Financial Empowerment Specialist - Beyond Housing

Financial Empowerment Specialist

Job Description

Overview:  Beyond Housing is a nationally recognized community development organization that works to strengthen families and transform underserved communities to create a stronger, more equitable, and prosperous St. Louis region for all. We engage where we’re needed, focusing on building consensus among leaders, providing and preserving housing, fostering community structures that shape lives, and guiding systems that make people’s lives better.

We lead with vision for what a community can be ~ every community is different, but thriving communities tend to share the same basic set of positive traits regarding housing, safety, education, health, infrastructure, and access to basic human services.

We bring together leaders and resources, volunteers and citizens, and pursue a wide assortment of creative approaches to build stronger, healthier communities for life.

Finally, we are community builders, not kingdom builders. “It’s their neighborhood, future, & dreams”. Our objective is to help build and contribute the good things we do for the sake of adding value to the lives of the people we’re honored to serve.

Position Summary: The Financial Empowerment Specialist is a member of the Transformative Services Department and provides specialized case management that helps clients understand their financial health and develop habits to build wealth. 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Utilizing expertise to support clients as they develop their ability and confidence to make positive financial decisions that promote their long-term financial wellbeing. 

• Coordinating and facilitating the actions and activities that move clients through the stages of program uptake and service delivery; intake, assessment, case planning, goal setting, direct service delivery, referrals, goal completion, and ongoing supportive activities.

• Building rapport and establishing trusting relationships with clients by demonstrating empathy, being transparent and accountable, respecting boundaries, and providing consistent and high-quality service. 

• Effectively using Salesforce to document service delivery activities, monitor key output metrics, and drive necessary next steps. 

• Liaising effectively with referral partners and other external collaborators to ensure that clients receive a warm hand-off and ongoing support that is relevant, timely and effective. 

• Identifying and attending development and training opportunities to further develop expertise and incorporate best practice standards as they evolve.  

• Regularly participating in ecosystem events and initiatives in order to increase connections to community partners and stay up-to-date on offerings and opportunities that benefit clients.  

• Working cooperatively with internal and external partners to align efforts, build and maintain mutually-beneficial relationships, share and leverage information, and achieve outcomes.

• Other duties as assigned. 

Experience and Qualifications: 

• 2+ years of professional experience required with direct experience in personal financial literacy and expertise related to banking, budgeting, saving, building and improving credit, and borrowing and managing debt.

• Case management experience preferred.   

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in finance, accounting, social work, counseling, sociology, psychology, anthropology, public health, or a related field. A combination of education and experience will be considered.  

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications is required. 

• Familiarity with Salesforce or other CRM databases.

• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills. 

• Knowledgeable about the challenges that face residents in low-income, majority underserved neighborhoods as a result of long-standing racial exclusion. 

• Demonstrated commitment to the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility.

Personal Qualities:

• Collaborative -- A dynamic personality that is collaboratively minded, can recognize and identify strengths, seek consensus around mutual goals, and build meaningful relationships.

• Creative and Curious -- A systems-thinker and builder, who is not afraid to be innovative in designing solutions and has skills in articulating these ideas and concepts.

• Methodical -- Strong analytical, systems, and problem-solving skills to evaluate performance, prepare reports, and recommend/implement solutions using independent judgment. Ability to move from concepts to action through strong program design and evaluation.

• Reliable -- Skills that reflect and value a team approach, demonstrated integrity, effectiveness, efficiency, and the ability to deliver high quality service. Highly capable of handling multiple tasks, projects and timelines. Excellent oral and written communications skills.

• Trusted -- Ability to work with residents, partners, and staff of diversified backgrounds with a positive, optimistic, solutions-oriented attitude. Shares a deep respect for the community, its stakeholders and the residents that we serve.

• Driven -- Passion for the work and an interest in continuous learning and improvement.

Supervisor:

Position will work under the Transformative Services Department’s supervisory team. 

Salary and Benefits:

• $50,000 - To ensure pay equity, this is the best and final salary for this position and it is not open for salary negotiations.  

• Benefits for full-time position as determined in current Beyond Housing Employee Handbook. 

Application Instructions:

Please send resume and cover letter to hr@beyondhousing.org. For more information on Beyond Housing, visit www.beyondhousing.org 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required. Beyond Housing is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

ADA – Beyond Housing is committed to furthering the purpose of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). The company is always willing to consider reasonable accommodations, which may allow a disabled person to perform this or any other job. The Summary of Physical Requirements is a list of what we believe at this point to be necessary in order to perform the essential functions of the job.

Diversity & Inclusion Statement: At Beyond Housing, we are committed to promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity throughout our organization and culture. We strive to understand and appreciate the individuality of every employee and create a better place to work for all. We nurture a culture where everyone positively acknowledges equity through action and is aware, understanding, and appreciative of diversity.

Our vision is to go beyond simple tolerance and fully embrace the things that make each person unique. We recognize that our employees’ differences support our ability to advance equity for the communities we serve. Further, we understand that equity is critical to the fulfillment of our mission to help entire communities become better places to live.