Participation and Engagement Co-ordinator

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB: To design, coordinate, and deliver a programme of meaningful activities and innovative engagement opportunities for residents of the homeless hostel, the young people we support and other users of our service. You will collaborate and build local partnerships to work towards improving service user wellbeing, social inclusion, readiness for independent living and focus on employment, education and training by fostering community connections and personal development. You will ensure that the people we support have their voices heard and have meaningful opportunities to have their say via various consultation methods to drive service improvements, and furthering inclusivity and participation. You will keep up to date with changes in the sector, evaluate engagement and identify opportunities to gather feedback, as well as working in a psychologically informed way and ensuring that every contact counts.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:
1.
To design, coordinate, and deliver a programme of meaningful activities and innovative engagement opportunities. Specific responsibilities:
a)
Develop and maintain a calendar of social, educational, and recreational activities and promote engagement through (but not limited to) service user events, forums, meetings, workshops, panels and focus groups
b)
Tailor and facilitate activities to interests, abilities, and support needs incorporating the views of the people using our services in the development of activities.
c)
Support service users to overcome barriers and work towards accessing education, training or employment opportunities
d)
Develop, deliver and promote regular employability sessions as appropriate
e)
Build trusting relationships with service users to encourage participation.
f)
Develop strategies to increase service user involvement in decision making
g)
Develop accessible communication materials to promote engagement opportunities
h)
Maintain accurate records of attendance, feedback, and measure the impact of engagement activities and outcomes
i)
Analyse service user feedback and provide clear reports and recommendations
j)
Share and display reports on outcomes and progress to all stakeholders including the people supported
k)
Ensure compliance with commissioner contracts in relation to participation and involvement and provide reports as required
l)
Carry out and contribute to service evaluations and improvement plans.
2.
To collaborate and build local partnerships to work towards improving service user wellbeing, social inclusion, readiness for independent living and focus on employment, education and training by fostering community connections and personal development. Specific responsibilities:
a)
Collaborate and network with local organisations to source opportunities, resources, share good practice and to enhance the voice and participation of the people we support.
b) Build strong, effective links with internal colleagues to embed engagement in service delivery
c)
Promote activities within the wider community.
3.
To ensure that the people we support have their voices heard and have meaningful opportunities to have their say via various consultation methods to drive service improvements, and furthering inclusivity and participation. Specific responsibilities:
a)
Lead on ensuring the inclusion of a diverse range of people supported by us to have their voices heard through relevant participation projects, consultations and/or attendance at meetings and events.
b)
Promote inclusion and empowerment through co-production of activities and use feedback and assessments to adapt activities to individual and group needs
c)
Gather feedback from service users
d)
Lead on gathering service user and other stakeholders feedback using a variety of methods to inform and drive service improvements regarding housing services, youth services and policy changes

4. Organisational duties to include :
   a) To monitor and ensure compliance with commissioner contracts to include the Housing Support Grant and to keep up to date with and demonstrate awareness and a working knowledge of local authority directives, legislative changes and precedents in respect of rent collection
   b)
   To take an active role (or leading role if Duty Worker) in the fire evacuation procedure if assigned a fire marshal responsibility when on shift or directed by the Duty Worker and responding to emergencies / crisis
   c)
   To be part of the on-call rota which may require on-site attendance.
   d)
   To support Housing Support Officers in effectively responding to service user crisis and any incidents.
   e)
   To actively participate in the monitoring of the building including monitoring of CCTV systems and regular physical checks to ensure the safety of all, reporting and acting on concerns or hazards.
   f)
   To attend meetings, training, supervision as deemed appropriate or as directed by your line manager
   g)
   To action and respond to any departmental related complaints, as delegated.
   h)
   To work constructively with other departments within the YMCA Cardiff Group.
   i)
   To assist with jobs that usually fall to another member of staff but in whose absence, failure to carry out the work would present a risk or offence to others or would be detrimental to the organisations’ service provision.
   j)
   To adhere to and be aware of the Associations policies and procedures, including GDPR, code of conduct, Health & Safety and Equal Opportunities.
   k)
   To be able to respect the Christian ethos of the YMCA and uphold its values