Safety Advocate (Security role)

Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services has helped more than 75,000 young adults in San Francisco with outreach, shelter, housing, education, employment, healthcare, and other services.

Today, Larkin Street Youth Services is the largest provider of housing and services to homeless youth in the Bay Area. We serve 1,500 youth annually, operating or partnering to provide more than 500 emergency shelter, transitional, supportive, and subsidy-based housing beds at several unique sites across San Francisco.

Working at Larkin Street, no matter what department, means making a real difference in the lives of young people experiencing homelessness. Our team is skilled, diverse, and passionate. Our culture encourages achievement and professional development, as well as teamwork and self-care. Our focus is always on the young people at the heart of our mission and to nurture potential, promote dignity and support bold steps by all.

For more information about us, visit www.larkinstreetyouth.org.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Under the guidance of the Operations Manager, the Safety Advocate provides a safe environment for clients, staff, volunteers, and guests of Larkin Street Youth Services. This role responds to on-the-ground crisis and emergencies to increase safety in and around Larkin Street’s housing programs, drop-in center, and offices. You will be joining a team that takes a trauma-informed perspective to their work. Safety Advocates de-escalate behaviors and risks with compassion and care.   

This is a full-time position, eligible for full benefits.

Your responsibilities:

• Monitor and anticipate potential safety and security problems, and attempts, through de-escalation techniques to prevent or defuse them before they become critical. 

• Maintain updated awareness of clients with restricted or modified access to services. 

• Redirect and ensure the exit of ineligible clients to secure the safety of the space, 

• Respond to emergency calls from assigned areas as needed. 

• Safely deal with or assist in dealing with any emergency situations. 

• Always maintain a high level of awareness of one’s surroundings. 

• Observe and identify unusual/irregular occurrences that may require closer examination to ensure the safety of the facilities and the persons in them. 

• Observe and safely intervene as appropriate in crises to ensure the safety of staff, clients, volunteers, and other visitors. 

• Monitor assigned area to identify safety hazards, reports safety hazards, and intervene according to established procedures. 

• Comply with all Larkin Street’s safety requirements, policies, and requirements to ensure a safe work environment for all. 

• Check and secure buildings at the beginning and end of each day as instructed. Checks assigned areas (rounds) as needed. 

• Participate in emergency response and disaster preparedness training and drills. 

• Respond to crises and emergencies with urgency, occasionally needs to ascend/descend stairways quickly. 

• Safely and effectively de-escalate disruptive and/or aggressive persons using acceptable physical de-escalation and crisis prevention techniques. 

• Support special events and activities as assigned, including set up and breakdown and monitoring the event and/or workshop itself. 

• Attends and supports with restorative re-entry meetings with clients 

• Support in bag searches and metal detection “wanding” as needed. 

• Assist with janitorial services to maintain a clean and safe environment for work and community access including daily upkeep of the exterior of the facility which involves litter abatement and power washing.  

• Courteously assist guests and clients, giving information, responding to questions. 

• Maintain appropriate boundaries with clients and staff as outlined in the Standards of Conduct located in the Larkin Street Youth Services employee handbook. 

• Maintain up-to-date information on internal programs to support guests. 

• Assist in implementing and enforcing program procedures and guidelines in all programs internally and while working externally. 

• May need to move about the surrounding areas of their post (i.e., Larkin Street housing programs) for coverage. 

• Treat all clients with empathy, dignity, and respect. Seek to understand the other person's perspective and experience. 

• Demonstrate the ability to work effectively across cultures and an openness to learning about cultures not familiar to oneself. 

• Participate in regular training and development opportunities to increase personal capacity to apply innovative approaches to daily workflows and guest engagement. 

• Understand and follow the organization's programs, policies, and procedures 

• Participate in relevant meetings supporting team communication and the program's capacity to fulfill organizational goals and mission. 

• Write incident and modification of service reports as needed. 

• Collaboratively work with others to achieve team success. 

• Manage stress and pressure situations calmly and responsively. Maintain the capacity to control reactions and awareness of how their behavior or response can impact others. 

• Practice direct, respectful, open, and honest communication with their colleagues. Proactively seeks support from team members or management. 

• Demonstrate cooperation with coworkers, management, and the community at large. 

WHO YOU ARE:

• You are passionate about the Larkin Street Youth Services mission to end youth homelessness.
• You are skilled at being polite, diplomatic, and firm, especially in emergency and/or high-pressure situations. 
• You are able to hold firm boundaries with staff and clients. 
• You are able to work weekends and/or holidays as required. 
• You are willing to complete guard card certification within three (3) months of hire. 
• You are skilled at crisis de-escalation. You are willing to complete Crisis Prevention training within three (3) months of hire. 
• You are certified in CPR/First Aid and/or you are willing to complete this training within three (3) months of hire.
• You are able to document situations in written reports. 
• You are comfortable communicating using a variety of methods: computers, smartphones, iPads.
• You are a self-starter and team player. Your colleagues describe you as compassionate, dependable, and patient. 
• You work best in an onsite and in person working environment. This role is 100% onsite and in person.
• You are vaccinated against COVID 19.
• Your proficiency in a second language is a huge plus!

THE PERKS:

• Hourly Rate of $25.00
  
  • +$1 per hour for any overnight shifts worked.
  • +$1.50 per hour for bilingual incentive pay. Must be fluent in Spanish and English.
• Choice of Kaiser and Sutter medical plans, plus dental and vision.
• Generous 3 weeks of vacation annually, plus 11 Paid Holidays and 3 Floating Holidays.
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer matching.
• Flexible spending accounts for Healthcare and Dependent Care expenses.
• Life Insurance.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for counseling services.
• Health Advocate Service.
• Commuter Benefits Program.
• Paid Sabbatical following 5 and 10 years of employment.

Larkin Street Youth Services is an equal opportunity employer. Larkin Street Youth Service seeks qualified candidates with an interest in the non-profit sector. We are committed to embracing diversity and consider all applicants for all positions without regard to color, ethnic background, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, HIV/AIDS status, veteran status, or any other legally protected class. We encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply for any open position in which they feel qualified. 

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.  For details on how it is applicable to your employment, please click here.