Catholic Charities Service Corps Placement List
The following list of job placements are available for the 2009-2010 service year. A unique advantage of the CCSC involves the ability to develop new placements based on the specific talents, interests, and needs of the volunteers. Accepted applicants are asked to remain somewhat flexible, keeping an open mind and heart to serve where they are most needed. However, the CCSC makes every effort to work with each applicant, taking their wishes into account in order to create a positive work experience.
-
Cantalician Center Community Services: Day Habilitation Specialist
Cantalician Center Community Services offers a wide variety of different program options and related services for developmentally disabled adults (21 years and older) to assist them in their vocational and personal choices. The unique full-time Day Habilitation Program engages consumers in social, recreational and leisure activities to help maintain functional skills and experience life enrichment opportunities. Programming encompasses emotional, behavioral physical need areas and concerns.
The CCSC Volunteer will assist consumers in acquiring the skills, personal habits and positive attitudes that will enable them to function as productive employees. Necessary abilities and skills include good time management skills; ability and desire to work as part of an interdisciplinary team; high level of written and oral communication skills, as well as interpersonal skills; knowledge of computer and ability to utilize word processing programs; and the ability to learn the behavioral techniques and developmental disabilities to assist in the care of consumers. First Aid, CPR, and SCIP training will be provided. The CCSC Volunteer will also need to frequently kneel, crouch, etc. as required to assist staff and consumers; be able to work in an environment with a moderate noise level; use sensory abilities; and apply the appropriate SCIP procedures as needed.
The CCSC member will provide structured services and activities; plan and implement program plans; maintain accurate program and statistical records; assist in the cafeteria; work bench duty and hallway supervision during lunch; and assist in other program areas.
-
Catholic Charities Parish Outreach Program: Pantry Assistant in the Parish Outreach Program
This position involves being a member of the staff, rendering service in two pantries and outreach centers while learning to utilize services to enhance our clients' lives. Responsibilities: Familiarize oneself with local resources, stock shelves, pack bags, arrange clothing, interview clients for initial intake sessions, interact with clients coming for food and clothing, make follow through home visits when necessary, make occasional home visit/food delivery, pick up donations, make necessary referrals to various agencies/services, assist clients in filling out various forms for other agencies, assist in keeping office areas in order, any record keeping or filing that is necessary to each location.
At our Fulton Street site: plan and direct weekly after school activity club for children age 8-12, plan and direct 2 to 3 weeks of summer programs for children age 7-12, assist with monitoring children's Saturday sewing program, help with weekly recycling. Other responsibilities as determined by each of the on-site program supervisors. - Gerard Place: Case Manager Aide
Since November 2000, Gerard Place has sought to begin to repair and nurture homeless families who are seeking a better life. The agency's goal is to strengthen families to achieve the best quality of life possible and to attain greater self-sufficiency.
The 14-unit building is equipped with a 42-bed capacity. Families come to the agency from all different types of backgrounds that include abuse, domestic violence, and substance abuse. Gerard Place accepts those families that are ready to attain a GED diploma, learn a vocational skill and/or secure employment so that when they transition out of Gerard Place they are self-sufficient and productive members of the community. The After-Care program tracks their progress in the community and assists families that are struggling to prevent a reoccurrence of homelessness.
Gerard Place is rooted in the mission of Jesus Christ and sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious of Western New York. We provide transitional housing for homeless single parent families. Our goal is to strengthen families to achieve the best quality of life possible and to attain greater self-sufficiency.
