need of our services. You will be the primary point of contact for clients during the application process, ensuring a high level of client communication and support throughout the recruitment, application, intake, and file close-out stages. In this position, you will improve the efficiency of the application process by decreasing approval wait-time and communicating important client-specific information to the team before home previews.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

· Pursue a robust client outreach strategy that will increase awareness of our services among our target populations, including seniors, veterans, single parents, and individuals with disabilities. Outreach methods may include: collaborating with community partners to build a strong client referral network, creating and distributing brochures and flyers, tabling at resource fairs, and presenting to community groups.

· Organize and send out at least two mass outreach mailings to increase client application intake from targeted groups.

· Collaborate with the AmeriCorps Project Coordinator to coordinate communication between clients, staff, volunteers, and contractors.

· Provide a high level of client communication and support during the client application process, including: explaining the organization and application process to potential clients, assisting applicants with completing the application in person and over the phone, processing applications, and closing out completed applications.

· Decrease wait-time for application approval by frequently communicating with applicants to ensure application files are complete and by processing applications efficiently.

· Accurately track client information within the database, including during the application and approval process, and communicate client-specific information with Program staff prior to site previews.

· Assist with maintaining, updating, and distributing client paperwork including the homeowner application, waivers, and release forms.

· Manage and continue to implement existing homeowner survey process following project completion to capture clients’ experience with Rebuilding Together Montgomery County. Report findings to the team and suggest solutions for improving the delivery of high-quality services to homeowners. Update survey process as necessary.

· During staff-led rebuilding projects, function as a House Ambassador, ensuring clients’ needs are being met. Train House Ambassadors for National Rebuilding Day projects.

· As a grassroots non-profit, all team members will have an active role in implementing larger rebuilding projects throughout the year. They will assist with project logistics several times throughout the year, including checking in with clients throughout the project day, assisting with set up/tear down, managing and guiding volunteers, and other behind-the-scenes project logistics. AmeriCorps members should also expect to actively serve at projects throughout the year.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Required

· Ability to compose professional written communications for a variety of audiences, including correspondence with clients

· Solid interpersonal skills and ability to make connections and build relationships with both community partners and clients

· Ability to work equally well on independent projects as well as on collaborative team projects

· Ability to communicate in clear and encouraging language with a diverse community and staff

· Ability to function in a fast-paced, collaborative environment where each team member must balance being organized and detail-orientated with being flexible

· Positive and optimistic attitude, good problem-solving skills

· Proficient in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel or similar

Preferred

· As this role will be interacting with clients regularly, familiarity with the community is preferred

· Bachelor’s Degree or relevant life/work experience

· Experience with managing or working alongside volunteers

· Experience with construction, home repair, and housing issues

· Familiarity with Salesforce a plus

Description of Physical Demands

· Must be able to travel independently to meetings in the community and in client homes

· The majority of time will be spent in the office; must be able to use a computer and phone for extended periods of time

· Must be able to navigate an active construction site, including: climbing stairs and ladders, standing, lifting, and carrying for extended periods of time over difficult terrain

· Must be able to lift 35 pounds on a regular basis as part of their responsibilities to assist with the delivery of tools and materials for projects

· Ability to sustain high-level of activity on project event days

Other Requirements

· Access to reliable transportation for daily commute

· Valid driver’s license and driving record to allow use of affiliate-owned pickup trucks during work day

Commitment Required

· September 1, 2024 – July 31, 2025 (11-month/1700 service hour commitment)

· Full-time over 11-month service term (39-40 hrs/wk)

· Typical service week is Monday-Friday, however volunteer events often occur on weekends and will require attendance

Program Location

Rebuilding Together Montgomery County is headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, and serves a region that is diverse in population, wealth, and landscape. As a county that is a part of the D.C. Metro region, many clients live in more densely populated neighborhoods that are close to D.C. Other clients live in suburban areas and some even live farther out from the city in far more rural settings, resulting in RTMC serving a variety of types of homes and client lifestyles. The county is sprinkled with cities and towns outside of Washington, D.C., including Rockville and Gaithersburg, all of which contain neighborhoods that Rebuilding Together services.

Background Check

CapacityCorps members are required to pass an FBI criminal background check with fingerprints, applicable state background checks, and an NSOPW check. For more information about disqualifying findings, visit our FAQ’s on our website, www.rebuildingtogether.org/capacitycorps.

Prohibited Activities

AmeriCorps members may not engage in any of the AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities (see below) directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed below. AmeriCorps members will not recruit or coordinate volunteers for the purposes of raising funds for his/her living allowance, Rebuilding Together’s general operating expenses, or write grant applications for funding provided by CNCS or other federal agencies.

Any volunteer recruitment, training, management, or coordination listed above as completed by the AmeriCorps member pertains to volunteers engaged in work directly related to rebuilding project implementation only.

AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities

Prohibited Activities. While charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or CNCS, staff and members may not engage in the following activities (see 45 CFR § 2520.65):

a) Attempting to influence legislation;

b) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes;

c) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing;

d) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements;

e) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;

f) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials;

g) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;

h) Providing a direct benefit to—

i) A business organized for profit;

ii) A labor union;

iii) A partisan political organization;

iv) A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial amount of lobbying except that nothing in these provisions shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and

v) An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph 3.g. above, unless CNCS assistance is not used to support those religious activities;

i) Conducting a voter registration drive or using CNCS funds to conduct a voter registration drive;

j) Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and

k) Such other activities as CNCS may prohibit.

AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-CNCS funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.