The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). The City leverages shared services functions across agencies, which results in better day-to-day management and building an integrated mission across agencies. DHS’s mission statement is, together with our not-for-profit partners, to prevent homelessness, when possible, address street homelessness, provide safe temporary shelter, and connect New Yorkers experiencing homelessness to suitable housing. The New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as cash, food and rental assistance as well as Medicaid.


The goals of the Health Services Office at the Department of Social Services (DSS), are to improve the health and well-being of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, reduce morbidity and mortality, thereby increasing their chances of succeeding in permanent housing and independent living, improving access to care and health outcomes for low-income and vulnerable populations. The Office brings public health and evidence-based interventions to DSS in the areas of health, mental health, substance use, and nutrition and our staff work with other divisions at DSS and with shelter and clinical providers on linkage to health services, coordination with hospitals and other health care providers, implement interventions, conduct programmatic research and evaluation and provide medical
consultation.

Visiting Psychiatric Services provides psychiatric evaluation and crisis intervention services, housing eligibility services, and assistance in obtaining federal disability benefits by working in collaboration with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), Adult Protective Services (APS), HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA), and Permanent Supportive Housing Providers throughout New York City. DSS is developing their capacity to track clients evaluated through VPS to ensure that clients identified with outstanding needs are linked to appropriate care and services, perform QA/QI, and develop standard reports; they will also develop a new program to identify those in need of psychiatric services in the DHS shelter system and methods for evaluating current service delivery outcome as well as new programming initiatives to drive service delivery improvements.

DSS Medical and Health Services Office is recruiting one (1) City Research Scientist II, to function as Care Coordinator, who:

Reporting directly to the Assistant Director of Evaluation, the VPS Care Coordinator will work in collaboration with the VPS multidisciplinary team to develop guidance and interventions to improve client and referring agency’s engagement with the service recommendations provided by the VPS unit to improve mental health, social, and health-related consumer needs.


- Record observations on the progress of biologic and social scientific research investigations, by evaluating gathered complex case data to contribute to statistical reports; use trend data and patterns to identify problems which will influence the progress of the investigation and make recommendations to improve systems to support research goals. Determine client profile who would best benefit from the VPS services, predict outcomes based on client’s profile and service use, develop methods to predict which clients will have repeated requests for evaluation. Statistical methods include descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and other tests for differences, regression models, propensity score matching and survival analyses.

- Develop monitoring/data collection tools, surveys and databases to support quantitative and qualitative evaluation products. Participate in quality improvement projects to improve health care delivery systems for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Projects may include client linkage to case management services, medical/mental health/substance use treatment, or linkage to community-based resources. Study the VPS database to determine areas for improvement and work with ITS to create evaluation reports, develop and implement surveys of users of the VPS services, including other HRA units, DHS and supportive housing providers, use both quantitative and qualitative data to determine if the VPS program is meeting the stated goals, using the program’s documented agreements, develop methods to facilitate care coordination by working with other agencies providing these services.

- Collaborate with supervisor to continuously improve methods to use VPS and health system data sources to rapidly identify and intervene to support VPS clients with complex behavioral health and/or medical issues, such as co-occurring substance-use and mental health disorders or HIV/AIDS or neurocognitive/neurodegenerative disorders. Determine areas requiring improvements and develop targeting quality improvement projects focus on improving the use and effectiveness of the program, compare utilization of and outcomes for the four different entities using the service.

- Assist with collaborating with DOHMH, DHS shelter providers, NYC Health and Hospitals, APS, HASA, OMH, and other relevant agencies to address mental health and support alliances. Collaborate with these agencies to review data and results and implement changes as needed to improve the utilization and effectiveness of the program, thereby using multi-agency input for maximum impact.

Salary Range: $84,981 - $106,654

Work Location: 33 Beaver Street New York, NY 10004

Monday-Friday 9 AM-5 PM

1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
2. A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

NOTE:
Probationary Period
Appointments to this position are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

- Prior experience completing psychosocial/psychiatric/psychological/mental health assessments. - Prior experience with care management, mental health services, linkage to care, healthcare, community work, community health activities or programs for persons with serious mental illness and or intellectual or developmental disabilities. - Experience working in the homeless field or with underserved populations. - Experience working in shelters, or home visiting programs, or conducting field visits. - Knowledge of public health research and use of data for epidemiologic monitoring, intervention implementation, and evaluation. - Experience in project management and high-level organizational skills. - Proficient in Microsoft office suite, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel and analytical software. - Excellent communication and documentation skills, including ability to tailor communication style appropriately for various stakeholders.

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

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.