Displacement Prevention Navigator (Independent Contractor (Non-Employee)

Displacement Prevention Navigator El Buen Samaritano (El Buen) has been a trusted community resource for families in Central Texas for over 35 years. Serving more than 30,000 individuals annually through culturally relevant food access, health literacy, education, and economic mobility programming, El Buen is a welcoming space where families grow into their own power and unleash their potential. Austin Housing (City of Austin) creates and preserves housing opportunities to stabilize communities. Austin Housing has partnered with El Buen Samaritano to implement the Displacement Prevention Navigator Program and manage recruitment, training, and support of Navigators helping residents in neighborhoods at-risk of displacement. El Buen seeks a community-based Independent Contractor to serve as a Displacement Prevention Navigator. The Navigator provides frontline housing stabilization support to households at risk of displacement through proactive engagement, culturally responsive intake and assessment, navigation to resources, documentation, timely triage and escalation of urgent housing risk, and structured follow-up. This is a flexible, community-facing contract ideal for individuals with strong neighborhood ties, lived experience, or established trust in communities experiencing high displacement risk. We strongly encourage applicants who have lived in, worked in, organized in, or provided informal support within priority neighborhoods, even if their experience has not been in a formal housing or nonprofit role. The Displacement Prevention Navigator functions as a housing-focused Community Health Worker (CHW) within El Buen's Community Health Worker model and provides culturally and linguistically appropriate navigation, outreach, assessment, referral, and follow-up grounded in trauma-informed, person-centered practice. This role is especially well-suited for trusted community members, peer leaders, parent leaders, promotoras, church leaders, grassroots volunteers, and others with strong relationship-based experience supporting families through housing instability, benefits access, school systems, healthcare access, or other community-based systems. The Navigator provides housing stabilization navigation and referrals while connecting participants to El Buen and partner resources (health, food access, education, and economic supports). The Navigator works collaboratively with staff and community partners to strengthen participant outcomes and contributes to data collection and reporting aligned with program requirements.

Follow same-day escalation protocols to the Contract Manager (or designee) for urgent housing risks, including eviction notice or filing, imminent lockout, utility disconnect notice with imminent shutoff, unsafe housing conditions posing immediate health or safety risk, domestic violence or safety concerns impacting housing stability, and heightened vulnerability requiring immediate stabilization Support workflow processes and escalate urgent or complex cases consistent with program protocols and supervisor guidance Within 24 hours of identifying urgent risk, document the risk indicator, actions taken, and recommended next steps in the designated system and notify the Contract Manager through the agreed communication channel Maintain organized case records consistent with program documentation standards to support compliance and audit readiness Community Outreach & Engagement Lead at least one Community Resource Fair during the contract term Participate in outreach events in priority neighborhoods Build awareness of displacement prevention resources through proactive community engagement Represent El Buen with professionalism in community settings and support culturally grounded outreach that builds trust and reduces barriers to access Participate in at least two (2) outreach activities per month (event, tabling, partner meeting, canvass, or neighborhood activation), unless an alternate plan is approved by the Contract Manager based on program needs Evaluation & Reporting Maintain accurate and timely documentation to support program reporting and audit readiness Submit monthly activity summaries (# of households/individuals served, intakes/assessments, closed-loop referrals, trends, barriers, and follow-up needs) Accurately collect and enter data aligned to program measures to demonstrate effectiveness and support continuous improvement Participate in evaluation and quality improvement activities as requested, including data integrity checks and process improvements Protect client confidentiality and use only El Buen-approved tools and systems TrainingComplete required onboarding and program orientation within two weeks of contractual agreement signature Complete Community Health Worker (CHW) certification training if not already certified; El Buen will pay for certification Maintain CHW certification in good standing, including continuing education/CEUs as required by the certifying body and applicable to the contractor's certification timeline Engage in CHW learning that strengthens trauma-informed, culturally grounded, and equity-based practice and supports consistent navigation quality Participate in ongoing learning opportunities El Buen will provide onboarding, program training, and support on navigation workflows, documentation expectations, referral pathways, and housing stabilization resources. Applicants do not need prior experience with every system or resource in order to be considered. Priority Neighborhoods Preference will be given to contractors who reside in, have lived in, or have demonstrated experience working in: Dove Springs (78744) Montopolis (78741) Colony Park (78724) Project Connect Transit Corridors Applicants with strong cultural knowledge, family ties, long-standing community relationships, or lived experience in these neighborhoods are especially encouraged to apply.