Health Educator

About VOCAL-NY

Founded in 1999, Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY) is a grassroots membership organization working to create healthy and just communities by building power among people affected by HIV and hepatitis C, mass incarceration and the war on drugs. We do this through community organizing, leadership development, direct services, policy advocacy and direct action with the belief that true social change must come from the bottom up and is led by those most directly impacted.

VOCAL-NY provides onsite and street-based syringe exchange, overdose prevention, hepatitis C and HIV education, care coordination, drug treatment education and other services for active and former drug users. Services are provided in a low-threshold, nonjudgmental and culturally relevant manner.

Job Location: On-site at our Brooklyn office. We currently have three openings for this role: one 24-hour/week position and two 32-hour/week positions, reporting to either the Drop-in & Syringe Exchange Programs Manager or the Drop-in & Syringe Exchange Director, depending on assignment.

​​Position Description

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of harm reduction and past experience providing low-threshold services to active drug users and a commitment to building power among low-income people who use drugs to fight for social justice.

Job Responsibilities (but are not limited to):

• Drop-in Center: Support drop-in center activities like preparing participants for support groups, providing educational information to participants, and assuring safe and efficient operation of facilities such as laundry, shower, and bathroom.
• Syringe Exchange & Safer Injection: Facilitate syringe exchange and other drug user health services as needed, including enrolling people who use drugs, providing them with an SEP ID, furnishing syringes and safer injection supplies, providing education and/or referrals, and completing applicable paperwork; also includes syringe litter pick up
• Inventory: Maintain accurate documentation of supply distribution.
• Professional Development: Attend trainings as needed to improve skills and knowledge, such as CPR, overdose response, motivational interviewing, and needlestick prevention.

Job Requirements

• Completion of NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute training for SEP workers and volunteers (if not already completed, must complete within the first 90 days).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills - including the ability to develop trusting and positive relationships with participants while maintaining professional boundaries and enforcing VOCAL’s expectations of participants; work collaboratively, give & receive feedback, and build working relationships with people from all walks of life.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills, which include organizing supplies and attending meetings and events on time.
• Ability to complete audit-worthy documentation in a timely fashion.
• Compassion for people who use drugs and a deep commitment to harm reduction theory and practice.
• Willingness to attend additional in-house and external training.
• Previous experience providing harm reduction services via street and/or site-based outreach strongly preferred.
• Previous experience providing prevention education and safer substance use strategies and education strongly preferred.
• Basic computer skills, including the ability to use the internet.

This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific employment terms and conditions are subject to collective bargaining.

VOCAL-NY is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, people of color, people who are LGBTQ and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. We are particularly interested in hiring those who have been adversely affected by HIV, drug use, mass incarceration, and/or homelessness.

• 100% employer-covered health, vision, and dental insurance (for part-time employees who work 32+ hours a week)
• Paid Vacation Time (accrued at 0.0769 per hour, with a maximum of 20 days per year)
• Paid Wellness Time (accrued at 0.035 per hour, with a maximum of 9 days per year)
• Paid Holidays & End of Year closing period (payable when falling on one’s regular work hours)
• Summer Fridays (payable when if schedued to work on Fridays)
• Cell phone reimbursement ($40 per month) or company cell phone
• Monthly commuter reimbursement

Spanish language proficiency is a plus.