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Founded in 1974, Community Access continues to uphold and operate as a pioneer of supportive housing and social services in NYC for people with mental health concerns. We proudly lead advocacy efforts that rally our community to promote human rights, social justice, and economic opportunities for all. We are built upon the simple truth that people are experts in their own lives. Our programs are spread across 25 locations and include over 1200 units of supportive housing in three boroughs, the Howie the Harp Advocacy Center, Peer-driven Crisis Respite Center, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and the Intensive Mobile Team (IMT).

Program/Department Description:

Howie The Harp Advocacy Center trains and supports individuals with mental health concerns find meaningful, permanent employment and develop careers in human services. The Center is run by professionals who have personally received mental health services. All of the Center's programs are based on the core value that self-help, personal responsibility and peer support are among the most effective methods for people who seek to recover from mental health concerns through employment. Through the Peer Training Program, Assisted Competitive Employment Program (ACE), Ongoing Integrated Supportive Employment (OISE) program and other initiatives, the Center provides a wide range of services including training, internship experience, job placement assistance and job retention support. Graduates are entitled to ongoing access to placement and support services.

Internship Description/Outcome:

The Howie the Harp Internship is an opportunity for an individual to learn and refine skills needed to participate in the field of social services within New York City. Interns will support work related to Community Access’s employment programs: Howie the Harp Peer Training, Assisted Competitive Employment Program (ACE), Ongoing Integrated Supportive Employment (OISE). More specifically, the role will involve supporting front desk operations and supporting the administrative needs of the programs, and in-so doing, will enable interns to learn and develop program operation, data entry, communication, and administrative skills.

Core Principles

The responsibilities of all interns extend to understanding and incorporating certain principles into their work and into their relationships and interactions with all colleagues (staff, interns, program participants). These principles are:

• Respectful communication
• Professionalism
• Flexibility
• Responsiveness

Areas of Instruction

• Front desk receptionist duties: answer phone calls and direct calls as needed, buzz people into the office, identify the needs of people who walk-in and assist them accordingly, provide information about our program, direct people to sign up for information sessions, collect information from interested individuals.
• Check front desk voicemail regularly, return calls, and direct messages to appropriate staff as needed.
• Enter information into the “intake/admission” section of awards, to indicate that a referral was received, when individuals call or walk-in expressing interest in a particular program.
• Greet students as they enter and leave the office, remind them to sign in and out, and remind them of their appointments with career coaches, as directed.
• Make sure sign-in sheets are printed out and placed at the desk prior to classes and groups that are scheduled to take place for the day. At the conclusion of each day, collect completed sign-in sheets, scan them, and save them in appropriate folders in SharePoint.
• Ensure that resources at the front table are updated and refilled regularly, including pamphlets and flyers about our program, as well as other community resources.
• Update the white board calendar near the front desk to include information about scheduled programming taking place at HTH.
• Make copies for program participants (trainees and interns) as needed.
• Conduct outreach calls to inform participants about events taking place as needed, including but not limited to confirming potential trainees’ attendance at upcoming interviews and confirming attendance for upcoming information sessions.
• Distribute MetroCard’s to those individuals whom staff have identified as eligible to receive MetroCard’s.
• Check paper supply and toner supply on printers, refill toner and paper, and notify staff when those items need to be re-ordered.
• Check laptops in computer room weekly to ensure that all necessary software updates are completed on laptops and that they are in working condition.
• Review paper files in boxes and separate/organize items according to guidance provided by program staff.
• Upload documents into participants’ filing cabinets in awards, including but not limited to application materials and graduation certificates.
• When advised to do so by program staff, create/print certificates for graduates who return to the program asking for their graduation certificate.
• Provide support during special events such as internship fairs and job fairs.
• The intern may be asked to attend events in the community such as resource fairs, to share information about our programs on an as-needed basis.
• The intern will be expected to complete trainings, as assigned by staff, and will be expected to maintain confidentiality of program participants at all times.

Training Dept Intern:

• Enter group notes into AWARDS for the training classes. Enter the exact times that people sign in and sign out, so attendance can be tracked by the Coordinator of Training.
• Enter data into the education/training module in AWARDS to indicate that all students at HTH are in the training class, and then update as needed, to indicate trainees’ statuses in the program (ex: indicate if a student has dropped out part-way through training, if a student has completed training, and if a student has completed internship). Employment Dept Intern:
• Enter group notes for employment support group and internship support group.
• Create a weekly email blast/newsletter to send to graduates/job seekers with information about available job leads and employment events.
• Research/print information about employment resources and include them in the employment resource center in the computer room.
• Enter data into awards as instructed by staff, including but not limited to employment and internship job placements, and data pertaining to NYCPS-P and NYCPS certifications.

Internship requirements:

• Have an understanding, appreciation and commitment to the philosophy and mission of Community Access.
• Establish and maintain polite, professional, and effective working relationships with all employees and participants alike during the performance of duties.
• Completion of relevant training program.
• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Be creative and flexible.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to maintain confidential information, as related to position.
• Good customer service experience.
• Beginner level computer skills; Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Demonstrated flexibility with ability to change priorities with limited notice.