Under the supervision of the Life Skills Educator/Case Manager, the CCSC volunteer will assist in the implementation of After-Care discharge planning development, remaining in consistent contact with the families to ensure a successful and prevailing transition into self-sufficiency. The caseworker will work with approximately 20 families per week. He or she will work collaboratively with outside agencies and other community resources to ensure continuity of planning toward discharge goals and continuing self-sufficiency. This additional staff person will also participate in community coalitions that work to advocate for programs and structures that empower homeless families, a critical function that in many small agencies is challenging to keep as a top priority. Lastly, the CCSC volunteer will help to introduce a new Community Education project. -
Nativity Miguel: Teacher/Teacher Aide
The Nativity Miguel is a middle school located in Buffalo's inner city. Our students, most of whom enter the school from the public school system, are from neighborhoods or living situations where they are vulnerable to negative influences from "the street" often associated with poverty and the pressures of inner city living. We follow 9 mission effectiveness standards: we are faith-based, serve the economically poor and disadvantaged, provide a holistic education, partner with the family, provide an extended day and year, offer continuing assistance through high school, are governed by an effective administrative structure, utilize on-going assessment and inquiry to track student achievement, and are active participants in the national network. Our students come from families-at-risk including African-American, Latino and both refugees and asylees fleeing from violence and persecution in Africa. They are Moslem, Baptist, Catholic or of no religious denomination. Almost all our students receive free or reduced lunches, an indication of their poverty status. As they enter the school, many of our students are performing below grade level academically and already showing signs of negative street influence including poor self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and limited anger control. Their level of achievement would not be possible without the structured, stable environment, the personal mentoring, and extended day and extended year activities that make up a NativityMiguel Model education. We specifically reach out to families that cannot afford a private school education. Our funding comes from individuals, corporations and foundations who want to make a difference in the life of a child and believe that the cycle of poverty can best be broken through education. We also welcome volunteer assistance through WNY AmeriCorps, Canisius College, local high schools, retired teachers and others. Approximately 50% of our staff are men and women of color, including three Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious congregation for women of color.
Working directly with our more experienced teachers, the CCSC Volunteer will teach one subject, possibly Science, to vulnerable middle school boys in grades 5-8. The volunteer will also supervise one class of after-school study hall, help monitor the after-school recreation period, and assist our vice-principal in the analysis of the data we will gather from the assessment of new students during our summer school.
A passion for serving youth, the ability to provide quality education skills to students, ability to work as a member of a team, ability and willingness to learn from our more experienced staff, prior tutoring/mentoring and classroom management experience is a plus. -
Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS): Legal Assistant and Outreach Worker
NLS is a private not-for-profit agency. Since 1976, NLS has provided civil legal services to low-income residents of Erie County. NLS believes that access to civil legal services is in no way optional. It is often the difference between having a home and homelessness, between living safely at home and being the victim of an abusive spouse, between overcoming a disability and being institutionalized.
Neighborhood Legal Services has been providing services to homeless clients through the Homeless Task Force since 1993. The Homeless Task Force is staffed by full and part-time attorneys who supervises a team of volunteer and paid law students from the University at Buffalo School of Law as well as one full-time Diocesan Volunteer. The advocates conduct legal intake at the local shelters and dining facilities, including the Buffalo City Mission, Salvation Army, Haven House, Cornerstone Manor, Compass House, Loaves & Fishes and the Friends of the Night People.
Neighborhood Legal Services' Homeless Task Force provides on-site legal services at area shelters. By providing on-site services at shelters, the Homeless Task Force will be able to overcome many of the obstacles homeless people face when attempting to attain economic self-sufficiency. The Homeless Task Force program is the only organization in Erie County that will provide on-site legal accessibility to public benefits for the homeless population.
The CCSC Member will have the invaluable experience of working within the Homeless Task Force program, the only organization in Erie County that provides on-site legal accessibility to public benefits for the homeless population. Duties will include assessing legal issues, developing interview skills and resolving legal problems through advocacy and representation. The CCSC member will learn the substantive areas of law that are relevant to the homeless community including family, housing, social security, and public benefits law. They will be responsible for a caseload, conduct intake at various homeless shelters in Buffalo, staff a desk at the Department of Social Services at least one day per week, attend policy meetings, accompany clients to appointments at the Department of Social Services, and submit articles related to homelessness to the agency's newsletter. - St. John the Baptist Outreach Center: Assistant to the President
Operating in Lockport, NY, the St. John the Baptist Outreach Center is home to a Food Pantry, distributing food three days a week, in addition to special distributions of food at Thanksgiving and Christmas; a Clothing Center, which distributes new and gently-used clothing, appliances, and household items three days a week; an Emergency Outreach distributes gently-used furniture, beds, and appliances to people in need of basic home furnishings for victims of domestic violence and natural disasters, families who have been evicted, individuals coming out of emergency shelter or rehabilitation centers; and an Emergency Assistance program which underwrites the cost of emergency shelter at a local motel, prescription assistance, and other forms of immediate aid.
Mostly staffed by parishioners and volunteers, the CCSC member will be involved with, and participate in, all facets of the overall mission of the Outreach Center, which includes: networking with partnering agencies who provide and accept referrals; direct service in Food Pantry, Clothing Center, and Furniture and Appliance Distribution Center; and scheduling programs with partnering agencies, such as Consumer Credit Counseling, Legal Aid, Cornell Co-operative; and administrative and record-keeping duties.