Community Engagement Coordinator (VIC)
Career Description
About Us
We’re Little Dreamers, Australia’s leading non-profit organisation working with Young Carers around the country.
A Young Carer is anyone under the age of 25 who currently provides, or intends to provide, care in their family for a parent, sibling or grandparent who has a chronic illness, mental illness, disability or addiction.
Founded in 2009 by a Young Carer, we love building and delivering high quality programs that create deep and meaningful impact in the lives of young people providing care in their families. And we’re pretty good at it too. To date, we have supported over 5,000 Young Carers, we deliver eight core programs alongside ad hoc supports, advocacy and community awareness campaigns. We have strong corporate partnership and funding relationships and have raised over $5 million to improve the quality of life for Young Carers around Australia. We have even received recognition from Queen Elizabeth II and have been named as an internationally best practice organisation for Young Carer support.
Our team is made up of incredible humans working across VIC, NSW and QLD. We are humble, hungry and kind and work hard to reach our goals. We believe in a world where every single Young Carer is supported by someone or something by 2030. Sounds fun right?!
By joining the Dream Team, you will play an integral part in supporting young people who often miss out on having a childhood.
THE POSITION
Our Community Engagement Coordinator VIC role is responsible for leading and undertaking community engagement activities which support referral pathways into services delivered by Little Dreamers.
The objective of the role is to promote services within an outreach framework, work with hard to reach, or ‘hidden’, Young Carers, and to facilitate access to the services by registering Young Carers and referring them to Little Dreamers for follow up. This role will identify and facilitate opportunities that promote the inclusion of, and build the capacity of, people and community groups to access services and achieve healthy, strong and connected communities.
The Specifics
Outreach, Identification and Promotion
- Create strategies to identify Young Carers and communities and support them to access the services and support;
- Work closely with the relevant State Manager to understand the program needs of the team and then plan community engagement activities to facilitate engagement in those programs;
- Identify opportunities and support the delivery of events for target groups to increase the profile of Little Dreamers;
- Participate in, and represent Little Dreamers in local interagencies, advisory groups and professional networks, and the wider local community to promote the organisation, referral pathways and support strategies to build sector capacity and awareness;
- Represent Little Dreamers at industry expos and other awareness events;
- Work in collaboration with stakeholders, including Carer Gateway partners where appropriate;
- Identify opportunities to enhance community engagement;
- Provide internal support and training to Little Dreamers’ staff members on the and approaches to community engagement; and
- Create an evaluation framework to assess effectiveness of strategies for community engagement.
Young Carer Engagement
- Engage with Young Carers to facilitate referrals to Little Dreamers programs;
- Provide Carers with information on internal and external programs/services ensuring referral pathways for Carers and their families;
- Ensure referrals and service confirmation is provided to state based teams with accurate and complete information that allow for the timely commencement of services;
- Support Young Carers with a high level of customer service ensuring Young Carers are listened to with patience and non-judgement;
- Create an environment that Carers will find welcoming, real and inclusive; and
Other duties as required by the State Manager.
All staff are encouraged to attend programs and assist with delivery throughout the year. All staff attending face-to-face programs and events organised and facilitated by Little Dreamers are required to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations.
As our programs usually operate outside of usual school hours, your ability to work outside of these hours is essential to your success in this role. Our programs sometimes run on weekends or on the evenings, during school holidays and occasionally during the day.
Key Selection Criteria
The person suited to this role must have:
- An ability to liaise, consult and negotiate effectively including an ability to encourage participation and develop effective partnerships with stakeholders
- Proven ability and experience in representing organisations
- Effective communication skills, verbal and written, including the ability to develop reports, public speaking and conference presentations
- Ability to build relationships from the ground up and network effectively within the community
- Strong focus on excellent customer service
- Understand the importance of client confidentiality
We’ll be stoked if you also have this experience or knowledge:
- Lived experience as a carer or Young Carer
- Experience building relationships within a community
- Established connections with local schools or Young Carer support networks
- Understanding of the Carer Gateway
- Experience with data entry and record keeping
- An understanding and demonstrated commitment to social inclusion and diversity
- Skills in establishing empowering and supportive partnerships with individuals, families, young people and children with caring roles
- A commitment to maximising the opportunities and support for people within their local communities
Personal attributes
- Humble, hungry and kind
- A strong commitment and enthusiasm towards the purpose and mission of Little Dreamers
- Energetic, positive and proactive attitude
- Action-oriented and driven to achieve results
- Innovative
- Creative problem solver
- Flexible and highly responsive
- Dependable and accountable
A national police check and valid Working with Children Check is required for this position.
Benefits
When you join the Little Dreamers Team, you join a community of people committed to making a difference. We come together with shared values, passion and a collaborative culture. We are a rapidly growing organisation with access to a lot of development opportunities. We operate within a leadership structure that accepts and embraces everyone’s ideas and hard work to create the world that we want to see for Young Carers.
You also get access to salary packaging, internal EAP program, up to 10 days of paid carers leave, and generous parental leave packages.
Finally, we care as much about you as we do about our Young Carers. The Little Dreamers team is a family and we offer flexible working and regular team bonding events.
Little Dreamers is proud to be building our communities across Australia. We are an equal opportunity employer and promote a diverse, equal, and inclusive workplace.
We highly encourage applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. This includes but is not limited to, people with lived experience in caring roles, First Nations, people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Application Process
Get your Resume and Cover Letter ready and show us how your skills and experiences make you the perfect person to fill this position. None of this “To whom it may concern” stuff, show us what you’ve got!
Email your application (resume and cover letter) to careers@littledreamers.org.au with the subject line: Community Engagement Coordinator.
Shortlisted applicants will be notified and we’ll begin the interview process which may consist of a phone chat, a quick video submission from you and then probably some more traditional interviews (they’ll be fun, don’t you worry).
Classification
This is a part time position (30.4 hours) and is classified as a Level 3 employee under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Industry Award 2010 (MA000100).
Please note: It is an offence under the Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 2005 for a person convicted of a serious sex offence to apply for this position. Any offer of employment at Little Dreamers is subject to a Working with Children Check and Police Check.
