Career Center
Aberdeen, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Posted: 06-Dec-22
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Salary: Open
Internal Number: 106378-en_US
Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition (HEBCAC) is seeking a Program Associate. Under the direction of the Youth Opportunity (YO!) Program Director, the Program Associate will work with young adults and be responsible for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded project Engaging Microenterprise for Resource Generation and Health Empowerment (EMERGE). The EMERGE Project is a new youth-focused project that aims to support eligible African-American young adults, aged 18 to 24, in Baltimore City to improve their economic status and increase their access to, and use of, sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV prevention. EMERGE participants receive local job announcements, financial assistance, small business training, mentoring, and sexual health education – in addition to participating in routine assessments of their program progress. EMERGE is funded by NIH as a large research study to evaluate and inform community-based economic and health empowerment initiatives for Baltimore young adults. It will be conducted over a five-year period (2023-2027) in partnership with AIRS, Inc., HEBCAC, Youth Opportunities! Program (YO!B), Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHU), and the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health (UNC).
The Program Associate will work closely with the EMERGE Project Team to coordinate and ensure that day-to-day program, research, and administrative needs are successfully met. This team will include the HEBCAC Executive Director (ED), the EMERGE Principal Investigator (PI), the EMERGE Program Director (PD), the AIRS EMERGE Program Associate, and the JHU-EMERGE Sr. Research Assistant. Other team members may include students, program mentors, grant administrators, consultants, and UNC/JHU co-investigators. The Program Associate position includes research support activities (40%) and program implementation responsibilities (60%). This position is funded by a limited-time grant and is expected to end on or about March 31, 2027 (~4.5 years duration) depending on the candidate's start date. A continuing position may be possible pending available funding.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
- The primary duty of the Program Associate is to work closely with the project team to coordinate, implement, and evaluate the EMERGE Program.
Program Implementation (60%)
- Arrange weekly group educational sessions with participants in collaboration with guest speakers, mentors, and the PD and/or PI. Set-up session meeting spaces, such as arranging tables/chairs, setting up Zoom (if needed), and arranging session snacks and supplies. Send reminders to participants regarding upcoming sessions.
- Serve as lead facilitator in weekly group education sessions with participants using the EMERGE facilitators manual and in collaboration with guest speakers, mentors, and the PD and/or PI. Track and document progression of group educational sessions. Encourage constructive discussion and participation. Provide positive encouragement and feedback to participants.
- Help participants connect with their EMERGE mentors during educational sessions or outside of educational sessions via introductions and check-ins.
- Help participants navigate employment and income generation options (including use of EMERGE micro-grants / financial assistance) during educational sessions or during individual meetings, using the EMERGE facilitators manual.
- Help participants connect with local sexual and reproductive health clinics during educational sessions, such as providing contact information, address/telephone, discussing steps to schedule an appointment, reviewing require documents for health clinics, etc. (i.e., ID, health insurance), and/or navigating transportation. Additional help participants identify safer sexual practices to reduce unintended sexually transmitted infection or unplanned pregnancy.
- Track participant engagement in EMERGE program, such as attendance, accomplishments, collaboration, receipt of payments, receipt of mentoring, receipt of text messages, and other program outputs. Assist in one-on-one support to participants as needed for trouble-shooting and follow-up.
- Coordinate and facilitate quarterly individual booster sessions with participants (in-person, phone, or videoconferencing). Booster sessions are intended to support program retention. Each booster session will focus on developing personalized strategies, troubleshooting barriers, and providing information, resources, and advice to participants.
- Communicate and liaise with guest speakers and mentors who will participate in educational sessions for EMERGE participants.
- Review inventory of study supplies and update PD/PI for fulfilling orders.
- Support program communication tasks, such as printing and posting flyers, sending event reminders, escorting and introducing guest speakers, checking in on participant mentors, and being a friendly, visible, and engaging EMERGE program representative to young adult participants, university partners, and the greater Baltimore community.
- Support program documentation goals, such as taking pictures of key events, testing recording devices, and taking meeting notes. Also provide technical input regarding program for preparation of EMERGE reports, abstracts, publications, presentation slides, and manuscripts.
- Support program administration responsibilities, such as obtaining required participant counts, signatures, forms, invoices, or other needs to fulfill grant requirements with AIRS, NIH, UNC, and JHU. Route items accordingly. Assist as needed to help EMERGE program follow planned implementation timeline.
