Connect Community Church

Community Worker

Accountable to: Connect Community Church Leadership Team

Line Manager: Community Work Manager

Hours: 35 hours per week (additional hours will be paid at the appropriate hourly rate)

Salary: £ 22,500 per annum

Leave: 31 days per annum including bank holidays (Any bank holidays worked will be given back as time off in lieu)

Department: Connect Community Church – Connect Centre & Community Projects

Location: Wells, Somerset

Contract: 12 months initially which hopefully will be extended with repeat funding

Who are we?

Connect Community Church is part of the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance a denomination made up of approximately 550 churches throughout the United Kingdom.

We are a church made up of people from all walks of life. We love to see new people and are confident that you will feel right at home. Our Sunday mornings begin with a warm welcome and an invitation to join us in celebrating the good news about Jesus Christ. Our worship is a blended style, seeking to stay rooted in our Christian heritage and at the same time reflect our contemporary situation. We expect God to meet with us and speak to us.

We are very active in our local community working alongside other agencies and running our own projects in order to express the love of God in practical ways.

Job Purpose

The Community Worker delivers the Connect Centre’s Drop Ins, activities and services as well as meeting up with those moving on from the Dairy House, to ensure a smooth progression into the community.

To liaise with Somerset Skills and Learning (SSL) and Multiply, to deliver the courses and activities that we have projected from Grant Funding.

To liaise with Dairy House (DH), to help residents, make the best possible transition into their accommodation out of the hostel, to meet them before they move and to be a point of contact and support once they have moved on.

To hold the weeks programme of drop ins and activities and practically make them happen, to oversee the shower, mail service and laundry for the homeless.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities – Drop In/Activities

· To oversee activities and to support tutors and volunteers facilitating activities.

· To fulfil funding target set by grants

· To keep paperwork from SSL, Multiply, Church suite, stats and our own database of activities.

· Implementing volunteer policies and procedures.

· To timetable activities at Connect Centre and promote with the Connect Work Manager.

· To promote and advertise the learning timetable in the local community

· To support learners especially with paperwork

· To progress learners over the year so that they complete multiple activities

· To work alongside the Dairy House and Evergreen House to ensure that our residents are engaged with activities and training.

· To organise a training week and celebration at Connect

Primary Duties and Responsibilities – Engagement with Dairy House move on

· To liaise with Dairy House when residents are coming to the end of their stay, to visit them and to be aware of what is needed for a healthy transition into living independently.

· To meet up with ex – residents regularly until they are happy living independently

· To help signpost ex-residents to services where they live and to help them make healthy connections with community events.

· To invite ex-residents to activities that we organise, events, DH open days, use of the community hub etc.

· Record, store and share relevant information concerning clients using both manual and electronic systems and ensuring proper confidentiality is maintained. Actively participate in client/team meetings, external meetings, supervisions, training sessions and appraisals.Deal appropriately and efficiently with incidents or emergencies, carrying out drills as required. Organise and assist with appropriate recreational and social activities, in particular encouraging clients to get involved in activities at the Elim Connect Centre and on the farm itself as well as with other partners. Perform all duties in accordance with the Employee Handbook, policies, and procedures. Carry out such other tasks as may, from time to time, be necessary when consistent with the nature of the post.

Person specification:

Qualifications:

Good educational background

Experience:

· Experience in supporting volunteers and Tutors.

· Experience of working in the voluntary sector

· Experience of working on your own initiative as well as part of a team and the ability to know when each is required.

· We are looking for someone outgoing and with great communication and interpersonal skills, along with the ability to engage and build relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds.

· This role needs someone who can run the logistics of the activities while completing the admin, communication and reporting needed for each session and learner.

· You will need to be person centred, detail-oriented, organised, very flexible and adaptable, sometimes working outside of normal office hours. You may also be working on several different projects and activities at the Centre and in the community.

· You will be responsible for the creation, sourcing and organising activities. That means you’ll be involved with all the Connect Centre projects and providing on–the–job support and guidance. The activities and drop ins are key to everything that is undertake, so you’ll have a hugely important role to play at the Connect Centre.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential:

· Ability to work at times independently and unsupervised

· Ability to run and monitor the development of activities at Connect Centre

· Excellent organisational & administrative skills

· Understanding and empathetic

· Self-motivation and self-starter

· Excellent time management

· Excellent interpersonal skills

· Excellent communication skills, both written and oral

· Adept in using MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook)

· Organised and methodical approach to work

· Numerate and comfortable interpreting statistical data

· Empathy and ability to work with people from a wide range of backgrounds including the disadvantaged, marginalised, or socially excluded

Desirable:

· Passionate about volunteering and supporting volunteers

· Flexible and resilient

Character:

· Sense of humour

· Positive outlook

· Flexible

· Empathetic

· Honesty and integrity

· Able to exercise and submit to authority.

· Reliable

· Willingness to learn.

Personal Situation:

· To be flexible and able to work extended hours on occasions when required

Faith:

· It is essential that you are supportive of the values of the Connect Centre and whilst a Christian faith is not required for this role you should be aware that you need to be conscious of the fact that you are working for a Christian based organisation.