Step into a role where every day brings purpose, connection, and community impact. As the Bmore POWER™ Coordinator, you’ll help lead and supervise a vibrant harm reduction team made up of people with powerful lived experience. Together, you’ll work in the community to deliver lifesaving education, distribute essential supplies, and support Baltimore residents with compassion and respect.
The Bmore POWER™ Coordinator is responsible for coordinating and building the capacity of Bmore POWER™ (Peers Offering Wellness, Education, and Resources), a program through which people with lived experience related to drug use provide harm reduction outreach, training, and advocacy. This position performs both inside and outside of a traditional office environment. Work environments may include (but are not limited to) outdoors (e.g., during street outreach), at community-based organizations throughout Baltimore City, in BHSB’s office in downtown Baltimore, and remotely while working from home. The individual is required to travel to locations throughout Baltimore (and occasionally outside of Baltimore) for meetings, outreach, and other business-related needs.
Members of the Bmore POWER™ team are valued employees of BHSB whose work is critical to BHSB’s mission and vision. A Position Alignment chart for the Bmore POWER™ Coordinator position demonstrates how the role aligns with BHSB’s mission and vision, core work and functions, organizational structure, values, and culture.
This position reports to the Associate Director, Bmore POWER™ and is a full-time position working in a hybrid work environment in Baltimore, MD. BHSB will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Essential Functions
- Coordinate Bmore POWER™ activities (e.g., street outreach, supply delivery, and meetings).
- Ensure that Bmore POWER™ staff follows BHSB and relevant funder policies and procedures.
- Supervise Bmore POWER™ Outreach Workers and Site Leaders.
- Track employee attendance at meetings, outreach sites, and other scheduled work activities.
- Provide guidance and direction to Bmore POWER™ Outreach Workers and Site Leaders in the course of their daily work, both those who the supervisor directly supervises and those who may be supervised by other members of the Bmore POWER™ supervision team.
- Collaborate with other members of the Bmore POWER™ supervision team to ensure consistent attendance by supervisors at outreach sites and outreach events to complement the role of the Bmore POWER™ Site Leaders.
- As needed or assigned, conduct harm reduction outreach, modeling high-quality outreach skills. During outreach:
- Engage members of the public in outdoor and indoor settings (for example, metro stops, shopping centers, etc.).
- Teach people to prevent, recognize, and respond to overdoses.
- Provide education on additional harm reduction techniques (for example, infectious disease prevention techniques, safer sex practices, etc.).
- Distribute naloxone and other harm reduction supplies.
- Provide information to the public about how to access behavioral health services and other resources. When individuals are interested, call 988 with them to facilitate access to behavioral health services.
- Ensure completion of all required documentation, including, but not limited to, naloxone and other supply distribution, overdose reversals, resource connections, and any other activity reports, as directed, the same day as outreach activities are conducted.
- Prepare agendas, take notes, take attendance, and facilitate meetings as instructed, either independently, with other supervisors, or in collaboration with the Associate Director, Bmore POWER™, or Director, Harm Reduction, including but not limited to:
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ supervision team meetings,
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ Site Leader meetings,
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ all staff meetings.
- Attend virtual and in-person required meetings, including but not limited to:
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ supervision team meetings,
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ Site Leader meetings,
- Weekly Bmore POWER™ all staff meetings,
- BHSB supervisor meetings,
- BHSB all staff meetings,
- BHSB Information Sharing meetings,
- Other BHSB meetings, including those of workgroups and committees.
- Represent Bmore POWER™ publicly and on relevant external workgroups and coalitions.
- Represent BHSB and Bmore POWER™ at local and national events and conferences and in the media (contingent upon approval of supervisor and other relevant members of the leadership and/or Executive Teams).
- Continually develop public speaking skills and the ability to effectively communicate harm reduction messages.
- Manage Bmore POWER™ supply inventory, tracking supply distribution, ensuring supplies remain organized, and notifying the appropriate BHSB staff when restocking is necessary.
- Maintain accurate records of the work and performance of Bmore POWER™.
- Ensure data entry completed by all members of the Bmore POWER™ team, including Outreach Workers and Site Leaders, is timely and accurate.
- Contribute to reports to funders and partners as directed by the Associate Director, Bmore POWER™, and the Director, Harm Reduction.
- Build leadership and capacity within Bmore POWER™.
- Support personal and professional development of Bmore POWER™ Outreach Workers and Site Leaders.
- Support implementation of components of the BHSB Strategic Plan and any grant goals involving the Bmore POWER™ team, as assigned.
- Use any evaluation findings to improve quality and impact of work.
- Proactively identify and implement ongoing opportunities for improvement and growth of Bmore POWER™ as a group and Bmore POWER™ Outreach Workers and Site Leaders as individuals.
- Remain aware of all job duties of Bmore POWER™ Outreach Workers and Site Leaders and execute such duties as needed or directed.
