LIFT Student Advocate Position Description

What is LIFT?

LIFT is a growing movement to combat poverty and expand opportunity for all people in the United States. LIFT currently runs centers staffed by trained volunteers in DC and around the country to serve low-income individuals and families. LIFT clients and volunteers work one-on-one to find jobs, secure safe and stable housing, make ends meet through public benefits and tax credits, and obtain referrals for services like childcare and healthcare. Simultaneously, the LIFT experience pushes volunteers to grapple with our country’s most challenging issues related to poverty, race, inequality, and policy. Since LIFT’s founding, over 6,000 volunteers have served more than 40,000 individuals and families. Currently, LIFT has offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

Duties and Responsibilities:

 

LIFT Student Advocates work side-by-side with typically low-income

individuals to address immediate and long-term needs such as employment, housing, public benefits, health care, and education. Student Advocates are needed to:

* Work a minimum of four hours in the office each week, during at least an entire academic semester.

* Meet one-on-one with LIFT clients assessing needs and providing direct and referral services. Tools and support are provided in the office, from resource databases to full-time Site Coordinators who provide guidance and advice.

* Communicate regularly with clients to create goals, check in on client progress, update clients on new resources/information, etc. You might help somebody write their first resume, locate a G.E.D. program, find affordable housing or child care, and provide listening and support.

* Take part in volunteer trainings and learn from community guest speakers. Trainings focus on challenges facing our client base including: understanding the housing system, conducting an effective employment search, accessing public benefits, etc.

Qualifications:

 

LIFT Student Advocates are bright, motivated current undergraduates or college graduates

with a strong desire to get to know and give back to their communities. We’re looking for people of all backgrounds who are determined and committed to helping others by lending their pro-active problemsolving skills. Student Advocates must be supportive listeners with a willingness to get to know people in their community and the services available to them. (Note: This is a selective position; applications and interviews are required).

Benefits to Becoming a LIFT Student Advocate:

LIFT provides direct, hands-on experience with poverty, unemployment, housing, public assistance, and a variety of other issues, by working one-on-one with community members (clients). While volunteering at LIFT, there are many opportunities to gain and develop leadership skills in working with diverse groups of people, office management, public relations, event planning, and non-profit organization and management. You can make contacts in the business and social services world and have practical skills to put on your resume. In the District of Columbia, LIFT is known locally as LIFT-DC. Student Advocates at LIFT-DC met with more than 1,000 clients and conducted more than 3,000 individual meetings in 2010. Also in 2010, LIFT-DC opened an office in DC’s Columbia Heights neighborhood, where bilingual Student Advocates are needed to serve Spanish-speaking clients. Additionally, in 2011 LIFT-DC opened an office east of the Anacostia River at THEARC in order to better serve residents of Ward 7 and 8. LIFT has no eligibility requirements for clients, so we regularly work with residents from the District, Maryland, and Virginia. Our locations are:

Perry School Office – 128 M Street NW, Suite 335 Washington, DC 20001

Columbia Heights Office – 1420 Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC 20009

THEARC Office – 1901 Mississippi Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20020

Join us in making a difference in the community, one relationship at a time!

For more information, visit our website: www.liftcommunities.org

To apply, contact us via e-mail: washingtondc@liftcommunities.org OR call (202) 289-2525

Applications also available by contacting cbussie@umd.edu.