- Provide regular updates to ED, PI, and PD.
Research Support (40%)
- Enroll in and complete all required on-the-job trainings for conduct of human subjects research as required by NIH and UNC-JHU university partners, including ethics training, good clinical practice training, oral rapid testing state certification, and conflict of interest trainings.
- Assist in study preparation activities such as editing and finalizing enrollment forms, questionnaires, operating procedures, curriculum materials, and communication flyers.
- Participate in monthly co-investigator meetings as well as twice weekly project coordination meetings with PI, PD, and other EMERGE team members and community partners.
- Carry-out study recruitment and enrollment activities: disseminating marketing flyers to potential participants, organizing study information and sign-up sessions, conducting screening and informed consent processes, registering phones to text alerts, and conducting enrollment interviews with incoming EMERGE participants.
- Following completion of enrollment interviews, issue payments to EMERGE participants for attendance. Also assist in screening and enrolling eligible participant referrals. Tasks will additionally include scheduling interviews (including setting up meeting spaces) and sending reminders to participants about interviews.
- Assist with confidential data entry for baseline enrollment interviews. Assist in review of participant database for quality control and reporting of basic outcome measures.
- Assist with qualitative data transcription.
- Coordinate follow-up survey interviews and qualitative focus group discussions with participants every six months, including scheduling, sending reminders, meeting set-up, screening (data collection), and issuing payments to participants. Assist in tracking participants who are lost-to-follow-up or who have missing assessment information.
- Provide regular updates to ED, PI, and PD.
Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Able to work autonomously and meet required deadlines, including having independent decision-making and trouble-shooting abilities.
- Strong communication and organization skills with attention to detail and accuracy.
- Highly motivated individual with ability to work on multiple and competing priorities.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to quickly build relationships with diverse team members and youth participants.
- Able to work primarily in-person as well as via phone, text messaging, email, and video-conferencing (Zoom, Microsoft Teams).
Minimum Qualifications
- High School diploma or equivalent.
- Some related work experience.
- Advanced computer skills to include MS Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in social work, public health, business administration, communications, or related field.
- Two or more years of work experience.
- Baltimore City resident preferred.
- Experience working with underserved young adults in Baltimore City.
- Experience working in academic research setting.
- Experience working in a setting handling sensitive topics with confidentiality concerns such as trauma, violence, economic hardship, HIV infection, homelessness.
- Experience or training in quantitative and/or qualitative research methods.
- Proficient in meeting and event coordination.
- Ability and interest in learning new program management and research skills.
Classified Title: Outreach Worker
Working Title: Program Associate
Role/Level/Range: ACRO40/E/02/CB
Starting Salary Range: $15.00 - $18.90/hr (Commensurate with experience)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Mon - Fri 8:30am - 5PM
Exempt Status: Non-Exempt
Location: School of Medicine Campus
Department name: HEBCAC Youth Opportunity Center
Personnel area: School of Medicine
Please refer to the job description above to see which forms of equivalency are permitted for this position. If permitted, equivalencies will follow these guidelines:
JHU Equivalency Formula: 30 undergraduate degree credits (semester hours) or 18 graduate degree credits may substitute for one year of experience. Additional related experience may substitute for required education on the same basis. For jobs where equivalency is permitted, up to two years of non-related college course work may be applied towards the total minimum education/experience required for the respective job.
**Applicants who do not meet the posted requirements but are completing their final academic semester/quarter will be considered eligible for employment and may be asked to provide additional information confirming their academic completion date.
The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check. Johns Hopkins is committed to hiring individuals with a justice-involved background, consistent with applicable policies and current practice. A prior criminal history does not automatically preclude candidates from employment at Johns Hopkins University. In accordance with applicable law, the university will review, on an individual basis, the date of a candidate's conviction, the nature of the conviction and how the conviction relates to an essential job-related qualification or function.
The Johns Hopkins University values diversity, equity and inclusion and advances these through our key strategic framework, the JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion.
Equal Opportunity Employer
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
EEO is the Law
Learn more:
https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/employers/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf
Accommodation Information
If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the Talent Acquisition Office at jhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711. For more information about workplace accommodations or accessibility at Johns Hopkins University, please visit accessibility.jhu.edu.
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