Refuge Project Worker with language specialism

To assist the refuge manager in the day-to-day running of the refuge, developing and delivering a front line service offering support, advice and guidance to women and their children living in the refuge.

To produce and regularly review Individual Support Plans (ISP) for each service user, in conjunction with the service user.

• To recognise women and children’s individual needs and refer to specialist agencies where necessary as part of their ISP.

• To identify the needs of women and children leaving BSWA refuge after being offered permanent accommodation.

• To identify and make links with existing projects and community services and to develop joint services where appropriate.

• To ensure the primary needs of residents are met. This includes medical, financial, housing, legal and education rights.

• To organise activities and celebrations in the refuge for women and children which raise self-esteem, bring people together and broaden awareness

We are particularly keen to recruit staff who can speak community languages, particularly Punjabi, French, Polish, Somali and Farsi.  All positions, unless otherwise stated, are full-time, 37 hours per week.

These posts are subject to a 6% pension contribution.  Women only need apply. These posts are covered by a Genuine Occupational Requirement (Schedule 9; Equality Act 2010). 

BSWA operates within Safer Recruitment good practice guidelines. Please note all successful candidates will be subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service Check before commencing their employment.

This is an opportunity to support people fleeing persecution just because of who they are and love.

There are about 2,000 LGBTI people claiming asylum in the UK every year because of their sexuality, gender identity or intersex status.  When they come to the UK they are still not safe.  They are often abused in refugee accommodation by other refugees who come from the same or similar countries to the one they are escaping; they become homeless and depressed; and they are rejected by their ethnic community and live in poverty.

The job involves meeting with LGBTI asylum seekers on a regular basis to establish their suitability to access Micro Rainbow’s housing and socio-economic inclusion programmes.  It also involves supporting them while they live in Micro Rainbow’s safe houses and to access the services they need (healthcare, counselling, etc.).  The ideal candidate is passionate about equality and has the ability to connect and empathise with vulnerable people whilst maintaining strict professional boundaries.

The tasks below are delivered online/on the phone from home and at Micro Rainbow safe houses in the West Midlands when appropriate.

Anne Frank Workers are the new front-line delivery posts for all the education programmes of the Anne Frank Trust UK, leading our workshops, training our peer educators and mentoring our ambassadors in schools and communities across the country. This is a varied, exciting and demanding role for highly organised professionals with a deeply held commitment to equality and the skills to engage 10 to 15-year-olds in a structured, creative journey of learning and empowerment.

The Anne Frank Trust UK is an education charity, that empowers young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to challenge all forms of prejudice and discrimination. The life and work of Anne Frank provide a uniquely powerful springboard for our education programmes, and we have robust evidence of our impact on young people’s attitudes towards other social groups.

If young people are to become lifelong voices for empathy and tolerance, they need not just knowledge and the right attitudes, but a vivid sense of their own identities, passion to make a difference, and the skills to adapt to constant change. To achieve these outcomes, we need to make our programmes even more intense and lasting in their impact - especially by targeting our resources where they can make the biggest difference, and by engaging with young people more dynamically through creativity and empowerment.

We are launching the Anne Frank Worker role in January 2021 with 6 full-time equivalent posts recruited to cover different areas of the country. These workers will be managed by the Director of Education and a new post of Assistant Director for Schools & Communities. They will be supported by a specially commissioned package of training.

CONTRACT: Permanent.

SALARY: £26,000 per annum

Two increments on completion of satisfactory annual appraisal: after first year to 26,750; after second year to £27,500 (depending on available funding).

London weighting if applicable: additional £1,500 per annum.

HOURS: Full time (37.5 hours per week) or part-time (minimum 22.5 hours per week). Usually Mon-Fri 9am to 5.30pm. Evening and weekend working for delivery to young people out of school hours – Time Off In Lieu provided.

BASED: Either at the Anne Frank Trust UK, Star House, 104-108 Grafton Road, London NW5 4BA, Or home based. We require candidates who can deliver across London (Especially East London boroughs) and to the major cities of the following areas: South & West Yorkshire, the North East of England & West Midlands County. The role will require frequent local and regional travel, occasional UK-wide travel and overnight stays.

Bristol, Birmingham or Sheffield or Home Working considered

Closing date: 31st January 2021 at 11.30pm

Do you have experience of planning and delivering involvement, volunteering or research activities and liaising with external agencies, partners and professionals, possibly in a housing or homelessness context? Then join Shelter as an Involvement Coordinator and you could soon be playing an exciting and diverse role within a new project aimed at developing our approach to women's centred services.

