Community Research Liaison - School of Public Health - Brownsville

We are hiring a Community Research Liaison (casual) to join  UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville, Tx. In this role, you will lead classes throughout the Rio Grande Valley and work directly with program staff and city partners to implement health programming across the region. In this role, you can work up to 19.5 hours per week.

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’ resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:  

• 100%25 paid medical premiums for our full-time employees  
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year) 
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue! 
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service) 
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan! 

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as... 

• Free financial and legal counseling 
• Free mental health counseling services 
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs 
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc. 
• Resources for child and elder care 
• Plus many more! 

Position Summary:

The Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (TSSC) program is in search of enthusiastic and motivated certified physical activity instructors to lead classes throughout the Rio Grande Valley as a part-time/casual employee. In this part-time/casual position, instructors will work directly with program staff as well as city partners to implement health programming throughout the region.

TSSC is an evidence-based, collaborative, innovative, and results-driven community-wide campaign focused on improving health outcomes through chronic disease prevention. With partners across the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, this large-scale initiative delivers mass media health messaging, social support, risk factor screening, education, and

 health messaging using media, provides social support through various classes, increases nutrition education and access to physical activity resources (e.g., exercise groups), provides health risk screenings, and supports environmental and policy change strategies.

Municipal and county partners include Brownsville, Combes, Harlingen, Hidalgo County Precincts 1 and 4, La Feria, Los Fresnos, Port Isabel, Primera, and San Benito. All of these cities were chosen, in part, due to the desire from city and county leadership to support building healthy lifestyle programs, paving the way for  local leaders and university staff to leverage resources and provide free programming to community residents and identify built environment and policy solutions to better address population health.

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Leads instruction of community-based classes that are free and open to the public.
• Establishes relationships with community members and establishes rapport with them to aid in community buy-in of the TSSC program.
• Maintains contact with program participants.
• Encourages community members to participate in the project and may provide education-based training.
• Receives equipment and educational materials training of application.
• Communicates participants questions and/or concerns to city and university staff.
• Communicates with other organizations' professionals, projects field specialists, and project leaders about the program's objectives and progress.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Certification/Skills:

• None

Preferred:

• Certification or degree in nutrition, physical activity, or exercise-related group instruction.

• CPR certification

• Bilingual – English and Spanish, preferred. 

Minimum Education:

• High School Diploma or equivalent required

Minimum Experience:

• None

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether things such as criminal history or continuous connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from being able to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.