The MEDVAMC multi-site system includes a major medical facility in Houston Texas; outpatient and residential facilities; eleven Community Based Outpatient Clinics; Community Resource and Referral Center and Mental Health Residential Rehab Treatment Center. In addition, the facility is a certified transplant for kidney, liver, and heart. MEDVAMC is an academic medical facility with significant teaching and research programs including multiple Centers of Excellence and special emphasis programs.

Duties

The Social Work Associate will assist Veterans with obtaining and maintaining documents necessary to access Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Program programs (including Housing and Urban Development-Veteran Administration Supportive Housing) and complete the Public Housing Authorities voucher application process. Provides supportive counseling during emotional crises to homeless Veterans and family members. Applicants must be able to conduct transport in the community and must meet with the Veterans face to face and be able to conduct home face-to-face visits. Triage homeless Veterans coming into the office for various problems, referring them to both VA and community resources as appropriate. Screens homeless Veterans for food insecurity and other psychosocial stressors and refers those who are appropriate. Creative Problem-solving skills to find housing in an area the Veteran wants to reside. Conducts weekly/monthly driving responsibilities and providing transportation face to face services for our homeless Veterans Conducts a variety of housing-related groups such as virtual housing tours, rent rises, new tenant groups, and housing maintenance topics. Review documents, and reports for completeness and ensure data entry is complete and accurate. The incumbent is responsible for tracking patients who have applied for Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supported Housing. Maintains and manages databases that contain veteran-specific information; ensures all information is up to date. Required to enter data into Homeless Operations Management Evaluation, Homeless Veterans Enrollment System Tracking, Homeless Management Information System, and others. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm (Subject to change based on the needs of the Agency). Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Work Associate/PD04077-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/09/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-8 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual occupational requirement - Education Requirement: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in major fields of study such as social work, social welfare, sociology, psychology, public administration, philosophy, education, anthropology, history, economics, and/or English In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements above, applicants must have the specialized experience below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Home and community visits with clients and providers, presentations/trainings, supportive groups, networking in the community, filling out forms, gathering documents, and entering data. Knowledge about housing and community Resources. Experience transporting people in a vehicle You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)Information ManagementInterpersonal Skills Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The incumbents work requires walking throughout the MEDVAMC, offsite homeless locations, standing, bending, stooping and carrying items such as books, papers, and files. The incumbent must possess a current and unrestricted driver's license. S/He has the ability to drive in the community on freeways, highways, and surface streets in moderate to heavy traffic for several hours a day from moderate to high distances as needed. Incumbent shall adhere to all VHA/MEDVAMC directives and training requirements when operating a government vehicle to carry out official duties when deemed necessary. Physically being able to lift and carry objects up to 40 pounds. Working in the community in extreme heat or cold. Walking a moderate to high distance to complete required tasks. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Boulevard Houston, TX 77030 US
• Name: Adrian Randles
• Phone: 918-310-4317
• Email: [email protected]