Equipping Volunteer Storytellers in Seattle

Location: Pioneer Square, Seattle

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What are you called to? If you believe that part of our work as the human race is to take care of our neighbor, and that our neighbor is anyone who is in need; read on. We want your help to reconcile the poor and the rich in this city with your help.

Background on Samaritan:

This one’s easy. As you travel Seattle this week, you’ll see that homelessness is one of the biggest issues in our community. Cities, healthcare systems, and business owners in Seattle are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year combating it, and they– no, we are losing.

We’ve seen that surrounding an unhoused person with two simple resources — financial capital & relational guidance — can be catalytic to them finding a permanent home. So we’re incredibly excited to equip “Community Storytellers” in Seattle to grow access to those two resources for people without a home.

To provide access to the capital and relationships needed to find a home, we provide smart wallets (called beacons) for people on the street, linking them to thousands of samaritans who invest in their lives through the Samaritan app. Here’s a VICE / HBO story and on Fox News.

Seattle nonprofits use these beacons as a resource to build relationships with people struggling with homelessness. The samaritans come alongside the nonprofit and invest financially and relationally into beacon holders. Beacon holders can spend funds on critical or strategic needs, and meet each month with a counselor to set goals and share needs for the month ahead. This newfound access to capital and relationships has led to incredible outcomes during Seattle’s first Samaritan pilot. A life-changing outcome for a beacon holder has taken, on average, just $444 over six months (~$1,000/year or just $80/month).

While our vision to ultimately help people without a home in 100 cities in the next five years, there is much to be done in Seattle yet. With an aim to give 2,500 unhoused persons access to a beacon by 2021, Community Storytellers will deeply invest into growing access to relational and financial capital for beacon holders, increasing the percentage who are able to reach the end of their homelessness.

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Spearhead creative efforts to surround one or more beacon holders with people that believe in them and will walk with them (Want to produce a benefit concert for a beacon holder? Done. Want to organize neighbors to hire beacon holders for house/yardwork on a Saturday? We’ll help you put it together!)
• Cast the vision to companies, faith communities, or local retailers to invest into one or more beacon holders
• Help nonprofits and merchants using Samaritan (we call them Lifecare Providers) promote the stories of homeless beacon holders they’re working with
• Work hand-in-hand with beacon holders on grassroots efforts to educate downtown commuters or your own community around what homelessness is like and how we can end it
• Guest-post on our journal and social outlets about your experience or the impact you’re seeing in people’s lives

Commitment: 2–3 hours/week over 3–4 months

Helpful Experience: (we realize you may have some but not all of this)

• Experience in any of the following: community development, community management, nonprofit leadership, nonprofit development, social work, volunteering
• Experience putting together materials and gaining awareness for an event or cause
• Experience building and executing partnerships
• Experience measuring and growing key metrics of a product, service, or group

What We Offer:

Admittedly, not much. We’d love for this position to be salaried full-time with benefits one day (would be glad to keep you in the loop on the end). For now, you’ll receive Samaritan swag, a letter of recommendation, and invite-only celebration for you and a few close friends at the end of your volunteer term.

But beyond those perks, we believe your time as a Community Storyteller can literally provide a social and perhaps physical home for someone who has neither today. Think about that. We’re looking for people for whom there would be no greater return on investment.

If you are interested in deeply impacting people without a home at scale in the city, send us a note with why you’re interested and we’ll get started.

Contact:

Jessica McCoy, COO

220 2nd Ave S, Impact HUB

(509) 590–0480 / jmc@samaritan.city