Community Health Specialist I

The Fairfax County Health Department is a progressive public health leader serving 1.2 million residents from diverse ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. With more than 100 years of public health leadership, we are committed to promoting population health, protecting public health and the environment, and ensuring equitable access to health services and information.

Are you passionate about building community connections, promoting health, and helping people access resources? The Fairfax County Health Department is seeking a community health specialist to engage diverse communities and advance health education, prevention, and health equity.

Conducts culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach, health education, prevention, and community navigation with racial and ethnic communities, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, small businesses, hard-to-reach populations, and other community partners. Build relationships with county agencies, health department staff, healthcare and human service providers, and community organizations to identify community needs, address barriers, and connect individuals and families with healthcare, housing, education, employment, transportation, food assistance, safety resources, and other services.

Supports community assessments, surveys, focus groups, eligibility activities, program enrollment, case coordination, data collection and analysis, reporting, and program improvement. Facilitates workshops, classroom and group education, participant assessments, and follow-up activities; supports approved program curricula and provides co-parenting navigation/coaching as assigned. Participates in coalition and advisory committee activities, partner recruitment, community awareness and outreach, and training coordination.

Must be comfortable working with diverse populations, developing trusted community partnerships, facilitating group activities, and collaborating across organizations. Community outreach may require evening or weekend work several times per month. The position also participates in required emergency preparedness training and may perform assigned duties during public health emergencies. Performs other duties as assigned in support of the Fairfax County Health Department.

Note: This position is not telework eligible. This position is emergency/essential services personnel. (Required to report for duty during inclement weather and/or other emergencies.)

Additional Work Schedule Requirements: Flexible work schedule will be required to work evening and/or weekend community meetings or events and/or be on call.(The knowledge, skills and abilities listed in this specification are representative of the class but are not an all-inclusive list.)

• Knowledge of program development, implementation and elementary evaluation;
• Knowledge of disease management/health promotions models that target the treatment of disease in symptomatic or at-risk individuals;
• Ability to conduct screenings, monitoring and education, coordination of care (i.e. physicians, hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies) and evidence-based practice guidelines to identify and treat disease conditions before they advance to an acute or chronic stage;
• Ability to develop, collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate effectiveness of disease management/health promotion programs and quality assurance;
• Ability to deliver health education presentations within the community;
• Ability to work predominantly with adults, applying learning concepts;
• Ability to work with sub-group of the community to organize and implement health education services;
• Ability to communicate effectively through the use of verbal, written and electronic means.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: 
Any combination of education, experience, and training equivalent to the following:
(Click on the aforementioned link to learn how Fairfax County interprets equivalencies for “Any combination, experience, and training equivalent to”)
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a bachelor's degree in health education, human services, or a directly related field; plus one year of experience in community capacity building, public and/or community health education, or other types of health-related work involving considerable public contact.

CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES REQUIRED:

• Valid driver's license.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification (Required with 30 days).
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification (Required within 60 days).
• Automated External Defibrillator (AED) certification (Required within 60 days).

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
The appointee to this position will be required to complete a criminal background check, Child Protective Services Registry check, and driving record check to the satisfaction of the employer.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in public health or related field, with a preference for a master's degree in public health or related field.
• Two or more years of experience designing, implementing, evaluating, or supporting community-based health programs serving culturally, racially, ethnically, and age-diverse populations.
• Two or more years of experience conducting community outreach and engagement, health promotion, disease prevention, health education, presentations, workshops, or classroom-based programming.
• Two or more years of experience working with community, faith-based, nonprofit, small business, or other partner organizations to support community health initiatives.
• Two or more years of experience providing community navigation, resource referrals, or connecting individuals and families to health and human services.
• Two or more years of experience supporting community assessments, surveys, interviews, focus groups, data collection, or other activities used to identify community needs and inform program planning.
• Two or more years of experience supporting programs addressing social determinants of health, health disparities, health equity, or other factors affecting community health.
• Experience delivering evidence-based fatherhood, motherhood/parenting, and/or teen/adolescent life-skills curricula.
• Experience documenting outreach, participant contacts, referrals, and program activities and maintaining accurate records.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with community members, partner organizations, Health Department staff, and other stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, written, organizational, and communication skills, with the ability to effectively engage individuals from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Bilingual proficiency in English and another language (i.e. Spanish, Korean, Farsi, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu, Amharic, Arabic, French, or other).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Job is generally sedentary in nature, and requires walking, standing, sitting (for long periods of time), and kneeling, reaching, bending, climbing stairs; may be required to lift or carry up to 25 lbs. occasionally. Uses hands to grasp, handle, or feel. Visual acuity is required to read data on a computer monitor; ability to operate keyboard driven equipment and computer and use of touchscreen. Position frequently communicates and must be able to exchange accurate information with others verbally and in writing. Ability to drive a motor vehicle. Generally, works in an office environment may occasionally be required to perform job duties outside of the typical office setting (e.g. healthcare facilities, community buildings, churches, etc.) including outdoor settings in all-weather conditions and night-time hours. All duties performed with or without reasonable accommodations. 

SELECTION PROCEDURE:
Panel interview and may include exercise.

Fairfax County is home to a highly diverse population, with a significant number of residents speaking languages other than English at home (including Spanish, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indo-European, and many others.) We encourage candidates who are bilingual in English and another language to apply for this opportunity.

Fairfax County Government prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetics, political affiliation, or military status in the recruitment, selection, and hiring of its workforce. 

Reasonable accommodations are available to persons with disabilities during application and/or interview processes per the Americans with Disabilities Act. TTY 703-222-7314. [email protected] EEO/AA/TTY.

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