Client Services Committee Member

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We are first of all looking for people who care deeply about homelessness and poverty and are willing to put time and energy into doing something about this issue. We feel strongly that housing should be a human right and that the number of individuals and families without housing is a tragedy. We support the Homeless Bill of Rights and the Right to Rest. We do not believe in criminalizing homelessness. If you agree with us, then we could use your volunteer service as a member of our Client Services Committee.

This committee plans and carries out programs that benefit the homeless. Committee members are expected to do more than go to meetings. They are expected to volunteer for tasks discussed at the meeting. This committee meets the second Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m.. We have two Teams meetings and then an in-person meeting so over the course of a year that is 8 online/virtual meetings and 4 in-person meetings. Committee members must attend 2/3 of all meetings and volunteer for tasks in order to remain on the committee. Based on your skills and interest you may be assigned tasks from stuffing envelopes, to family mentoring, to designing program metrics, to writing news releases. There is so much to do it is incredible.

Sadly, volunteers often contact us and fail to show up or show up to one virtual meeting. We don't have time for that. Just learning about what we do will take you several meetings, getting to know the other members and the tasks will also take several meetings. We will invest time in training you and getting to know you. If you are not passionate about helping the homeless or if you really do not have the time but think it would be great if you did, then you probably are not right for this committee. We are a volunteer organization. Everything we do is done by incredible volunteers who are in this with their whole heart. About one in ten volunteers who email us actually show up and work hard. Those volunteers who do serve on this committee and work hard are often moved up to the Board and other positions.

You should expect this to take you 3-4 hours a month. You will need a computer and the ability to attend virtual meetings which usually means a microphone and camera as well. Ideally you will be located near central Broward County, FL as many of our in-person meetings are held at the West Broward Regional Library on Broward Blvd between University and Pine Island.

The main qualification for the Client Services Committee is strong desire to help individuals, children and families who are experiencing homelessness, familiarity with attending virtual meetings, and availability the second Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. The right person for this task is someone who is able to work independently, able to create SMART plans, able to reach out to others when more help is needed and attend additional meetings as well. For example, if you sign up to become a family mentor to homeless families that need to be placed in housing, that group may have additional meetings and you would be required to all the family weekly and meet them in their home a minimum of monthly. The first week of being a Family mentor may be a full time job as you have to help the family find affordable housing, furniture, and many more tasks. If you volunteer to work on advocacy issues you will need to collaborate with other organizations and attend their meetings. If you sign up to help with the annual planning of community education you will need to devote time at home to preparing the plan. If all you can do is attend meetings, your efforts will not substantially benefit homeless families. Committee members are asked to volunteer for more than just meeting attendance. You are, of course, welcome to pick and choose which other commitments you make but we do expect you to make other commitments.

The software used here requires me to enter a start date and end date. You can start whenever you want but we hope you will continue for at least a year if not longer. Some of the other formatted questions may not be appropriate for this opportunity so when in doubt, come back to this description. For example, there are no shifts, but there is a meeting time.

This opportunity could be virtual if you are located elsewhere and are passionately interested as most of our meetings are on Teams. You could select other opportunities from the committee that can be completed virtually, for example editing the Family Case Training Requirements, or developing plans, or creating a media list for a specific event, or writing news releases ... probably just about anything you want. If you have questions please email me at lh@homelessfl.org. I do not pick up my phone for numbers I do not recognize due to spam and scam, but you may text me at 754-422-2572.