Hotline Specialist

The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is excited to welcome a new member to our team!  We are looking for a dynamic candidate to support the Supervising Manager of Hotline Program, to ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ), and HIV-affected survivors of violence have access to affirming, inclusive, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive safety, support, and services.

AVP empowers LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education and supports survivors through counseling and advocacy. We were one of the first LGBTQ anti-violence organizations in the country and are a national leader in the anti-violence movement. 

The Hotline Specialist will hold a multi-faceted role as part of the Client Services Department. They will:

• Staff AVP’s English/Spanish hotline;
  • Answer and respond to community reaching out to AVP’s English/Spanish hotline;
  • Return voicemails or messages left by callers, providing resources, referrals and intake screenings as needed;
  • Assist Supervising Manager of Hotline Program and Director of Client Services in expanding hotline hours to include evening and weekend hours;
• Complete need-based screenings and relevant assessments with callers of AVP’s hotline, and connect callers to appropriate services within AVP, or refer out to vetted community resources;

• Support day-to-day hotline operations including scheduling staff and volunteer hotline shifts, supporting daily case conference meetings, and maintaining hotline related documents and procedures;

• Coordinate volunteer hotline counselors;

• Support the Manager of Hotline Programs in facilitating three hotline volunteer training cohorts a year;

• Provide backup services to volunteer hotline counselors as part of a department-wide afterhours hotline coverage rotation;

• Provide short-term advocacy services to community members in need;

• Candidates fluent in Spanish in addition to English are strongly encouraged to apply.

This position has the opportunity for supervision of volunteers. Our ideal Hotline Specialist will have experience working with LGBTQ and HIV-affected people, communities, and survivors of violence, providing crisis intervention and support, and has strong administrative and organizational skills.

Applicants should:

• Be comfortable and confident in working in a multi-disciplinary, direct service / crisis management setting;

• Have the capacity to set effective boundaries;

• Honor confidentiality;
• Be detail-oriented, and ready to dive into trauma-informed, anti-violence work with queer, trans, and HIV-affected communities.
• A commitment to ending violence within and against LGBTQ and HIV-affected people and communities is a must.
  
  

This position offers the opportunity to work in an organization that:

• Approaches our work from anti-oppressive and trauma-informed principles, internally and externally, recognizing we always have room to grow;
  
• Values collaboration and creativity in our passionate team;
  
• Centers the work on those most impacted by violence, working to find community-based and community led solutions;
• Is committed to providing strong supervisory support and professional development opportunities. 
  

Working conditions, location, hours, physical requirements:

• Work environment: In office and remote.

• Location: This position is based in the AVP office in Lower Manhattan and will require a hybrid of both remote and in-person work.

• Physical demands:
  Ability to sit or remain stationary for extended periods; ability to work at a computer screen and use standard office equipment for the duration of a shift; ability to read and produce written materials; ability to communicate verbally by phone and in person; ability to do accurate data entry.

• Exposure to: Secondary trauma through supervision of staff responding to crisis calls; clients in acute distress; crisis situations. Organization provides supervision.

• Hours: Primarily daytime hours: 10am – 6pm, Monday through Thursday and 10-2pm on Fridays. Position requires availability for on-call consultation and crisis escalation outside of standard hours: Overnight and/or weekend shifts to support AVP’s 24-hour hotline and training on a rotational basis are also required, and as much as possible, scheduled in advance.

Salary: $60,000. Applicants who use more than one language at work are eligible to receive a $1,500 salary enhancement in addition to the base salary. This is a full-time non-exempt hourly position with benefits, vacation, sick time and more.

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, 403(b) retirement investment plan with employer contribution;
Employer provided HRA for medical costs after 90 days. Paid time off includes 20 days of vacation, sick time, generous holidays with holiday substitution options, and family leave.

Top reasons why people love working at AVP:

• A dedicated team and a supportive work environment

• Supervisory support

• An anti-oppression framework that guides our work, and a commitment to transparency

• Unionized workplace

Interested applicants submit their cover letter and resume at avp.org/about-us/jobs/, and we will review applications on a rolling basis as long as the position remains open. No phone calls please. Candidates will be notified if we are seeking an interview; because of the high volumes of responses, it may not be possible to respond to all inquiries.

As a state and federal contractor, AVP is required to conduct background pre-hire screenings for many positions. At AVP we aim to meet these requirements while still fostering a work environment free from stigma about previous system involvement for all members of our team. To learn more about AVP’s background screening policy, please visit https://bit.ly/avppolicy.

AVP is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified individuals and endeavors to hire individuals of diverse races, colors, creeds, ethnicities, religions, genders, gender identities or expressions, age, sexes, sexual orientations, national origins, disabilities, and citizen, marital, veteran and HIV statuses.