Children and Family Health Advocate

Our MLP with Access Community Health provides individuals and families throughout Chicago living with the challenges of poverty with free legal services aimed at improving health outcomes.  Our MLP with Lurie Children’s Hospital integrates free and accessible legal assistance with psychology, social work, and medicine in order to improve child well-being and family stability for those living in vulnerable financial positions. Each of these MLPs serves people living in poverty, and utilizes the tools of legal advocacy to help improve our clients’ health outcomes. We use our legal tools to help referred patients access a range of quality behavioral health services, healthy housing, educational services and supports, and family stability through trauma-informed legal advocacy. 

The NHC AmeriCorps member will join us to help families and children with behavioral, cognitive, and other health needs to stabilize their lives and secure their futures by: Working collaboratively with the lead staff attorney to help identify and address barriers to the health, housing, education, and economic security of the client and the client's family. 
The member will provide training and resources regarding trauma-informed legal services, special education, early intervention, public benefits, health insurance, Social Security benefits and other relevant topics. Help to track, document, and share data and success stories. While the Corps Member will focus largely on the partnerships with Access Health and Lurie Children’s Hospital, they will also collaborate with our legal team to support our other children's partnerships. The service of the NHC member will fill gaps in our ability to serve our clients by improving our client screening tools, developing easy to understand client resources, and improving our referral processes. 

• Providing outreach to agencies to build awareness
• Obtaining feedback to improve on communication materials
• Providing education to clients and referring them to providers
• Member will assist clients to obtain legal services relating to areas outside our expertise through referrals and community partnerships
• Member will track, document, and share data and success stories and create quarterly and annual reports to support our MLPs.

• Familiar with health equity-related issues
• Organized
• Multi-tasker; able to balance
• Detail-oriented
• Comfort speaking with others, individually or in groups

•  A passion for fighting systemic injustice; serving people with disabilities, chronic health conditions, and mental health diagnoses; 

• Excellent interpersonal communication, relationship-building, reading/writing and organizational skills; 

• Able to handle sensitive and confidential client information in a professional manner. 
   

• Knowledge of AmeriCorps/Health Corps member requirements
• Skill with Microsoft Office or other software for a variety of data processing operations involving a range of problem solving, record keeping, correspondence, and service tracking options.

• Member uses initiative in carrying out recurring assignments following set procedures, independently
• The supervisor assigns service activities in terms of project objectives and basic priorities and is available for consultation in resolving controversial issues.
• Supervisors meet weekly with members for one on one supervision and real-time feedback. Additionally, members will have the opportunity to participate in all trainings available to LCHJ staff. We routinely provide training in-services to staff to update them on legal rule changes, enhance skills, and learning new subject matter areas.

• The member independently plans and carries out the projects and selects the approaches and methods to be used in solving problems

• Guidelines are generally applicable, but the member independently makes adaptations in dealing with problems and unusual situations

• The service position assignments vary significantly or often involve unusual circumstances and incomplete or conflicting data
• The member must develop new techniques, methods, or approaches to complete service position assignments

• Health screening or service required
• LCHJ will require all members to provide proof of full Covid-19 vaccination, (as defined by the CDC and State health officials) or an approved waiver of such a requirement. Additionally, members will be required to follow health and safety protocols of the agency. as well as any facility where service is performed. This may include mask wearing and vaccinations for other illnesses such as, influenza or TB.