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Job Opportunity

Village Angels Shift Lead

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KEY INFORMATION

ABOUT THE ROLE

LGBT Foundation is an impactful, vibrant charity with a wide portfolio of well-established services and rapidly developing new initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. We are looking for a Shift Lead for our Village Angels Team, who will be responsible for leading our established team in Manchester and also supporting with a pilot in the Liverpool area.

Our Village Angels service is a community safety initiative, aimed at supporting people to “get home safely” on a Friday and Saturday night. They are the face of the LGBT Foundation and the LGBTQ+ community. The team can be found patrolling around Canal Street and the nearby area from 9pm to 3.30am on Friday and Saturday nights. They support vulnerable people with a wide range of issues, including injuries, mental health crisis, and those who are lost and are struggling. They also provide signposting to services for onward support.

There is also a pilot that we will be running in the Liverpool area throughout February and March, with the hope that this will carry on into the next financial year.

We are looking for people who have strong communication skills, leadership skills, and the ability to manage difficult or challenging situations. Our team engage with potential service users and members of public regularly and will need to be able to make decisions when dealing with risky situations. As this team’s work is based within Manchester’s gay village, we are looking for individuals with understanding of the key issues experienced by the LGBTQ+ community which will aid them in provide safe support to those who need us but also when working in partnership strong relationships with organisations like Greater Manchester and Merseyside Police, as well as venues that cater to the LGBTQ+ community.   

Experience within health care is desirable but not essential, as first aid, safeguarding, and mental health first aid training will be provided. 

We are taking positive action to encourage applications from people of colour (PoC) and other racially minoritised communities, trans*, non-binary, and/or older people (aged 50+), to improve the representation of colleagues from these communities in our staff team.

*Trans is an umbrella & inclusive term used to describe people whose gender identity differs in some way from that which they were assigned at birth; including non-binary people, cross-dressers, and those who partially or incompletely identify with their sex assigned at birth.

Role Accountabilities

Facilitating delivery of shifts

• This role is accountable for running each Village Angels shift, this includes making sure that the team on that night is fully briefed to ensure volunteers feel confident and informed to carry out their roles, and that equipment is in order and well stocked.
• Attending police briefings and passing on relevant information and making contact with the sergeant on duty to set up a direct line of contact for the evening.
• Managing the support of service users, as well as guiding and empowering volunteers to deliver the best possible support, including identifying safeguarding issues and escalating to emergency services where necessary.
• Providing supervision to the volunteers by ensuring that all behaviour displayed is safe and appropriate, and challenging where it falls short of expectations. 
• Facilitating debriefs after serious incidents, and at the end of every shift, to check in with volunteers and allow issues to be raised. 
• Feeding back concerns and flagging issues to the Community Safety Team, including concerns about volunteer conduct and steps taken to address those.
• Opening and locking up the Haven and LGBT Foundation building, in accordance with specifications as and when required.
• Completion of documentation relating to safeguarding and work with LGBT Foundation’s safeguarding structure to ensure risk is monitored and managed effectively. 

Supporting wider programme delivery

• Completion of shift supervision tasks, including completion of shift notes in a timely manner and follow-up with volunteers where necessary.
• Attending and actively participating in quarterly team meetings to shape delivery of the programme.
• Attending relevant training required for the role, including, but not limited to, introductory training and first aid training. As a shift lead you will have a responsibility to ensure that your certified first aid qualification is up to date.
• Management of your diary to ensure that you are available to cover at least two shifts per month, booked around your schedule.
• Being flexible, where possible, to additional demands of the programme; including last minute support to avoid shift cancellation, covering additional shifts, or supporting with the delivery of extra Village Angels events like Manchester Pride Welcome Team.
• Complying with LGBT Foundation’s policies, procedures, management and monitoring systems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ROLE PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE ROLE PROFILE AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.