Company overview:
With an annual budget of $2.3 billion and more than 7,000 employees throughout the five boroughs, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) is one of the largest public health agencies in the world, serving 8 million New Yorkers from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We're tackling a broad range of public health issues with innovative policies and programs and getting exceptional results, but our work is never finished. The breadth of our innovative programs provides the widest range of choices for every member of our team.  

 DOHMH is undertaking a new initiative that will meet critical infrastructure needs and make possible strategic investments that will have lasting effects on public health, using grant funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Investments and improvements through this initiative will help modernize DOHMH’s foundational capabilities and data infrastructure, enabling it to partner in complex health and health care environments and, in turn, support better public health outcomes, including COVID-19. This initiative supports larger efforts to rebalance investments in public health and more equitably serve communities and populations.

The selected candidate will be an employee of Public Health Solutions, a nonprofit organization which is the fiscal and administrative manager of the grant but work will be supervised by DOHMH.  This is a grant-funded position ending in November 2027.

Program Description:

The Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) aims to eliminate racial inequities resulting in premature mortality, with a focus on chronic disease, by addressing the social and environmental factors that impact health. CHECW works to increase placed-based investments in priority neighborhoods with community programming and services based on epidemiology; influence and leverage the health system to promote whole-person care; intensify the agency’s approach to tackling big salt, sugar, and tobacco; and finding innovative ways to improve the built environment and address other social determinants of health.  CHECW is comprised of the Bureau of Bronx Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Harlem Neighborhood Health, the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention, the Bureau of Health Equity Capacity Building, the Bureau of Equitable Health Systems and the Bureau of Finance, Administration, and Services. CHECW seeks to create healthier neighborhoods by providing New Yorkers the information and resources they need to live healthy lives and work to remove health inequities between New York City neighborhoods that are the result of structural racism such as segregation and disinvestment and social capital.

Public health emergencies are becoming more frequent and severe. And public expectations for emergency response have changed in terms of speed of response, level of communications, among other things. As such, DOHMH must become a more “response-ready” Agency to enable more effective and efficient emergency operations. This means strengthening the Agency’s overall systems, processes, and policies to ensure a strong emergency infrastructure to support priority CHECW preparedness needs identified from the COVID-19 pandemic response and other previous emergencies. Emergency Preparedness and Response is a public health infrastructure foundational service, and DOHMH must build capability and capacity in this area to protect the public’s health.

Summary of the Position:

The Emergency Preparedness Manager will support and coordinate Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) emergency preparedness activities to enable more effective and efficient responses. This includes helping to determine how CHECW can strengthen preparedness and response in its programs, including how to pivot and scale routine public health activities into response functions. The Emergency Preparedness Manager will also assist with setting priorities and developing a strategy and implementation plan to strengthen CHECW’s and the Agency’s emergency response infrastructure.

 

The Emergency Preparedness Manager will be critical for development/revision of CHECW plans, protocols, and procedures, as well as improving processes and systems in line with Agency priorities and identified emergency response gaps. This position will work closely with CHECW Division and Bureau leadership, as well as other senior staff to facilitate a clear understanding of capabilities and needs, as well as ensure the support of senior leadership to facilitate positive change. The Emergency Preparedness Manager will also liaise with the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (OEPR) to facilitate understanding of CHECW’s day-to-day and response activities, as well as strengths and gaps to better support priorities during both the preparedness and response phases of emergencies.

Duties:

• Develop and/or update plans, protocols, and procedures, and trainings for how the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) will support response function.
• Enhance processes and systems to bolster staffing depth and create sustainable staffing models to support response.
• Identify and resolve gaps and implement improvements, as identified in evaluation of emergency responses.
• Assess impacts on CHECW programs and services when additional functions are taken on during an emergency and/or absorbed after an emergency.
• Serve as project manager for identified CHECW, OEPR and Agency emergency preparedness and response priorities.
• Work with OEPR, Incident Command System (ICS) Coordinators from other emergency response groups and the CHECW Continuity of Operations (COOP) Coordinator to ensure alignment across ICS and COOP functions and activities.
• Participate in emergency response group meetings and activities, including planning, training, exercises, and evaluation.

 Specifically, this position will assist with:

• In partnership with OEPR and others across DOHMH, supporting the development and maintenance of the Community Engagement emergency response group, including Charter, organizational chart, leadership roster, staffing list, training, etc.
• Working with partners across the Agency to apply an equity lens to emergency response and improve how DOHMH engages communities during emergencies, including leveraging existing community partnerships to amplify targeted public health messaging to at-risk and hard-to-reach populations
• Supporting the development of mechanisms and processes to leverage resources and relationships equitably from across the Agency to facilitate bi-directional community engagement
• Working with the Healthcare System Support emergency response group to strengthen provider engagement during emergencies
• Supporting connection of community-based healthcare providers with community organization resources to strengthen community level connections to care and service and promote an equitable, place-based approach in emergencies
• Supporting efforts to define the best role for the Bureaus of Neighborhood Health, including the Neighborhood Health Action Centers, during emergencies and how Health Actions Centers fit within ICS

  Qualifications:

1. Master’s degree from an accredited college in emergency management, public health, disaster management, emergency preparedness/administration, public administration, or related field and one (1) year of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one or a combination of the following area(s): emergency preparedness planning/management, emergency medical services, fire or public safety, law enforcement, homeland security, public health, mental health, environmental/occupational health and safety or a related specialized area; or
2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two (2) years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one of the areas described in “1” above; or
3. A satisfactory equivalent combination of education and experience. However, all candidates must have a minimum of one (1) year of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one of the areas described in “1” above
4. Salary - $80,000 - $80,000

Additional Desired Qualities:

•        Strong organizational and project management skills.
•        Experience with stakeholder engagement and coordinating projects involving multiple stakeholders.
•        Ability to efficiently manage multiple tasks and respond to changing priorities.
•        Strong communication (verbal & written) and interpersonal skills.
•        Experience in synthesizing information and presenting summary and recommendations succinctly.
•        Ability to work both independently and with a team.
•        Ability to understand the concepts of institutional and structural racism and bias and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities, along with a demonstrated commitment to supporting communities who have experienced systemic oppression and bias (e.g. people of color, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, justice involved persons, etc.)
•       Have a demonstrated commitment to supporting communities who have experienced systemic oppression and bias (e.g. people of color, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, justice involved persons, etc.)
•       Desire to grow professionally, develop new skills and willingness to work outside of comfort zone.
•       Familiarity with and ability to comfortably navigate Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Teams.

Additional Information:

• This is a temporary grant-funded position ending in November 2027.
• This individual must reside in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) by their confirmed start date.
• Preference may be given to individuals residing in New York City (5 boroughs) or surrounding New York State counties.
• This individual will be expected to work non-business hours during emergencies.

PHS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from women, people of color, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, and veterans.