Community Care Fellow

Work with MAAP as a QVS Fellow!

About the Position:

MAAP is seeking to fill the role of Community Care Fellow to offer direct support to unhoused and underhoused community members at our drop-in space. This person in this position will also offer other community care as needed; organize and support volunteers; and engage in organizing, advocacy, and community education. This position recognizes that community organizing led by directly impacted people is not possible when people’s basic needs are not met and seeks to dismantle the false binary between direct services / support and community organizing.
 

The Fellow will work collaboratively with the Executive Director, Program and Outreach Organizer, MAAP Board Members, unhoused community leaders, and movement partners on tasks, projects, and long-term goal - including our organizing work. Our organizing and advocacy priorities are shaped by community members and fall under the following categories:

Housing as a Right , Expanded Low-Barrier Healthcare and Liberatory Harm Reduction (including the implementation of Overdose Prevention Centers), Human Rights, and Ending system of Harm & Abolition. As a small organization we offer flexibility, leadership opportunities, and the chance to be creative and learn (as we learn), and build community with us.
Brief outline of responsibilities related to direct support and community care:
Assist in running our drop-in space on Tuesdays and Thursdays alongside our Executive Director and Program and
Outreach Organizer
Meet unhoused community members’ material and survival needs, and connect people to resources responsive to their
goals or needs, such as healthcare, insurance, housing, legal aid, and benefits
Maintain a strong and safe community space through relationship-building and community agreements, and community
member rights and responsibilities

Support community members in de-escalating themselves and collaborating with MAAP team to support them in safety-planning around overdose, law enforcement interactions and engagement with the criminal legal system, and other crises.

Engage in sweep support and encampment / street outreach as requested or needed. Help people move and replace belongings, act as a liaison with police and DPW, share know your rights information, work closely with our legal partners, offer resources and connection to medical and legal support
Support volunteers and engage in back-end free store support: sorting donations, making kits (hygiene, wound care, harm reduction), and organizing our space
Update and build out MAAP’s database of comprehensive resources for unhoused and underhoused community member and people who use drugs in the Greater Boston / Cambridge Area
 

Brief outline of responsibilities related to advocacy, organizing, community education & outreach:
Implement strategies to support MAAP community members engaging in organizing and advocacy work, and build leadership capacity among participant organizers
Contribute to our existing movement campaigns and create actionable organizing campaigns based on self-identified goals and concerns of community members, alongside the MAAP team, unhoused community members, and our movement
allies
Contribute to MAAP events (ex. Semi-Annual Tag Sale) and community events (ex. tabling, marching)
 

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
Ability to support and be in community with people who are unhoused including people in shelters and people living unsheltered, including people who may have been incarcerated and/or involved in the criminal legal system, may use drugs, may be in recovery, may be sex workers, and may have survived forced treatment. Must be able to work alongside
our community, who organize and shape our space; Problem solver with skills to creatively addressing issues in a fast paced and sometimes stressful environment; Excellent communicator by text, email, on the phone, and in person with many kinds of communicators; Ability to incorporate diverse perspectives from community members and team into approach and work; Well versed in using Mac computers and G-Suite, including showing others how to use technology; Work independently and collaboratively within a small, close-knit team in a mission-led space; Exhibits the flexibility required in a small organization, openness to change, and seeks out resources for personal and professional growth; Approach that is in alignment with harm reduction principles, practice, and movement; restorative and transformative justice practices; and trauma-informed and person-centered care; Commitment to the rights of people who are surviving poverty in public and in shelter; ending the war on people who use drugs; the decriminalization of poverty, mental illness; and substance use; the abolition of jail/prison and systems of
policing; racial justice and dismantling white supremacy.
 

POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
Experience organizing and supporting volunteers; Organizing experience;
Policy or legislative work; Using social media (twitter / X, instagram, facebook, tiktok, bluesky) for education, awareness building, organizing or base building, and fundraising;
Ability to speak a language that is spoken by some of our community (Spanish, Haitian Creole).
 

EXPERIENCE
We know people gain experience in many ways; through life experiences, paid work, and unpaid work which could include supporting, caring for, or responding to crises involving family, friends, community members or more formal internships or volunteer experiences. Some people have formal education and some people don’t; this job doesn’t require it.
 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
Must be able to read and write in English at a proficient level. Must be able to speak with, understand and have clear communication with MAAP community members, volunteers, donors, partners, and individuals and organizations who may not be aligned with our work, values, or community. Must be able to stand for at least two hours and climb stairs daily. Must be able to lift and carry 30 lbs. Must be able to be outside in all weather conditions.

About Quaker Voluntary Service:

Quaker Voluntary Service is a 9.5-month service program operating in Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Portland, OR.  During their service term, QVS Fellows receive many supports including:

Monthly stipend

Housing 

Food allowance

Transportation allowance

Health insurance

Four off-site retreats

Programming every other week (QVS days) to engage in Quaker practices, learn about social justice, and develop many skills including community building and transformation conflict.

…and more!

For more details, please visit our website.