Ithaca Welcomes Refugees is Seeking a Half-Time Housing and Food Security Coordinator
About Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR):
IWR is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that partners with newly arrived refugees and immigrants as they rebuild their lives in Tompkins County. IWR began as an all-volunteer organization and now has a small, part-time staff. We work alongside our refugee and immigrant partners toward their resettlement goals through our three programs:
- Welcome Home: focused on housing and food security
- Response Projects: focused on individualized resettlement goals
- Global Roots Play School: focused on early childcare and allowing parents to pursue their goals while their children are cared for.
IWR’s work environment is defined by teamwork. We strive to contribute to other staff and volunteer efforts, to lift one another up, and to re-prioritize when needed, in service of helping our new neighbors realize their resettlement goals. To learn more, visit www.ithacawelcomesrefugees.org.
About the Housing and Food Security Coordinator position:
The Housing and Food Security Coordinator is housed in the Welcome Home program and ensures Ithaca Welcomes Refugees’ refugee partners are able to live in appropriate, safe, and affordable housing, with access to essential home furnishings and an adequate amount of healthy, culturally-appropriate food. The Housing and Food Security Coordinator supervises volunteers on IWR’s Welcome Home team and works directly with refugee partners to determine housing and food needs and identify solutions to meet those needs. Training will be provided for this role.
Duties for this Role:
Identifying Housing
- Maintain documents and resources created for volunteers’ use in providing housing support to refugee partners
- Meet at regular intervals with IWR Housing Team volunteers to review policies, discuss trends, troubleshoot problems, and foster team identity
- Complete a housing intake process with refugee partners seeking new accommodations to determine need (e.g., number of bedrooms needed, preferred location)
- Connect refugee partners seeking help with a housing search with a Housing volunteer
- Fill in for volunteers when no one is available and the task is necessary and time-sensitive, with support from the Executive Director
- Liase with potential landlords on partners’ behalf, if necessary, and review leases to identify areas of concern
- Work with refugee partners to become familiar with their leases and common apartment rental expectations in America
- Manage Housing budget, including performing budget forecasting and distribution of monetary housing aid
Readying Homes for Arriving Households
- Maintain documents and resources created for volunteers’ use in readying homes for refugee partners
- Coordinate with Response Project volunteers to create a Needs List of household items, tailored to each family’s or individual’s needs
- Communicate with Development Director to disseminate Needs Lists to IWR’s audiences in the community
- Coordinate the Welcome Home volunteer effort to collect and store donated furniture and other household items for a family’s move. Purchase certain items new with Household Products budget. Purchase an initial supply of culturally appropriate groceries for move-in day
- Maintain Household Products budget and expenditure records for donor reporting
- Coordinate and participate in move-in day with help from volunteers
Maintain Regular Activities for Household Goods and Food Distribution
- Maintain IWR’s storage sites for household goods
- Leverage food resources within the community (e.g., food pantries) to meet refugee partners’ needs when their income is not sufficient to meet their food needs and expand ties to include additional food resources
- When resources from community organizations are not sufficient to meet refugee partners’ food needs, allocate IWR aid through the Household Products budget.
Other duties as assigned
Required Qualifications and Experience:
- English fluency
- Computer literacy
- Ability to motivate volunteers
Preferred Qualifications and Experience:
- Experience and comfort with intercultural situations
- Experience using spreadsheets
- Experience managing a budget
- Experience managing volunteers
- Ability to move items weighing up to 30 pounds
- Fluency in one or more of these languages: Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Karen, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian
This is a part-time, non-exempt, 20-hour-per-week position with a rate of pay of $26 per hour, depending on experience. IWR requires that all personnel having direct contact with IWR refugee partners undergo a background check through our vendor, including this position. This is a hybrid remote/in-person position. Most work can be performed from home but most meetings and all housing-related moves will occur in person. The person filling this position can make their own schedule as long as they can find common meeting times with staff and volunteers, often on weekday mornings, and as long as they can be available for almost all housing-related moves (days and times vary). Paid time off benefits are included.
We welcome individuals who are passionate about helping refugees in Tompkins County to apply for the Housing and Food Security Coordinator position. IWR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Individuals with lived experience as a refugee or immigrant are strongly encouraged to apply. Please submit a cover letter and resume to IWR Executive Director Casey Verderosa at caseyv@ithacawelcomesrefugees.org by October 17. We look forward to hearing from you.
