Community Health Worker (Peer)

The Poverello Center, Inc.; Florida; On-site; USD 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A community health organization in New York seeks a Community Health Worker to deliver HIV prevention services. Responsibilities include outreach, education, testing, and client navigation. The ideal candidate has 1+ years of experience in community health, strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to work with diverse populations. This role is crucial in promoting health equity and supporting key demographics affected by HIV. Candidates should have a high school diploma and preferred experience or education in public health.

Qualifications

• 1+ years’ experience in community outreach, peer support, or HIV prevention.
• Certification as a Community Health Worker or willing to obtain within 12 months.
• Familiarity with rapid testing, screening tools, and navigation services.

Responsibilities

• Conduct community outreach to engage individuals in HIV prevention education.
• Perform rapid testing for HIV, HCV, HBV, and STIs.
• Navigate clients to biomedical prevention and primary care.

Skills

Customer Service

Interpersonal Skills

Oral Communication

Bilingual (English/Spanish/Haitian Creole/French)

Written Communication

Planning/Organizing

Dependability

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Associate’s degree in public health or related field

Tools

Excel

Athena Health

Job description

Overview

The Community Health Worker is a trusted peer with lived experience in HIV-affected communities, responsible for delivering comprehensive HIV prevention services through outreach, education, testing, and navigation. This position focuses on addressing social determinants of health and prioritizing key populations such as Black and Latinx/Latine MSM, cisgender and transgender women, people who inject drugs and their partners, and youth under 24. The CHW integrates into multidisciplinary teams to promote health equity, reduce stigma, and support the Ending the HIV Epidemic plan using a status-neutral, syndemic approach.

Responsibilities

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Core duties and responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Conduct prioritized community outreach to engage high-risk individuals in HIV prevention education and awareness.
• Perform rapid testing for HIV, HCV, HBV, and STIs, and administer brief screenings for substance use, mental health, and food insecurity.
• Provide product-agnostic education on long-acting prevention options like PrEP and PEP.
• Navigate clients to biomedical prevention, supportive services, and primary care, including follow-up and barrier removal.
• Develop and distribute culturally responsive educational materials for in-person events and stigma reduction campaigns.
• Facilitate advocacy training for community members to empower peer education on HIV prevention.
• Collect and enter de-identified data into systems like Excel or Athenahealth for program evaluation and reporting.
• Participate in training on motivational interviewing, SBIRT, and cultural humility.
• Collaborate with partners such as Florida Department of Health and local Ending the HIV Epidemic coalitions.
• Uphold confidentiality, HIPAA compliance, and agency values of equity and stewardship.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory responsibilities but may mentor volunteers or peers in outreach activities.

Competencies

• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds to requests for service and assistance; handles complaints with patience/kindness and meets commitments.
• Interpersonal Skills - Focuses on solving conflict, not blaming; empathetically listens to others without interrupting; keeps emotions under control; remains open to others' ideas and tries new things.
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions.
• Bilingual - English/Spanish/Haitian Creole/French preferred.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; able to read and interpret written information.
• Diversity - Shows respect and sensitivity for cultural differences; promotes a harassment-free environment.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; keeps commitments.
• Motivation - Sets and achieves challenging goals; measures self against standard of excellence.
• Planning/Organizing - Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; plans for additional resources.
• Professional Standards - Meets or exceeds all professional standards, best practices, and state/federal guidelines for work in community health.
• Professionalism - Approaches others tactfully; reacts well under pressure.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Quantity - Completes work in a timely manner; works quickly.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; follows all agency rules, regulations, and laws; acts upon and reports potentially unsafe conditions; uses equipment and materials properly.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; arrives at meetings and appointments on time.
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan.
• Quality Improvement – Drives the organization forward through performance and quality improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and Experience

Education and/or Experience: High school diploma or equivalent required; Associate’s degree in public health or related field preferred. 1+ years’ experience in community outreach, peer support, or HIV prevention. Lived experience with HIV, PrEP, or related challenges in prioritized communities strongly preferred. Certification as a Community Health Worker or willingness to obtain within 12 months. Familiarity with rapid testing, screening tools, and navigation services. Knowledge of HIV, social determinants of health, and local resources. Experience with data entry software like Excel or Athena Health. Willingness to travel for outreach events.

Language Skills

Ability to read and comprehend professional health materials, author correspondence, and memos. Ability to write effective correspondence. Ability to present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other employees. Bilingual English/Spanish and/or Haitian-Creole/English preferred.

Mathematical Skills

Ability to add and subtract two-digit numbers and to multiply and divide with tens and hundreds. Ability to perform these operations using units of American distance, volume, money and weight measurement.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to apply commonsense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in complex situations.

Computer Skills

To perform this job successfully, an individual should have knowledge of health data software, Internet software; Spreadsheet software and Word Processing software.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and talk or hear. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals and risk of electrical shock which are present in the community environment. The employee is frequently exposed to risk of radiation and vibration. The employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions (non-weather); working near moving mechanical parts; outdoor weather conditions; extreme cold (non-weather) and extreme heat (non-weather). The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.