What are the responsibilities and job description for the Intake Coordinator & Family Connector position at Open Arms Perinatal Services?
We are seeking someone with strong interpersonal skills who is comfortable interacting with families and can easily navigate change and shifting priorities. This hybrid role conducts intake interviews with families seeking services and supports them with resource navigation. Combing these roles helps scale our Family Connector team and provides coverage for the Intake team.
This position is a great fit for someone who is comfortable working virtually and in person, thrives in a busy environment, is exceptionally organized and detail oriented, and is a compassionate person who enjoys working with pregnant and parenting families by connecting them with essential and culturally relevant resources.
Because this is a hybrid role, this position will have dual managers – Family Connector Lead and Intake Lead. This position will join the Family Support Services Team, which is comprised of the managers mentioned before as well as Program Lead, Intake Coordinators, and Family Connector. Open Arms’ Family Support Services team is a central hub that holds the intake and referral process, supports clients with resources, and develops and strengthens community-resource partnerships.
To align with Open Arms’ community-based service model and to provide the best care possible, we prioritize applicants who are of and from our focus communities to provide culturally relevant support, which includes bridging language and culture. For this position, fluency in Spanish and English are required.
Work Schedule
- Full-time, non-exempt (40 hours per week), eligible for overtime pay
- This position requires frequently meeting with families in person and helping providers with essential items. Therefore, this person must be able to have a consistent and reliable schedule generally Mondays to Fridays, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (some flexibility is available within this timeframe) with at least three days in person. The remaining work hours may be completed remotely depending on the work week and projects.
- Occasional evenings, weekends, and flexibility during the workweek may be needed to align with training schedules. Advance notice will be provided.
- Access to reliable transportation for family meetings and for picking up and dropping off program supplies.
Intake Coordinator
- Conduct a basic client intake over the phone by listening to client stories with compassion and understanding.
- Determine clients’ eligibility and manage the referral process for Open Arms’ programs.
- Gather and track program availability.
- Share availability updates and other related trends and information with referral partners.
- Using Open Arms’ cloud-based programs database (Apricot), conduct data entry for client intakes, analyze data, and make recommendations for improvement. Maintain organized and complete records.
- Refer clients who are not eligible for Open Arms’ programs to other resources.
- Communicate trends to program staff and make recommendations for expanding resources.
- Work with the Family Support Services team and other Open Arms staff to maintain communication and relationships with referral sources.
- Help maintain regional resource lists which may include a Community Birthworker list, support for basic food, utilities assistance, childcare, domestic violence and advocacy and legal services and other commonly requested supportive services.
Family Connector Services
- Maintain weekly contact to assigned, enrolled families; maintaining a caseload of 4-6 families. Maintain responsiveness for families needing drop-in/ad hoc support through the Helpline and Baby Boutique.
- Partner and collaborate with doulas, lactation support providers, and external providers to determine the resource and needs for referred families.
- Support with warm connections, systems navigation, and the coordination of tangible resources and referrals for Open Arms families. Strengthen pregnant and parenting families by connecting folks to essential and relevant resources including food, housing, and other basic needs, rental and utility assistance, health and medical insurance, provider resources, transportation, parenting support, and more.
- Research, identify, and compile resources and referrals tailored for each family’s needs.
- Maintain up-to-date case notes and other data entry for each contact and interaction in our Apricot database.
- Track and distribute resources, such as “Barrier Buster” funds, to Open Arms families.
- Support weekly Thursday Baby Boutique in-person at Open Arms’ office in the El Centro de la Raza building on Beacon Hill. Tasks include preparation and distribution of baby items, greeting families, and providing resource information to providers, enrolled families, and walk-in community members.
- Support with planning, implementing and attending program-specific events, Community Connector events, Resource Roundtables, and tabling events.
- Support the Family Support Services team by exploring opportunities for resource partnerships and maintaining existing partnerships around community resources.
- Contribute to a comprehensive list of resources organized by needs and demographics. Keep information in the database up to date with light data entry.
- Recognize, assess, and share successes and challenges around connecting families to community resources. Communicate feedback to the Family Connector Lead.
- As needed - support the process of getting baby items from our community partner, Westside Baby, as well as other locations (Wellspring, community donations, etc.)
- Engage in ongoing learning and professional development by attending relevant trainings, conferences, workshops, etc.
- Occasional night or weekend work for events or meetings. Advance notice will be provided.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Fluency in Spanish and English (written and spoken) is required.
- Approximately 1 year of demonstrated, successful work experience in providing community-resource connection for families (resources, referrals, support planning, services management, advocacy support) and experience with referral management (resources, referrals, support planning, services management, advocacy support)
- Highly people-oriented and collaborative with strong interpersonal and communication skills over the phone, through email, and face-to-face.
- Demonstrated success and passion for community-based work including professional references and examples of community-based work with the focus communities.
- Comfortable listening to birth stories, client experiences, client interests and needs.
- Ability to develop positive relationships with families, doulas, providers, organizations, and staff as well as partner and other community organizations
- Well-versed in providing culturally responsive and community-based services
- Ability to provide unbiased guidance and collaboration to families and colleagues
- Ability to plan, coordinate, and organize work projects solo and as a team
- Ability to meet program deadlines and expectations
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail, follow up, and task management to manage caseload of families
- Comfortable with change and adapting to new structures and systems
- Ability to maintain confidential and sensitive information
- Passion for and commitment to the mission of Open Arms and community-based work.
- Experience in working with a diverse staff and with communities of color, especially working with the position’s focus communities.
- Strong racial, disability, gender and economic justice framework
- Commitment to anti-oppression and de-colonization work with a focus on racial equity and reproductive justice, specific to birth justice.
