Program Specialist (MCAH Option)

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Postmarks are not accepted. Applications will only be accepted on-line.

Supplemental Questionnaire: A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Applications will only be accepted on-line. Postmarks are not accepted. Failure to submit the Application or Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY
Alameda County's Health Services Program is administered by the Health Care Services Agency and includes the following program areas: Behavioral Health Care, Public Health, Environmental Health, and Agency Administration/Indigent Health. The ultimate mission of the Health Care Services Agency is to provide fully integrated health care services through a comprehensive network of public and private partnerships that ensure optimal health and well-being and respect the diversity of all residents.

PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Alameda County Public Health Department has worked for over 80 years to improve the health and safety of its residents and the neighborhoods they live in. Traditional public health concerns such as disease outbreaks, environmental hazards and access to health care have been joined by contemporary concerns: bioterrorism, crime, violence, and substance abuse. Each of these poses a threat to public health and wellness and calls for short and long-term solutions that lie well outside traditional public health boundaries.  For more information about our Alameda County Public Health Department, please visit the Alameda County Public Health Department Website and latest Annual Budget document found on www.acgov.org

THE POSITION
This professional-level class provides program planning, technical assistance, review and evaluation functions to direct client service delivery programs where such services are provided by community-based organizations (CBO’s), contract service providers and/or County staff in a wide variety of service areas; acts as County liaison with service providers and funding sources and ensures that program regulations and procedures are followed. 

THE VACANCIES
The current vacancies are situated in the Building Blocks for Health Equity (BB4HE) Unit, Home Visiting Integration, and Perinatal Services and Family Planning programs of the Alameda County Public Health Department - Division of Family Health Services. However, the eligible list resulting from this recruitment may be used to fill future vacancies in other program areas.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications below, this position requires two years maternal, child, and adolescent health experience.

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR HEALTH EQUITY (BB4E)
The Building Blocks for Health Equity unit transforms the way we define and promote health in Alameda County. The BB4E unit bring together people with the ideas, connections, and skills to create conditions where all children have a fair chance at a healthy and fulfilling life – no matter where they live, how much money their families have, or their race – by addressing the root causes of health and health inequities.

HOME VISITING INTEGRATION
The Maternal/Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting/Family Support System of Care (HVFSSOC) aligns best practice models, evidence informed research and local programs into an integrated, family-centered system to serve multi-stressed, high-risk pregnant women and families with children up to the age of 3. It promotes quality services, creates efficiencies in program management, allowing limited funding to enhance services and have stronger countywide impact..  The HVFSSOC provides services to approximately 2500 families a year through eleven coordinated home visiting and family support programs. Home visitors provide parent education, mental health and developmental screenings, lactation support and respond to critical needs. They work one-on-one with mothers and fathers to improve their parenting skills, strengthen their support and coping systems, and promote the infant’s healthy development, emphasizing that parents are a child’s first and most influential educator. The essential goal of early childhood home visiting is to strengthen the parent-child  relationship since it plays such a critical role in children’s healthy development and in ensuring school readiness – a strong predictor of success later in life – especially for children who are growing up in environments where there are high levels of adversity.

PERINATAL SERVICES AND FAMILY PLANNING
Perinatal Services and Family Planning initiates and supports a variety of multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts to improve systems of perinatal/reproductive health and behavioral health care; guides MPCAH health education materials development, including field testing, literacy/readability, translations, and website publishing, and assesses needs for MCAH health education materials via coordination with colleagues in WIC, CHDP, managed care providers, behavioral health programs; provides technical assistance to obstetric and reproductive health providers; improves access to health insurance, health care and behavioral health services by providing direct navigation and case coordination services.


THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications, the ideal candidate will possess at least two years maternal, child and adolescent health experience, along with a high level of knowledge and expertise in the maternal child health field, including familiarity with life course perspective, social determinants of health and health equity and strengthening families frameworks and/or experience with home visiting programs serving low income women children and families; especially from underserved and marginalized populations. The ideal candidate will possess the following critical attributes:

• Experience with maternal, child and adolescent health public health program planning, development and oversight, which includes serving as a technical expert on maternal child health, early childhood best practices and programs addressing the social determinants of health.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral, and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences and in a variety of contexts using the social determinants of health. 
• The ability to work cooperatively with internal and external partners to accomplish the objectives of building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships.
• Exceptional organizational skills, including the ability to independently prioritize tasks and not only work on multiple projects simultaneously, but also be able to provide status updates on projects at a moment’s notice.
• Desire to pursue and plan for ongoing professional development.
• Possess an understanding of race, power, and privilege and exhibit cultural humility and competency.
• Experience with data collection and standards to ensure data accuracy and validity in order to facilitate the development and usage of data for planning, reporting, and recommendations for quality improvement that will support the health of children and families in Alameda County. 

Education:

The equivalent to graduation from an accredited four year college or university (180 quarter units or 120 semester units) with major coursework in business or public administration, a social science or a field related to the program area to which assigned.

(Additional experience as outlined below may be substituted for the education on a year-for-year basis.)

AND

Experience:

The equivalent to three years of full-time professional-level or supervisory work in the direct delivery of services to clients or the oversight of such services in the program area to which assigned, one year of which must have included program planning and evaluation, or in program administration, contract negotiations, grants management and similar financial services.

Substitution:

(Possession of a Master’s degree in business, public administration, social science or a related field to the program area to which assigned from an accredited college or university, may be substituted for two years of the required experience.)

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications below, this position requires two years maternal, child, and adolescent health experience.

Licenses:
Specified positions may require possession of a valid California driver's license. Specified positions may also require licensure or certification in the programmatic area to which assigned.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:    

Knowledge of:

· Principles, practices, funding sources and administrative requirements in the program area to which assigned.
· Principles and practices of program planning and evaluation.
· Principles and practices of direct client service delivery.
· Practices and techniques of programmatic analysis and report preparation.
· Applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations.
· Computer applications related to the work.
· Office administrative practices and procedures, including records management and the operation of standard office equipment.
· Basic budgetary and financial record-keeping techniques.

Ability to:

· Plan, monitor and evaluate program and service delivery effectiveness in the programmatic area to which assigned.
· Identify programmatic and operational problems, investigate and evaluate alternatives and implement effective solutions.
· Interpret, explain and apply complex regulations, policies and procedures.
· Prepare clear, accurate and effective reports, correspondence, policies, informational brochures and other written materials.
· Represent the department and the County in meetings with others and make effective presentations to diverse groups.
· Organize and prioritize work and meet critical deadlines.
· Maintain accurate records and files.
· Exercise sound independent judgment within established policies and guidelines.
· Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of the work.

The examination will consist of the following steps: 1) A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process. 2) A review of candidates’ Supplemental Questionnaires to select the best qualified applicants to continue in the process. 3) An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises. CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION. We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit. Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position. Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance. The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:

Deadline for Filing:                                                   5:00 PM, Monday, February 27, 2017
Review of Minimum Qualifications:                                             Monday, March 13, 2017
Review of SQ for Best Qualified:                                                    Friday, March 17, 2017
Panel Interviews:                                        Thursday, April 27 and Friday, April 28, 2017                   
*Updated 3/29/2017

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes. To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Welfare Benefits

• Medical – HMO & PPO Insurance
• Dental – PPO & DHMO Insurance  
• Vision
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage) 
• County Allowance (Employer Credit)
• Health Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Short-term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Retirement Plan – (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Group Auto/Home Insurance
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Group Legal
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Lindsay Christopher, Human Resources Analyst
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
510-272-6393
Lindsay.christopher@acgov.org  

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer