DEPUTY DIRECTOR

About the role

APPLICANTS MUST BE PERMANENT IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE JOB OPPORTUNITY SPECIALIST TITLE OR BE PERMANENT IN A COMPARABLE TITLE ELIGIBLE FOR 6.1.9 TITLE CHANGE OR IF YOU ARE HIRED PROVISIONALLY IN THIS TITLE, YOU MUST TAKE AND PASS THE CIVIL SERVICE EXAM, WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE, TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUED EMPLOYMENT.

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

Family Independence Administration provides temporary help to individuals and families with social service and economic needs to assist them in reaching self-sufficiency via essential and diverse programs/services, such as: temporary cash assistance, SNAP, childcare, eviction prevention services, adult protective services, job training, employment plans/support, domestic violence assistance, child support enforcement, etc.

Under the general direction of the Benefits Access Center Director, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment and initiative, the Deputy Director of a Family independence Administration Job Center is responsible for the organization, direction and supervision of the Case Management, Case Establishment, and the Case Support units which facilitate eligibility determinations for initial and ongoing public assistance benefits and all employment related activities that will enable participants to achieve their maximum level of self-sufficiency.

This position is interchangeable and is utilized in any FIA Benefits Access Centers/Model Office locations or specialized Benefits Access /Model Office location which includes, but is not limited to, the Family Services Call Center, Union Square Job Center, Refugee Job Center, and Residential Treatment Services Center.

The Family Independence Administration (FIA) is recruiting for one (1) Administrative Job Opportunity Specialist NM I, to function as Benefit Access Deputy Director, who will:

• Manage the activities of the Family Independence Administration Benefits Access Center staff involved in the resolution of matters relating to public assistance client appeals, ensuring that Agency's requirements are met for opening, reopening, denial, closing, change in case status and change in benefit entitlements to prevent loss of public funds; ensure compliance with mandated signage being properly posted.
• Manage all aspects of the application and recertification processes for public assistance, to ensure that eligibility rules are adhered to and that the required time frames are met in order to increase the Fair Hearing Win rate in that the Benefits Access Center's case actions are upheld; manage the processing of case actions in accordance with predetermined priorities to measure accuracy and the impact on the payment accuracy rate.
• Assist the Benefits Access Center Director in directing the activities of the various program components of the Family Independence Administration Benefits Access Center/Model Office which includes, but is not limited to, the Family Services Call Center, Veterans Job Center, Union Square Job Center, Refugee Job Center, and Residential Treatment Services Center, the latter of which are designed to facilitate service delivery to specialized populations in order to minimize wait time and assist participants in achieving maximum self-sufficiency.
• Determine training needs of Job Center staff; oversee planning and development of training curriculum; monitor and evaluates training programs, to ensure that Agency and program's goals are met; monitor training attendance by staff; assess training effectiveness and provides feedback to the Director; manages staff development initiatives.
• Supervise the implementation of all Welfare Reform initiatives, including the emphasis of work over welfare, the individual's personal responsibility of seeking employment, the availability of various community resources to satisfy the Agency's goal of assisting public assistance recipients in achieving their highest level of self-sufficiency.
• Evaluate legality and appropriateness of case actions to ensure adherence to Federal, State and Agency regulations by conducting management audits of operating routines, methods and processes for public assistance and food stamps; ensure that the error/fraud reduction programs are followed; respond to service complaints in a timely and accurate manner.
• Oversee proper referrals to the Office of Child Support Enforcement, where appropriate; make referrals to outside agencies, as needed in consultation with specialized Human Resources Administrative staff; such agencies include, but are not limited to, Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of the Aging (DFTA), and Agency for Children's Services (ACS).
• Monitor the Fair Hearing process; improve the Fair Hearing Win rate which measures whether Job Center actions are upheld; provide supervision and leadership to center employees and work closely with supervisory staff to ensure that services are provided appropriately and in a timely manner; ensures timely compliance with Fair Hearing decisions.
• Manage the accuracy and timelines of information entered on to centralized computer systems for the electronic generation of public assistance and food stamp benefits; notify Management Information System (MIS) of breakdowns and ensure the rapid deployment of technical personnel.

Hours/Shift: 9:00am - 5:00pm

Qualification Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, plus four years of satisfactory full-time experience performing work related to providing employment related services or economic support services to persons in need, at least eighteen months of this experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity; or
• A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and eight years of full-time experience equivalent to "1" above; at least eighteen months of this experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity; or
• Education and/or experience equivalent to "1" or "2" above. College credits from an accredited college or university may be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 semester credits for one year; year of work experience. However, all candidates must have at least a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and at least eighteen months of experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity as described in "1" above.