Social Services Assistant - City of Newton

Job Description

Primary Purpose:
To assist with connecting Newton residents with social services and resources.
 

Essential Functions:
• Have phone calls and meetings with current and new clients regarding needs and resources
• Assist with filling out and submitting benefit paperwork
• Research additional resources as needed
• Design outreach and informational materials
• Assist with programming for the community
• Coordinate service delivery with other relevant city staff and partner organizations
• Maintain case notes and other documentation
• Participate in team meetings and group supervision
 

Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Bilingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, or Russian is preferred.
 

Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree and/or relevant social services experience
 

Necessary Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Possesses strong clinical judgment while working with a wide variety of residents presenting with diverse needs.
• Collaborative and responsive professionalism
• Understanding of and able to maintain strict client confidentiality
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Highly organized and detail oriented with excellent follow through
• Superior interpersonal skills with outgoing style and willingness to engage diverse constituents
 

Physical Demands and Working Environment:
COMPUTER SKILLS: computer skills including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook. Experience using databases a plus. Strong typing skills with attention to detail and the ability to conduct computer searches for resources, answers to questions, and fact-based information.
 

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common technical journals, and legal documents. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from residents. Ability to write/document information that conforms to prescribed style and format. Ability to present information effectively, which may be controversial in nature. Additional language abilities in addition to English a plus.
 

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
 

REASONING ABILITY: Ability to define problems and use judgement to work toward results, modify methods/techniques and make recommendations dealing with several abstract and concrete variables within clearly defined laws, precedents and policies.
 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here represent those requirements that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The job may require one to carry materials, heavy at times, to support clinics.
 

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Fast paced
• Multi-tasking
• Extensive interpersonal interaction
• Variable
 

Performance Standard:
Employees at all levels are expected to effectively work together to meet the needs of the community and the City through work behaviors demonstrating the City’s values. Employees are also expected to lead by example and demonstrate the highest level of ethics.

Company Description

THE CITY:

The City of Newton is a wonderful place to live and work. Newton has safe and attractive neighborhoods, an excellent public school system, an active community life, multiple transportation systems, proximity to Boston and a well-managed and financially strong City government. The City of Newton has a population of approximately 88,900, with 32,600 housing units and occupies a land area of 18.3 square miles. Newton is principally suburban-residential in character. Unlike many other communities that are established around a single Main Street or downtown, Newton is comprised of thirteen distinctive villages. Newton has a diversified economic base with approximately 4,700 establishments employing approximately 79,500 people. Newton is special in many ways. It is home to a variety of private secondary and post-secondary schools including a portion of Boston College, Lasell University, William James College, Hebrew College, and the UMass Amherst – Mount Ida Campus.  The longest stretch of the Boston Marathon runs through the City, including the well-known Heartbreak Hill. Newton-Wellesley Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham health care system, serves as an important partner to the City. In September 2018, Newton was again ranked #1 in Massachusetts as the best place to live and #12 in the U.S.

OUR GOVERNMENT:

Newton has what is known as a “strong Mayor” form of government with the Mayor having the executive and administrative powers of the City. The legislative branch is comprised of 24 City Councilors. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller was sworn in on January 1, 2018 after serving on the City Council. She ran on a platform of providing Newton’s children with a top-notch education in an inclusive environment where empty nesters, seniors, young families, and people of diverse incomes can live together in vibrant villages and neighborhoods. Mayor Fuller is committed to keeping Newton safe, improving the city’s infrastructure, addressing climate change, providing excellent and responsive city services, and fostering art, culture and community life. The first female Mayor of Newton, she is a tireless advocate for all the city’s residents and is committed to making sure the city is welcoming, inclusive and diverse. The City of Newton was evaluated by Moody’s Investors Services in February 2020 and assigned its highest rating of AAA. Newton was thus well-positioned to weather the pandemic and economic downturn.

AS AN EMPLOYER:

The City of Newton believes that its employees are its greatest asset.  To that end, we are committed to supporting our employees by providing competitive wages and growth, a comprehensive benefits package which includes a defined municipal pension plan, quality health and dental insurance plans, generous paid leave benefits, paid holidays, and access to supplemental benefits such as deferred compensation, short term disability plans, flexible spending accounts, and other employee benefits.  We also provide access to an Employee Assistance Program and access to employee training and professional development opportunities.  We continuously work to review and expand upon our benefit offerings.  We encourage you to visit our Human Resources Department website to learn more about our organization and benefits which are available to our employees.  And as always, you are encouraged to reach out to our dynamic HR Team by emailing hr@newtonma.gov.

Human Resources Diversity Statement

We recognize our workforce is a source of strength that is vital to our ability to effectively serve the City of Newton’s diverse community. We will:

•   Actively recruit, develop, and retain a diverse and talented workforce.
•   Proactively address discrimination through education and in partnership with other departments and leaders.
•   Serve as a role model to celebrate and nurture diversity.
•   Foster inclusion by staying curious and clarifying assumptions.
•   Evaluate and develop policies and practices that reflect the diverse nature of our workforce.
•   Build and strengthen accountability at all levels to support diversity efforts.

Benefits

This is a non-benefited position