Community Outreach Specialist

Location: Lycoming County

Salary: $46,000 - $51,000 + real flexibility and excellent benefits

Schedule: Full-time, remote with some self-scheduled nights and weekends

Are you a natural connector, persuasive communicator, and community-minded organizer? Do you believe that everyone should be able to get the healthcare they need without going into medical debt? Join PHAN and a team passionate about ensuring that all Pennsylvanians have access to quality, affordable, and equitable health coverage.

This is not solely a desk job. Lots of people in your community are uninsured and struggle to understand their options. You’ll build relationships with community partners and leaders, and organize high-impact outreach events to let people know that free or low cost options are available through Pennie (Pennsylvania’s ACA marketplace), Medicaid, or CHIP.

You’ll also be trained to provide free assistance that helps people get covered by helping them complete online applications and work through barriers or issues. At the end of the day, PHAN has a proven track record of enrolling over 40,000 people and keeping them covered. PHAN also leads statewide advocacy efforts to protect coverage, reduce costs, and ensure healthcare is affordable.

What You’ll Do:

• Plan, promote, and lead outreach events out in local communities (e.g. at schools, clinics, food banks, libraries, nonprofits, faith groups), 2 to 4 events per week
• Use strong interpersonal and persuasive skills to connect with individuals and help them understand their health coverage options
• Build partnerships with trusted community organizations and leaders to establish outreach and enrollment sites to reach those most in need
• Provide clear, fair, and accurate in-person, phone, and virtual assistance with applications for health coverage
• Follow up with individuals to ensure successful enrollment and access to care
• Become proficient in eligibility and application processing rules
• Help people navigate complex rules, systems, and paperwork
• Share stories and feedback from the community to improve our outreach and advocacy

What We’re Looking For:

• Proven experience in community outreach, sales, organizing or social services
• Strong communication and customer service skills—you can engage, build rapport quickly, and help people easily understand their options
• Comfortable finding and engaging local consumer-facing sites to establish outreach and enrollment events
• A strong belief in advocacy, social justice, and addressing barriers that result in people being uninsured
• Comfortable speaking to groups and tailoring your message for different audiences
• Able to learn complex rules and regulations, navigate handbooks, and find supporting citations to support wrongfully denied applications.
• Able to work independently and manage your schedule
• Tech-savvy and familiar with customer relationship management tools (like Salesforce) to track data and interactions and communication tools (like Slack) to work within a team
• Ability to summarize complicated information in plain language that’s easy-to-understand
• Detail-oriented and organized to manage large amounts of information and contacts
• Critical thinking skills to solve complicated problems quickly
• Spanish fluency is strongly desired (but not required)

Requirements:

• Experience in community organizing, sales, canvassing, outreach, or other community engagement work
• Able to work from home and travel regularly across your assigned area (requires a valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, and insurance)
• This is a fully remote position - you work from home or community sites without an office requirement - and you must live within the counties stated above before your hire date. If you are looking to relocate, please make that clear in your cover letter or we will not consider your application
• Must be able to complete all the requirements, including a background check and child abuse clearance, to become a Pennie-certified assister registered with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department
• Bachelor’s degree (any field relevant to this work) or associate’s degree with significant work experience
• Passion for social justice
• Self-scheduled nights and weekend work is occasionally required

About PHAN:

The Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) is a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to expanding health coverage and improving healthcare affordability for all. Since 2007, PHAN has helped tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians get and stay covered while advancing patient-centered priorities that improve access to care and reduce medical debt.

We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer.

We strongly encourage applications from people with diverse or underrepresented backgrounds, experiences, abilities, or identities.

• Real flexibility to set your own schedule in a mission-driven work environment
• PPO health plan with dental and vision (no deductible and no employee contribution)
• Three weeks of paid time off to start plus paid sick time, personal days, and 15 paid holidays per year
• Additional insurances: short-term and long-term disability, and life
• Employer contribution to an individual retirement account
• Reimbursement for all required travel and approved work expenses
• Make a real impact in communities across Pennsylvania

Spanish fluency is strongly desired (but not required)