Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The New Family Home Visits Program within New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is expanding home visiting in NYC and streamlining how providers, organizations and community residents can access quality home visiting services. The goal is to improve maternal and child health and well-being outcomes by matching families’ assessed risks to evidence-based (EB) or evidence-generating (EG) home visiting (HV) models that are most appropriate for them based on their needs, and to connect them to other resources as needed. Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities create disparate outcomes in the neighborhoods served by existing Agency sponsored locally designed home visiting programs as compared with the rest of the city, and providing services beginning in the prenatal through postpartum period is vital to addressing these outcomes. In addition, recent attention to inequities in maternal morbidity and mortality, especially in New York City, points to the to promote more respectful maternity care and greater agency for people during childbirth, both of which the New Family Home Visits Program will facilitate: We are seeking a candidate that can demonstrate leadership and is able inspire, influence and enable others to achieve a specific mission and meet unit goals.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

Support home visitors to ensure appropriate assessment and referral for identified social and/or mental health need of eligible families.

Facilitate strategies designed to support successful engagement with eligible families to ensure connection to services and resources to support client self-sufficiency.

Work on a multi-disciplinary team to identify appropriate resources, service gaps, engage stakeholders, facilitate internal and external trainings.

Conduct independent home visits, complete observations to support monitoring and assessment of core components of program intervention are delivered including orienting, counseling, and training program staff on psychosocial assessment and interventions.

Conduct mental health assessment with clients and connect them to the appropriate services.

Assess, link and follow-up with referred families to ensure continuum of social support services through connection to interventions and support services.

Identify citywide/community resources; establish and maintain linkages with community organizations and partners.

Serve as social service and mental health/subject matter expert; provide technical assistance and training to program staff.

Keep detailed records and provide regular activity summaries using standardized data collection tools.

Represent Program during meetings with internal and external stakeholders.

Qualification Requirements
A Master's Degree in Social Work from an accredited school of social work.

License Requirements
You will be required to have a valid Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) or Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) license issued by the New York State Department of Education within one year of the date of appointment. This license must be presented to the appointing officer at the time of appointment or, if it is obtained after appointment, at the time it is received. This license must be maintained for the duration of your employment.

If you fail to obtain your LMSW or LCSW license within one year of the date of appointment, your probationary period will be automatically extended for six months. If you fail to obtain the required license by the end of 18 months of service, you will be terminated.

Special Note

Section 424-a of the New York Social service Law requires an authorized agency to inquire whether a candidate for employment with child-care responsibilities has been the subject of a child abuse and maltreatment report. The agency has the discretion to assign a candidate who has been the subject of a child abuse and maltreatment report to a position with no child-care responsibilities.

Home Visiting/community outreach experience Maternal, child and mental health experience Excellent written and oral communication fluent English and Spanish or French preferred. Work related travel by public transportation is required. Updated New York State Education Department/Office of the Professions Licensure Requirements: According to the New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions/State Board Office for Social Work and Mental Health Practitioners, as defined in Articles 153, 154 and 163 of the Education Law, effective June 24, 2022, an individual must be: 1) Licensed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and/or Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) to practice social work as operated by the Department of Mental Hygiene agencies. For additional information, please review 7704 Requirements for a license under NYS Social Work: Laws, Rules & Regulations: Article 154 (nysed.gov) or 2) Authorized through a limited permit valid for a period of not more than twelve months who has met all requirements for licensure as a licensed master social worker or a licensed clinical social worker except those relating to the examination and provided that the individual is under the general supervision of a licensed master social worker or a licensed clinical social worker, as determined by the department. For additional information, please review 7705: Limited permits under NYS Social Work: Laws, Rules & Regulations: Article 154 (nysed.gov) Please review http://www.op.nysed.gov/surveys/mhpsw/exempt-agencies-overview.htm for the latest information concerning the expiration of the Exemption law.

This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.