- Aptitude for solving problems with creativity and resourcefulness
- Have basic computer skills including sending emails, editing documents, and attaching files to emails using Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel, Outlook and Word. Applicant is not required to be an expert on these tools but must be able to use these tools on their own to manage daily work and without requiring foundational training.
- Experience with cloud-based applications such as Microsoft OneDrive and databases. Applicant is not required to be an expert on these tools.
- Comfortable with light data entry
- Additional work experience in birth work or early childhood care is a plus, but not required.
- COVID-19 proof of full vaccination, booster after January 2022, or medical or religious exemption request is required for in-person work.
- Background check and professional reference checks required
- Proof of eligibility to work as an employee in the U.S. and a Washington state resident.
- Valid Washington State Driver’s License and reliable transportation with current automobile insurance. This position requires frequent driving and may include in-person visits to client homes or community spaces.
Mental and Physical Requirements
The physical/mental demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Mental Requirements: This position continuously requires interpersonal skills, teamwork, customer service, use of discretion, performing basic math, independent judgment and/or independent action, and reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English. Frequently requires independent decision-making and problem analysis to make recommendations for improvement and/or be involved in discussions around changes. The position requires creative thinking for resourcefulness and process improvements. Attention to detail also required.
Physical Requirements: Daily working conditions include an open-office work environment at our Seattle location on Beacon Hill, normal office work, and frequent local driving and travel. This position continuously requires sitting, hearing (using assistive devices if needed), and repetitive motion of the hands/wrists. Open Arms is housed in a wheelchair accessible, scented building, with wheelchair accessible bathrooms, and an elevator. Access to reliable transportation will be required for work-related travel and client visits. Some tasks require the ability to lift items approximately 20-50lbs. Employment is not dependent on the applicants’ ability to lift items. Our offices are on the second and third floors of a historic building. An elevator and carts are available.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Birthwork in addition to this position: Open Arms deeply appreciates the skill and experience that birthworkers bring to our world. Based on the demands and requirements of this particular position, if the applicant is interested in taking on any births for Open Arms clients, full-time staff need to devote the first six months to training and focusing on adjusting to their new position. After this period, with approval from their direct supervisor, the staff member can take a maximum of 1-2 Open Arms births per year depending on work performance, the timing of other work projects, and adequate team coverage. Being an active or current doula is not a requirement of the position.
Note about our hybrid work environment:
At Open Arms, many staff are working remotely if their job duties allow. In general, in-person required activities include but are not limited to regular team meetings, some 1-1 check ins, org-wide meetings, client visits, and pick up/drop off items. Some staff have duties that have a specific in-person work requirement and this is outlined in the job description.
Open Arms provides staff with the technology and equipment necessary for remote work and virtual meetings. Please discuss any concerns you have during the interview process.
Since COVID-19 is still prevalent and our work is centered on high-risk populations (pregnant people and babies), Open Arms takes extra precautions such as staying home if you are feeling unwell, masking for a defined period of time for certain COVID-19 reasons, and testing when needed. In some cases, remote work is a possibility if staff need to refrain from in-person work for health & safety reasons.
WHAT WE OFFER
COMPENSATION: This is a 40-hour-per-week, non-exempt position with an hourly rate of $27.55, commensurate on experience and qualifications.
BENEFITS:
- Paid health, dental, vision, and disability insurance
- Generous paid time off including vacation, sick, and holidays: 13 days of vacation per year for full-time employees with anniversary increases; 13 days for sick and safe time; 23 paid holidays; 2 floating holidays
- Employee assistance program
- Mileage reimbursement
- Professional development opportunities
- 401k match coming later in 2026
- Option to contribute to a 401k, flexible spending and dependent care expenses account, and supplemental insurance.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Open Arms is committed to the professional development of our staff. Each year we allocate professional development funds for each employee, and we also support group-training opportunities. Systemic harm and economic oppression have intentionally and disproportionally impacted BIPOC communities, impacting equitable access to many training and leadership opportunities. As a result, these communities are underrepresented in leadership positions. We support all employees in their professional advancement both within Open Arms and beyond our organization.
FLEXIBLE & FAMILY-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT: Open Arms is proud and committed to being a family-friendly workplace. We offer flexible work schedules with remote work being part of the usual weekly schedule for almost all staff as it fits with their job duties. We also offer generous paid-time-off for self and family care. Children of any age are welcome in our office, and many staff bring their children to work on a regular or as-needed basis. We have an onsite lactation lounge and encourage chestfeeding in the workplace. Note: Children are not allowed at home visits
SUPPORTIVE AND INCLUSIVE CULTURE: We have an informal workplace culture, and staff develop strong, supportive connections with each other. We have a highly collaborative culture and an open office work environment. We are proud of our extremely diverse staff in all demographic areas, which creates a very rich and inclusionary organizational culture. More than 80% of our staff identify as people of color.
COMMITMENT TO EQUITY: Open Arms strives to be an affirming, positive, diverse work environment. Open Arms provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. We strongly encourage applications from communities of color and other historically underrepresented and marginalized groups.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Visit our CAREER CENTER, find the applicable job opening, and submit your cover letter and resume. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. We place a heavy importance on cover letters during the screening process. Cover letters give us deeper insight into your experience and interest in Open Arms’ work. Please do not skip this step.
If you have any questions, contact hiring@openarmsps.org. No phone calls or paper submissions please.
Interviews will be conducted in person and virtually. If someone from our hiring team reaches out to schedule an interview, please let us know about any accommodations or technology needs you might have to participate in the interview.
Salary : $28