- Communicate consistently and appropriately with colleagues, using appropriate communication styles and methods to suit different audiences and situations.
- Collaborate closely with the other members of the Bmore POWER™ supervision team.
Other
- Work effectively and collaboratively with others, both internally and externally to BHSB.
- Foster open and honest dialogue within and across teams and between colleagues who have different backgrounds. Engage in honest dialogue and navigate conflict in day-to-day interactions.
- Uphold and operationalize the values of BHSB, which are Integrity, Equity, Innovation, Collaboration and Quality.
- Consistently work to engage in open and honest dialogue, including with people from different teams and different backgrounds, and ask for support when needed.
- Serve as part of BHSB’s disaster response team as needed, in any capacity that is needed.
- To perform assigned work functions, this position and those it supervises may have access to protected health information (PHI). It is expected that the employee will operate from a place of integrity and assume an ethical obligation to protect the security and confidentiality of all PHI in accordance with BHSB’s policies.
- An offer of employment for this position at BHSB is contingent upon the results of a thorough background check, including criminal history, which will require prior authorization from the candidate.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Experience and Education
- High school diploma
- At least one (1) year of experience serving as a peer advocate, outreach worker, or similar position
- Knowledge of social service and health resources
- Excellent and situationally appropriate oral and written communication skills
- Relevant lived experience or familiarity with those who have relevant lived experience with drug use
- Knowledge of harm reduction framework and harm reduction services (e.g., use of naloxone, infectious disease prevention techniques, drug checking tools, safer sex practices, etc.)
- Demonstrated commitment to cultural humility
- Excellent customer service skills
- Use of electronic calendar, email, and text messaging
- Ability to prioritize, work independently, manage multiple responsibilities, and meet deadlines
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Ability to follow a set, weekly work schedule
- Ability to interact in a hybrid/virtual environment
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs (e.g., Word and Excel) and Office 365
Supervisory Requirements: This position supervises Bmore POWER™ Site Leaders and/or Outreach Workers.
This role may require travel to other locations for meetings and other business-related needs. Ability to travel locally 60% of the time is required. It is important to have access to some form of transportation to travel to off-site meetings, conferences, and site visits.
Compensation:
BHSB values each and every employee as an important contributor to fulfilling the organization’s mission. The ongoing health and wellness of employees is critical to BHSB’s success, and we continuously assess employee benefits, policies and practices to ensure opportunities are available for all people. The organization offers its employees a competitive compensation package which includes base pay, a comprehensive benefits plan and hybrid, family-friendly work practices.
BHSB is an equal opportunity employer and does not utilize practices that give preference to individuals in hiring or promotion. Salaries are based on the requirements of each job, are non-negotiable and step increases are offered at regular intervals. The starting hourly rate for this position is $30.18.
The benefits plan includes comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, employer paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, a 403(b) plan with employer contribution, a choice of 4 FSA plans, an employee paid legal benefit, generous PTO and 13 days paid holiday. In addition, medical plan participants receive an employer paid HRA accessed by a $5,000/$10,000 debit card to cover eligible deductible and copay expenses, depending on chosen coverage.
BHSB - About Us
Behavioral Health System Baltimore, Inc. (BHSB) is a non-profit organization that serves as the Local Behavioral Health Authority (LBHA) on behalf of Baltimore City. BHSB is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring resources, programs and policies within the larger Medicaid fee-for-service system, as well as services directly funded by BHSB through private and public grants. BHSB partners closely with Baltimore City and the State of Maryland to build an efficient and responsive system that comprehensively addresses mental illness and substance use and meets the needs of the whole person. BHSB serves as an “on the ground” expert to support the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), using our knowledge of the behavioral health needs of Baltimore City and services that are available, along with our expertise, to structure the system’s resources to meet the unique needs of our communities. BHSB has connections to other local systems, such as law enforcement, schools, social services, and courts, to ensure there is broad access to behavioral health services across systems and in communities.
Culture
BHSB is intentional about advancing a healthy work environment that builds trust, fosters a sense of belonging, promotes learning, and supports leadership opportunities for all. BHSB uses practices that honor the diverse perspectives of all people and cultivate authentic interpersonal interactions based on mutual trust. How BHSB conducts its work internally is directly connected to the organization’s impact externally. The principles that BHSB embraces in its everyday work are flexibility, empowerment, transparency, shared decision making, authentic communication, readily available information, promotion and support of individual growth, individual accountability and collective accountability.
BHSB values all people and their experiences, including those who have had prior contact with the legal system. We are committed to providing individuals with criminal records, including formerly incarcerated individuals and individuals with arrest or conviction records, a fair chance at employment.
BHSB also takes steps to proactively prevent and address conflict and discrimination by investing in organizational education to foster the development of an accountable and respectful workplace where all employees are supported and encouraged to do their best work.