A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change with individuals, in communities, across society and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

Women are being increasingly and disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis. This has led Shelter to develop a new strategic priority to ensure that all our housing advice services are designed with a clear understanding of how a women's gender affects their housing problems and the kind of support they need as a result. We're spearheading this transformation by developing services in three locations, which are designed by women with lived experience and local partner agencies, and directed at helping homeless and poorly housed women. We have secured National Lottery funding, initially for 6 months, to carry out this work.

About the Role
Under the direction of a Project Manager, you'll be responsible for recruiting Peer Research Volunteers with lived experience and training and supporting them to conduct research in their local communities. Research will involve talking to women about local need and barriers to accessing support, with the aim of designing services to help them. This will involve engaging, supporting and developing people involved, to actively engage them in the project and ensure that the project is coproduced. The work will be carried out in three key locations and your challenge will be to represent the voices of people with lived experience in service design discussions and see that the language used in documentation and proposals is appropriate to the issues women face. Along the way, you'll also work with a variety of stakeholders to support and encourage involvement through various means and make sure opportunities are available for all to be involved.

About you
Personal experience of homelessness or poor housing and an understanding of how these issues have affected you would be an advantage. You’ll need to be dynamic and have experience of working with people who have direct experience of homelessness or poor housing, or similar issues. You'll also need a proven ability to use different methods to encourage participation and help those involved meet their potential. Adept at networking and information gathering, you have the excellent all-round communication and interpersonal skills it takes to work closely with an Involvement Team and other internal stakeholders. And, because your workload will be varied and demanding, you'll need excellent skills in prioritising, organising and boundary setting and a willingness to travel regularly between Sheffield, Bristol and Birmingham to get the job done.

Due to the specific requirements of the role we are only considering applications from women for this role. The Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, Part 1, Paragraph 1 applies to this post.

Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave (pro rata), enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We're here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.

To find out more about the role and the benefits of working for Shelter please visit our website. Apply to be part of our Women's Centred Services team and be the change you want to see in society.

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Shelter promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in our workplace. We make employment decisions by matching business needs with skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities),gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We also encourage applications from people, who have been homeless or have been at risk of homelessness. We are facing diverse problems, so need diverse people to tackle them.

We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.

About us
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, our society has pulled together to achieve extraordinary things. Thousands of people sleeping rough have been temporarily housed in a matter of weeks, and many more were prevented from becoming homeless due to emergency changes to legislation.

As we begin to emerge from the series of lockdowns, we now stand at a crossroads: we can build on the incredible progress that has been made by helping everyone move into a secure and permanent home; or we risk seeing thousands of people being forced into homelessness.

We are recruiting for a Volunteering Partner – Development to join our expanding Volunteering Team, to work alongside our inspirational volunteers and to bring an end to homelessness in Great Britain.

About the role

This role can be based at any of our 11 offices (Croydon, Central London, Brent, Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Rotherham, Liverpool or Newcastle, South Wales and Edinburgh) but must be able to travel to our Head Office in London occasionally.

As our Volunteering Partner - Development you will join our innovative, dynamic and creative central Volunteering Team.  For the past few years, we’ve been working hard to transform the volunteer journey and experience at Crisis and have made significant progress.  New materials, new processes and a more digital approach are all being embedded and you will be part of ensuring that all of our volunteers have a brilliant experience with Crisis. 

This role has a focus on new and effective marketing approaches to ensure we reach those volunteers who have an ambition to end homelessness.  It’s also pivotal in the use of our Learning Management System for volunteers and ensuring that volunteers commit to an engaging and effective learning experience. However, you will not be alone, and you will need to work in a collaborative and positive way with our Volunteer Coordinators, Marketing and Data and Technology teams whose energy and expertise is vital to the delivery of effective volunteering support.  

About you
We are looking for someone who is able to work on multiple projects at once, has excellent organisation skills, and outstanding written and verbal communication. You will need the confidence and creativity to develop new ideas and approaches and the ability to build support for them and ensure their delivery.  
We want someone to make this role their own.  The remit is broad, the space for creativity and risk taking is generous and this team is ambitious about being sector leading in the way we work with our volunteers. 

Benefits
As a member of the team you will have access to a wide range of employee benefits including:
· Interest free loans to purchase a train season ticket or a bike or for a deposit to secure a tenancy
· Mandatory pension scheme, with an employer contribution of 8.5%
· 25 days’ annual leave which increases with service to 28 days

Alongside our excellent staff benefits, we will support your ongoing development to build your skills, experience and career.

How to Apply 
If this sound likes the opportunity for you, please click on the 'Apply for Job' button below.
If you need to request an application in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment Team, contact details can be found on our website.
Closing date: Sunday 31st January 2021 (at 23:59)
Interviews will be held on Friday 5th February 2021
We value diversity, promote equality and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with lived experience of homelessness.