Community Outreach Coordinator, Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and STI

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises — from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic — we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

Program Description:

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH)’s Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (BHHS) oversees the City’s response to viral hepatitis, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including testing initiatives; prevention, care, and treatment programming; epidemiology and surveillance; training and technical assistance; community engagement; social marketing; policy advocacy; and racial equity and social justice initiatives. BHHS works to end viral hepatitis, HIV, and STIs in New York City using an approach that is strengths-based, community-driven, and intersectional, accounting for how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and socioeconomic status, among others, come together to impact public health. The Community Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for identifying, developing, and maintaining relationships with key providers in the community, local community boards and community-based organizations (CBO). They will coordinate and collaborate between the Case Investigation and Partners Services (CIPS) Unit and other DOHMH provider and public outreach programs to harmonize and enhance this work. The Community Outreach Coordinator will educate providers about the work that CIPS does, share STI reporting requirements, and up to date STI treatment and screening recommendations.

Duties will include but not be limited to:

Identify, develop, and maintain trusted relationships with key providers in the community, community boards and other community-based organizations (CBO).

Coordinate and collaborate with other NYC DOHMH provider and public outreach programs to harmonize messaging, align services, and reduce duplicative efforts.

Educate providers about CIPS work, STI reporting requirements, up to date treatment, and screening recommendations.

Contribute expertise to Bureau/Division/Agency level initiatives regarding outreach strategy, message alignment, public facing content, social media, provider detailing, etc.

Serve as a liaison between the public and providers, as well as between providers and the CIPS team.

Offer support and technical assistance to CBOs and other partners to identify and implement solutions for improving sexual health.

Organize community based sexual health services in conjunction with DOHMH partners (NY Knows, Sexual Health Advisory Group, etc.) CBOs and other non-governmental organizations.

Work with DIS trainer to identify appropriate trainings in customer service and cultural competency for CIPS staff to enhance interactions with the public and providers.

Establish and maintain effective communications and working relationship with staff and management to meet employee and client needs, as well as program objectives.

Participate in the Incident Command System to support emergency response needs as requested; attend all emergency response and ICS Trainings.

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or
2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to “1” or “2” above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in “1” above.