Reproductive Health Advocate, Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is a world-renowned agency with a long tradition of protecting and promoting health in the nation’s most culturally and linguistically diverse city. Our 7,000-plus team members bring an extraordinary array of languages, cultures, and experiences to bear on the work of public health. The Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) seeks to eliminate racial and other inequities resulting in premature mortality. With an unwavering grounding in history and structural analysis, CHECW works to increase visibility of the harm perpetuated by centuries of racist, socially unjust policy while pushing towards redress for the most affected NYC communities. CHECW addresses inequity across community and health-care systems in partnership with community, faith-based, and health-care organizations. CHECW’s work focuses on the social determinants of health, including environmental and commercial determinants, and addresses both upstream and downstream factors to improve the health and well-being of New Yorkers. CHECW employs anti-racism approaches to reduce and minimize unfair exposure to risk and to advance health justice and social change. One important area of focus is perinatal health, especially eliminating the inequities in maternal and child health outcomes that currently exist in New York City. CHECW’s birth equity work is centered in three Bureaus of Neighborhood Health (one each in the Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn), which partner with community stakeholders to address health inequities and the drivers of premature mortality. Poor maternal and infant outcomes result from longstanding structural inequality, among other factors.

Therefore, the Bureaus of Neighborhood Health (BNH) provide tangible resources, practical support, community capacity-building, and workforce development; partner with health systems to improve the provision of care; and inform policy through broad-based coalitions. Each BNH hosts a Family Wellness Suite, which supports the portfolio of perinatal health programs within that bureau. . FWS’s align their work and approach by addressing three drivers of premature mortality to reduce infant mortality and severe maternal morbidity: infant safety and well-being, women’s health (chronic disease prevention and management), and toxic stress and trauma (mental health). The Family Wellness Suites (FWS) are safe, welcoming, and supportive spaces where families and individuals can connect to community resources and city services, such as workshops to lower the risk of chronic diseases and promote health and well-being, fitness activities, classes to support fathers, referrals to social-service and medical providers, referrals to doulas (childbirth-support professionals), and other programs to support a healthy pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn. . Moreover, FSW’s build neighborhood capacity for residents by way of: Infant/Child CPR Certification, Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Community Breastfeeding Educators and collaborating with community based organizations having subject matter expertise. FWS’s support the work of the Citywide Doula Initiative, Healthy Start Brooklyn, the Breastfeeding/Lactation Equity Initiative, and other grant-funded perinatal health programs and initiatives. The Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health is seeking to hire a Family Wellness Suite Reproductive Health Advocate. The Reproductive Health Advocate will work in the Brownsville Action Center interfacing with English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole speaking communities to assist residents navigate clinical and nonclinical services to address infant/maternal health and premature mortality. provided

Duties:

Provide orientation of Family Wellness Suite programming and family support services within the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health’s Brownsville Action Center and surrounding community.

Conduct intake interviews, enroll clients in activities/workshops/trainings and referring clients to Action Center resources, and neighborhood resources.

Administer client satisfaction surveys; Work collaboratively with peers to support, strategize and implement new programming.

Maintain calendar, schedule of workshops and events hosted by Family Wellness Suite and promote to community partners and residents.

Track and monitor referrals, track workshop and training attendance using DOHMH’s customer relations management tool.

Prepare monthly data reports using DOHMH’s internal electronic referral tool and customer relations management resource.

Provide lactation room orientation, breastmilk expression instruction and support to women breast/chest-feeding persons utilizing lactation rooms.

Facilitate Parenting Classes, Safe Sleep and Car Seat Safety Workshops Supports execution of deliverables of DOH breastfeeding promotion programming within Action Center neighborhood

Provide and improves community services by performing liaison functions including security and safety and improving communication between City agencies, community organizations and groups, and the individuals they represent and service Must be able to lift up to 20 pounds Other tasks as assigned by supervisors and Action Center leadership.

1. High school graduation or equivalent and three years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to duties described above; or
2. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to “1” above.