Capacity Building VISTA Unsheltered Homelessness Initiative

Description

REPORTS TO: Senior Program Manager

STATUS: AmeriCorps VISTA, Full-Time

LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois, (currently hybrid remote/in-office schedule)

ABOUT ALL CHICAGO:

All Chicago MHH's mission is to unite our community and resources to provide solutions that ensure and sustain the stability of home. On any given night, nearly 12,000 Chicagoans do not have a place to call home. These are our neighbors and together we can ensure that we all have stable homes.

All Chicago MHH prevents and ends homelessness through emergency financial assistance, community partnerships, data analytics, and training and research. We strengthen our community's collective efforts to prevent and end homelessness, guided by a vision of impact, influence, and inspiration. As our name implies, All Chicago MHH brings together homeless service providers, non­ profit partners, donors, and people with the lived experience of homelessness in a strategic effort to make homelessness history in Chicago.

We bring a sense of collaboration to our work and actively seek solutions through partnership! Come to work with passionate, like-minded colleagues in a supportive environment as we help end homelessness.

Through our Community Partnerships program, we serve as the backbone of Chicago’s city-wide response to homelessness. We partner with 44 agencies and lead them through a year-round research, evaluation, strategic planning, and federal funding application process. Learn more at www.allchicago.org.

Position Summary:

All Chicago is seeking a mission-driven and highly organized Unsheltered Homelessness Initiative VISTA to strengthen efforts in increasing efficiencies within the homeless system. All Chicago supports a community-wide initiative called the Unsheltered Homeless Initiative (UHI), which provides diverse programming for individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness. All Chicago’s UHI team offers training and technical assistance (TA) to agencies involved in the initiative. The UHI VISTA will gain an understanding of the homeless response system, learn how the initiative fits within the broader homeless services network, and assist by providing training and TA to agencies, helping them better serve people experiencing homelessness. The ideal candidate is organized, highly dependable, and skilled at collaborating with various stakeholders.

This role involves working with homeless service providers across Chicago and developing tools and materials to improve procedures within the homelessness system. VISTAs will gain experience in homeless services at the system level, understand the Continuum of Care and collective impact model, and collaborate with providers citywide.

All Chicago supports AmeriCorps VISTAs through a robust onboarding program, weekly supervision from a task supervisor, monthly meetings with all VISTAs on important topics, and professional development opportunities.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Complete orientation and training on the Continuum of Care, HUD and the efforts underway in Chicago to prevent and end homelessness.
• Work with key stakeholder groups including homeless services providers, local interest groups, lived experience commission, and other All Chicago teams to support the initiatives of the CoC
• Develop and maintain CoC Implementation Structure workplans and communicate status updates to the broader CoC.
• Research best practices across other communities through engaging in peer-sharing sessions to develop recommendations for improvement in Chicago.
• Identify and create training opportunities for CoC members including synthesizing toolkits, resources and discussions on implementation processes.
• Create CoC Implementation Structure presentations for interest groups to identify intersection of goals and objectives, to help increase collaboration across the CoC.
• Design and conduct feedback surveys for focus groups for stakeholders to understand what improvements can be made across the homelessness system.
• Analyze those survey results and draft reports or create presentations based on them to report to the CoC.

Requirements

Qualifications:

Successful candidates will demonstrate commitment to preventing and ending homelessness in Chicago and will have the following:

• High School Diploma / GED or equivalent degree or experience.
• Excellent professional writing and verbal communications skills.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Teams, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Strong work ethic and integrity.
• Goal-oriented and results-driven.
• Strong interpersonal and presentation skills, relationship-building ability, and ability to interact with a diverse audience.
• Requires ability to work from home and access to internet.
• Individuals with lived experience in the areas of homelessness or housing instability are encouraged to apply.
• If a candidate is selected, they must complete the necessary CNCS paperwork, and the candidate must accept our offer of the position through the AmeriCorps Portal.

VISTA service term begins June 2025 and is 1 year of service.

Your VISTA Service Position comes with these financial benefits:

• $200 Monthly Grocery Gift Card
• $957.46 Bi-Weekly Living Allowance
• Health Coverage*
• Relocation Allowance
• Childcare Assistance if Eligible

Your Choice between two End-of-Service Awards (upon completion of a 12-month term):

• Segal Education Award: $7,395.00
• Cash Stipend Award: $3,000 cash stipend

* For details about AmeriCorps VISTA healthcare benefits, please visit: https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/vista/benefits

To Apply:

• Please submit cover letter and resume