Community Guide (Community Liaison for People with Disabilities)

Adaptive Community Approach Program is seeking a dedicated, creative, flexible, and positive individual to work as a Community Guide (Community Liaison for People with Disabilities), helping our members achieve their highest potential through community-oriented programming. ACAP is a 42-year-old day services program for adults with disabilities in the Waukesha region that prides itself on outstanding activities, programs, and personal care. 

“After 31 years at ACAP, I still love coming to work.” – Lisa. Join an outstanding team of 16 direct care staff, who come from a range of work and educational backgrounds to create meaningful experiences for our members every day. This full-time position includes good benefits, including health & dental, short- & long-term disability, 10 paid holidays, 12 vacation days per year, and 8 paid sick days.

The majority of our staff have Recreation Therapy backgrounds, but we value all kinds of educational and work-experience backgrounds: Occupational Therapy Assistants, Physical Therapy Assistants, Art Therapy, or disabilities community work are of special interest. The right person will find this job rewarding on many different levels, not the least of which are opportunities to innovate, create, and impact people’s lives.

Position purpose:

A Community Guide (CG) provides a full range of supports and assistance for ACAP members to access community resources for personal growth, well-being, and life-enhancement. This includes providing community for them within ACAP and providing access for them to the wider community. CGs create, implement, and facilitate a wide range of opportunities for members to engage in meaningful ways in widely diverse activities. CGs deliver experiences that are skills-building, therapeutic, recreational, and educational, while upholding high organizational standards for service delivery.

Salary Range

$37,440-45,760 depending on qualifications and experience.

Duties and responsibilities include the following:

• Develop, implement, and facilitate opportunities for member participation at ACAP and in the community.
  • Participate in program development as determined by the Program Coordinator.
  • Develop class curricula designed to prioritize community-orientation, meaningful activities, and to further individual goals.
  • Be prepared to facilitate any class offering in the five pillars of programming: advocacy, the arts, education & enrichment, sports & recreation, and community service.
  • Be the primary liaison between ACAP and members for whom CGs serve as ACAP Coordinator (called “Coords.”)
• Facilitate Consumer Meetings and other processes that support operations, communications, and program improvement.
  • Complete member progress reports thoroughly and on time.
  • Meet expectations for Consumer Meetings while maintaining focus on relationship-building with members and their care teams.
• Contribute to excellence in all aspects of ACAP as an organization.
  • High standards of professionalism in a flexible, creative, energetic, team-approach work environment.
  • Work collegially with staff and membership, promoting positive work/services culture.
  • Team approach to problem solving.
  • Investment of personal strengths into creating strong programming.
  • Stay on top of administrative tasks.
  • Punctuality, accountability, and openness to change.
  • Adherence to organizational philosophy.
• Manifest a people-first, respectful, compassionate manner.
  • Prioritization of member needs.
  • Clear, respectful, responsive communication.
  • Enable members to participate as independently as possible.
  • Respond professionally to challenging behaviors.
  • Support goal setting and progress.
  • Provide personal cares as directed, including washroom, meals, mobility, etc.
• Cultivate community partnerships.
  • Represent ACAP well when out in the community.
  • Be responsive to and appreciative of program and organizational partners, including businesses, volunteers, and groups.
  • Support ACAP to the extent you are able by building pathways to resources that would advance our mission.
• Drive ACAP’s accessible vans for community access and other tasks.
• Support and/or participate in ACAP fundraising events as directed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education and/or Experience:

• Preferred: Bachelor’s Degree from accredited institution. Naturally aligned professions include Recreation Therapy, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Special Education.
• If no college degree, we prefer three year’s comparable experience and/or training; or an equivalent combination of education and experience, particularly in the disabilities community.
• Computer literacy. Ideally, experience with Microsoft Office products.

Licenses, certificates, registrations:

• Valid driver’s license.
• Copy of highest educational attainment certificates.
• Copy of professional certifications or registrations.

Language skills:

• Ability to read, write, speak, and effectively communicate information independently.
• Ability to speak comfortably in front of groups (i.e., as a class facilitator.)
• Fluency in Spanish or American Sign Language a plus.

Reasoning ability:

• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• Ability to build bridges for members who have communication disabilities, so that their needs are understood and met.

Physical demands:

• Required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally required to sit, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Required to see, hear, smell, talk, and taste.
• Required to have sufficient physical strength to support vulnerable members in many kinds of situations, including providing personal cares:
  • The ability to turn and twist for full visibility and as needed in personal cares.
  • Frequent lifting and moving of items up to 25 pounds.
  • Frequent lifting, pushing, pulling, moving, and holding of up to 50 pounds.
  • Occasional lifting, pushing, pulling, moving, and holding of more than 50 pounds (i.e., transferring members from wheelchairs, providing personal cares, providing physical support to others).
  • The ability to move fast to intercede in a situation in which a vulnerable member is endangered.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Essential Functions

• Support members who have a wide range of physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities in their ACAP experiences.
  • High quality facilitation of classes, opportunities, and community experiences.
  • Personal cares as directed.
  • Advocacy for our members in recognition of their vulnerable status.
• Meets administrative requirements with sufficient skills that ensure that required forms, reports, communications, and tasks are completed on time with little oversight.
• Consistently contributes to a positive workplace culture, with appropriately compassionate, collegial, supportive, and team-oriented attitude.
  • Adheres to organizational processes, procedures, rules, and guidance.
  • Strong communication skills, including the ability to work constructively through conflict.
  • Steps up to assist members and colleagues as needed, understanding that flexibility allows us to create our operational flow.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

Work environment:

• Active, busy, changeable work environment with committed, capable, fun, and creative colleagues.
• High level of job dedication that puts our members first.
• Outdoor activities might be frequent or occasional, depending on one’s schedule.
• Noise level is generally moderate, but individual classes might be boisterous or quiet, depending on the size, members, and activities.
• Occasional responsibilities outside of regular hours.