Community Prevention Worker

**Position**:Community Prevention Worker

**Location**: Thunder Bay

**Reports to**:Team Supervisor of Program Site

**Position type**: Full-time, Contract

**Duration**: 6 Months (September - March 31, 2025)

**Salary range**: $54,411- $57,750 annual + benefits

**Organizational **S**ummary**

The Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (Oahas) is an Indigenous-led organization committed to promoting and supporting healthy, thriving Indigenous communities through providing culturally grounded education and access to harm reduction to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STBBIs in our communities. Oahas operates based on the principles of Greater Involvement of People living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA), Meaningful Engagement of People living with HIV/AIDS (MEPA), “nothing about us without us”, Indigenous harm reduction, and respect for our cultural knowledges and teachings. These foundational principles guide all aspects of our relationships and work.

**Organizational Values** & **Accountability **Behaviour**s**

Oahas’ organizational values are Autonomy and self-determination, Accessibility, Innovation, Justice, Connection, Accountability, Hope and Advocacy. Based on our organizational values, we have developed agency-wide accountability behaviours that are shared with all Oahas staff and used as part of our performance evaluation tools. These include engaging in the work using direct communication, kindness, generosity of spirit and respect.

**Position Summary**

Community Prevention Workers provide culturally grounded STBBI & harm reduction education, one-to-one service navigation supports, access to harm reduction supplies, linkages to STBBI testing and treatment, run drop-in programming, and facilitate cultural workshops and educational groups for community.

We are currently hiring two full-time contract Community Prevention Worker positions located in Thunder Bay, ON.

Community Prevention Workers report to the Team Supervisor of the Program Site with the following areas of responsibilities: Harm Reduction, Community, and Education Programs and Services; Testing, Treatment & Linkage to Care; Administration - with particular emphasis on one-on-one and group program reporting and case file administration.

**Key Responsibilities**

**Harm Reduction**, Community**,** and **Education **Programs and **Services**
- Participate in community events and gatherings and set-up displays and information booths.
- Advocate for quality of care, non-judgmental and non-stigmatizing services for Indigenous people accessing health services related to the prevention, testing and treatment of STBBIs.
- Provide education to service providers on addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health care, HIV & HCV basics as it relates to prevention, testing and treatment, and Indigenous harm reduction.
- Collaborate locally and regionally and create partnerships to improve services and access to care for Indigenous peoples.
- Engage peers and volunteers with lived and living experience to assist in creating harm reduction kits, provide training to peers, and work together to distribute harm reduction supplies to community members.
- Support community members when accessing Oahas Drop-in services, including maintaining a safe and welcoming space, relationship building and active engagement with individuals, providing practical supports as available, providing harm reduction gear, preparing and serving food as available, delivering programming as determined by the team, cleaning and sanitizing the space, engaging in conflict resolution and crisis intervention as needed, and connecting people to external services and supports as requested.

**Testing, **Treatment & Linkage to Care**
- Provide supportive, culturally grounded pre and post-test counselling support.
- Support people who might be in crisis to navigate medical services as it relates to testing and/or accessing PEP.
- Provide support to Indigenous People Living with HIV/AIDS (IPHA) community members through coordinating and/or facilitating support groups and various program activities that support improved quality of life.
- Develop and maintain strategic partnerships to ensure a continuum of care as it relates to HIV or HCV treatment and wrap around support.
- Support community members in meeting their needs in the areas of harm reduction, health care, housing, income, social support, legal, substance-use supports, through advocacy, systems navigation and providing appropriate warm referrals and linkages to care.
- When requested by IPHAs, provide support with treatment adherence.

**Administration**
- Complete OCASE/Treat, OCHART and NEO database entries on a weekly basis.
- Ongoing program reporting, data collection, file maintenance and records management.
- Ongoing compliance with Oahas policies and procedures is a requirement for this job.
- Engage in program planning through the development of a workplan.
- Be responsible for submitting finance requests and reconcili