Outreach Services Specialist Senior

City of Gresham; Gresham (OR); On-site; USD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

The City of Gresham is seeking a Senior Outreach Services Specialist to support youth facing housing instability, violence exposure, and barriers to services. The role focuses on building trust, connecting families to housing, education, healthcare, and behavioral health resources, and promoting long-term stability.

This limited-term position, funded for up to two years, offers a comprehensive benefits package and opportunities to work with law enforcement, partners, and multidisciplinary teams

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and relevant outreach experience or five+ years equivalent.
• Experience connecting youth or communities to housing, education, healthcare, and behavioral health resources.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed outreach, confidentiality, and equitable service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Conduct proactive outreach to at-risk and underserved youth in community settings.
• Build trusting relationships to assess needs and develop service plans.
• Connect individuals to housing, education, healthcare, and behavioral health resources.
• Collaborate with law enforcement, community partners, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Provide case management, advocacy, and follow-up support.
• Develop outreach materials and maintain documentation.

Skills

Empathy and Compassion

Relationship Builder

Adaptability

Resilience

Cultural Humility

Initiative

Collaboration

Communication

Problem-Solving

Integrity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in social services, psychology, or a related field

Job description

The City of Gresham is seeking a dedicated and compassionate Senior Outreach Services Specialist to support and engage youth experiencing risk factors such as housing instability, violence exposure, and barriers to essential services. This role plays a critical part in connecting young people and their families to community resources, fostering trust, and promoting long-term stability and well-being. This is a limited-term position with an expected duration of 2 years based on available funding. Limited duration employees are eligible for the same comprehensive benefit package that our regular-status employees receive to include medical, dental, vision, PERS, and more.

As Oregon's fourth-largest city, Gresham is a welcoming community of hard-working people where tradition and heritage meet innovation and opportunity. Gresham is a dynamic and rapidly growing city where families and businesses have a mutual desire and drive to thrive. City of Gresham employees care deeply about the community they serve and go 'one step beyond' to deliver services in collaborative, inventive, practical, and nimble ways. Our work is challenging, fast-paced and rewarding.

We believe that to deliver the highest level of service to all Gresham community members, it is crucial we employ a diverse workforce, foster an inclusive working environment, and ensure our policies and systems result in equitable outcomes. The City seeks candidates who will support these values by continuously incorporating equity in their daily work and actively contributing to a workplace culture that respects unique viewpoints, life experiences and cultural perspectives. Come build the future with us.

What you will get to do:

• Conduct proactive outreach to at-risk and underserved youth in community settings.
• Build trusting relationships with youth and families to assess needs and develop service plans.
• Connect individuals to housing, education, healthcare, and behavioral health resources.
• Collaborate with law enforcement, community partners, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Provide case management, advocacy, and follow-up support.
• Develop outreach materials and maintain accurate documentation.
• Represent the program in community meetings and public engagements.

For additional role responsibilities, view the class specification.

Qualities we are looking for:

• Empathy and Compassion: Demonstrates genuine care and understanding for youth from diverse backgrounds.
• Relationship Builder: Skilled at establishing trust and maintaining professional boundaries.
• Adaptability: Thrives in dynamic environments and responds effectively to changing situations.
• Resilience: Maintains composure and effectiveness when working in high-stress or crisis situations.
• Cultural Humility: Respects and values diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives.
• Initiative: Proactively identifies needs and takes action with minimal supervision.
• Collaboration: Works effectively with teams, partners, and community stakeholders.
• Communication: Clearly conveys information and actively listens to others.
• Problem-Solving: Analyzes complex situations and develops practical solutions.
• Integrity: Handles sensitive information with professionalism and discretion.

This current schedule for this position is Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with some evening and/or weekend work. Work is performed in an office environment and outdoors in varying weather conditions and requires some local daytime travel.

Knowledge of:

• Laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances affecting City policies and operations
• City government administration, organization, functions, and services
• Practices, principles, procedures, regulations, and techniques as they relate to assigned area, including case management, information and referral assessment, interviewing, patient/client advocacy, resource utilization, community outreach, consensus building and collaboration, and program promotion
• Trauma, crisis, and at-risk behavior intervention strategies
• Customer service principles, practices, and methods
• Techniques for providing a high level of customer service to the public and City staff
• Communication principles, practices, and techniques
• Modern office practices and methods, computer equipment, and software applications

Ability to:

• Exercise discretion in confidential and sensitive matters
• Interpret, apply, and ensure compliance with applicable policies, procedures, laws, and regulations
• Analyze problems, identify alternative solutions, assess consequences of proposed actions, and implement recommendations
• Actively listen, interview, influence, and persuade; professionally, compassionately, and calmly work with individuals; maintain professional boundaries with individuals, the community, and other staff
• Work efficiently under pressure
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with all internal and external contacts
• Operate office equipment and technology tools including personal computers, laptop computers and printers, and presentation equipment
• Communicate effectively verbally and in writing; present information, proposals, and recommendations clearly and persuasively

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in social services, psychology, or a related field
• One (1) or more years of professional experience performing outreach-related which actively supported or led efforts to connect individuals or communities to programs, services, or resources.
• Valid Driver's License
• Good Driving Record (according to our matrix)

Any combination of qualifying education, training, and/or full-time work experience equivalent to Five (5) or more years will be considered.

DRIVING MATRIX:

You will be disqualified from this process if you possess any of the following driving infractions:

• A major traffic offense or accident that results in death or major injury.
• Driving under the influence (DUI) offense within the last 5 years.
• Have more than 3 moving violations within a 3-year period or more than 2 within a one- year period.
• Have more than 2 accidents within a 3-year period.

Required application materials:

• Complete online application (Do not type 'see resume' in any fields or leave work experience fields blank in the application template.)
• Answers to supplemental questions

The City of Gresham offers a comprehensive and equitable base salary within the listed range based on your experience, skills, and education verified in your application. We encourage you to clearly describe how you meet the minimum and preferred qualifications and essential attributes in your application materials. Learn more about Oregon Equal Pay.

If you desire a modification of this process to accommodate a disability, please provide your request in writing to [e-mail], or by phone to 503-618-2729, upon submitting the required application documents.

A review of application materials including your response to supplemental questions submitted will determine which candidates will be invited to an interview.

Communication with candidates will be done primarily through e-mail. Sometimes these messages may land in a spam or junk mail folder. We encourage you to monitor your inbox as well as the inbox within the governmentjobs.com portal for important updates related to this process.

Veteran's Preference

The City of Gresham provides qualifying veterans and disabled veterans with preference in employment in accordance with state law. Any candidate wishing to have their qualifying veteran's preference applied to the process must submit a qualifying document (DD Form 214 or 215) at the time of application providing proof of eligibility that includes discharge status. Disabled veterans must also submit a copy of their Veteran's disability preference letter from the US Department of Veteran Affairs at the time of application, unless the information is included in the DD Form 214 or 215.

Our Commitment

The City of Gresham is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified employees and applicants without unlawful regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, familial status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, Oregon, or local law.

Please direct questions about this position to 503-618-2729 or [e-mail].

If you need assistance with the online application, please contact NEOGOV directly at 1-855-524-5627.

Any offer of employment is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check and driving record review.