Health Education and Engagement Specialist

The Health Engagement Specialist is part of the Community and Behavioral Health (CBH) Unit within Adams County Health Department’s (ACHD) Strategic Health Initiatives Division (SHI). The Health Engagement Specialist is instrumental to creating healthy communities in Adams County through designing communications to shift knowledge, attitudes, and social norms to promote healthier behaviors; facilitating work related to establishing community partnerships with various partners, integrating positive and culturally relevant messaging into existing systems and organizations; and monitoring changes in community behavior to inform reporting, advocacy, and actionable recommendations. This position contributes to grant-funded prevention, policy, and systems change work that addresses the social determinants of health impacting Adams County. This role leads health communication efforts including public messaging under the tobacco prevention grant and supports grant reporting using a critical eye and attention to detail. This role also delivers and supports a variety of capacity building trainings, especially using a train-the-trainer model.Social and Behavior Change Communications (40%): Lead and execute evidence-informed, culturally relevant health communication strategies that support tobacco prevention and cessation activities.

• Serve as a central point of contact and subject-matter resource with deep understanding of health and social behavior change communication and provide technical assistance for health department staff, local government staff, elected officials, community organizations and the public.
• Develop and align strategic communication plans across the State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (STEPP) Team, and ensure consistent messaging is utilized through all channels.
• Create, adapt, “trans-create”, and disseminate culturally relevant content for priority audiences (partners, policymakers, youth, community members, etc.), using plain language and trauma-informed approaches, including dissemination of health campaigns and grant-related communication (e.g. STEPP and Healthy Beverage public service announcements and social media content), and translating weekly Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) messaging, toolkits, and resources for Adams County audiences.
• Responsible for oversight, management, and monitoring compliance with applicable program contracts including media contracts by monitoring budgets, approving expenditures, and supporting billing processes.
• Use information technology in accessing, collecting, analyzing, using, maintaining, and disseminating data and information.
• Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, to inform, educate and advise the community, elected officials, government officials and internal partners.

Capacity Building and Training (25%): Deliver and support a variety of trainings collaboratively with the CBH Unit through a train-the-trainer model.

• Collaborate internally and externally and contribute to the development of educational models and materials, to provide interested/affected groups with education on evidence-based strategies and best-practices in policy, systems, and/or environmental changes for population health.

• Support and/or deliver trainings including, but not limited to: Advocacy and Storytelling; Youth Mental Health First Aid; Mental Health First Aid; Question/Persuade/Refer; UpRise Curriculum; and Advanced Tobacco Treatment Techniques.
• Identify and engage community partners and/or organizations that could benefit from training opportunities, prioritizing organization serving priority populations impacted by tobacco- and nicotine-related harms.

• Ensure that community voices, decision-making process, and policy approach involves the impacted community.

Reporting and Telling our Story (25%): Monitor community level impacts of prevention interventions throughout the CBH Unit, and ensure findings translate into success stories, lessons learned, advocacy points, and/or actionable recommendations.

• Ensure community-based activities are guided by local insights and shared metrics by tracking process and outcome measures, identifying gaps, and translating findings into success stories, lessons learned, advocacy points, and/or actionable recommendations.
• Support partners in tracking outcomes, informing decision-making, and demonstrating collective impact across youth substance use prevention efforts. 
• Contribute to community- and youth-led process to co-create a prevention focused grantmaking framework by helping to translate the Youth Health & Well-being Assessment findings into actionable recommendations that guide continuous improvement.
• Compile success stories; assist and lead in the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual reports by gathering information, describing relevant evaluation data, and preparing documents; and help us tell our story.

Other Duties (10%)

• Participate in program development, grant writing, and grant implementation, as appropriate, to advance the work in the community. 
• Prepare written materials and present program updates in for the public, other government agencies and elected officials.
• Perform both internal and external work in a way that represents and is effective within the various communities we serve.
• Regularly assess work and support changes to remove systemic barriers, build systems that address unfair differences, and integrate fairness into all areas of work.  
• Create and maintain partnerships and processes that support, integrate, and celebrate unique and fair engagement into all aspects of Adams County Health Department work.
• Perform other duties as assigned and required.
• Respond, as required, to support public health emergencies, incidents, and events.
• Participate in all exercises and drills on emergency preparedness, as required.
• Complete emergency preparedness and response trainings as appropriate for this level of employee within the health department.
• Maintain sensitive & confidential client information according to the HIPAA policy and Title X confidentiality requirements. 

• Knowledge of the socioecological model of behavior change and how environmental, social and policy influences on health align to create change.
• Knowledge of social determinants of health, their impact upon health, and strategies to address them within community settings.
• Knowledge of techniques and best practices related to behavior change communication, culturally relevant messaging, community engagement, coalition building and developing community partnerships.
• Knowledge of community needs assessment, program development, and evaluation techniques.

• Knowledge of Microsoft operating system computer, Internet and spreadsheet functions and resources.

• Requires a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in public or environmental health, health communication, public policy, sociology, or a related field. 
• A Masters Degree may substitute for required experience on a year for year basis. 
• Minimum 2 years prior experience in the following:
  • Developing health and social behavior change communication messaging for preventative health interventions that is culturally relevant and accessible to a variety of audiences
  • Working with coalitions, local government, policy makers and/or government entities to measurably improve health and social outcomes 
• Master’s degree preferred.
• Bi-lingual preferred.  

License or Certificates: Possession of, or the ability to obtain a valid Colorado Driver's License and insurance within 30 days of employment. 

Background Check: Must pass a criminal background check and an MVR.  

Other: This position will require some travel between locations. Candidates should have the ability and means to travel as needed for the position.