Community Disaster Program Specialist

American Red Cross • Chicago, IL

1d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Community Disaster Program Specialist at the American Red Cross, you will guide, lead, and support teams of trained volunteers to deliver comfort and care during disasters. This role involves creating and maintaining robust volunteer engagement using established processes and collaborating with volunteer services staff. You will work with volunteers to ensure communities are prepared to respond to disasters and will participate in continuous disaster response efforts. Regional disaster employees are required to deploy to disaster relief operations outside their region at least once a year, which contributes to skill-building, career development, and exposure to different types of disasters. Allowances may be provided for personal circumstances and local response activity, and employees must meet all training and physical capacity requirements for deployment. The American Red Cross is part of the world's largest humanitarian network, offering a career path focused on helping people and communities.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required, or equivalent combination of education and related experience required.
• Minimum 3 years of related experience.
• A current valid driver's license and good driving record is required.
• Ability to coordinate staff and volunteer activities.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Proven record of accomplishment of collaboration with diverse groups and individual’s representative of all the demographics of this community, managing multiple priorities, facilitation, problem solving, marketing, leadership, and partnership management.
• Intermediate level proficiency with Microsoft Office software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Ability to work outside of regular duty hours including nights and weekends.
• Geographic Community Disaster employees are expected to work daily in their assigned geographic area to engage and mobilize communities and support volunteers.
• Regional leadership and functional employees are expected to work daily within their region's geographic area to provide leadership and functional support, engage and mobilize communities, and support volunteers.
• Employees must meet all training and physical capacity requirements for deployment.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated ability to inspire and coordinate volunteers, fostering a sense of purpose and community impact.
• Proven experience building strong relationships with diverse community groups to drive participation and support.
• Strong written and verbal communication abilities that enhance collaboration, clarity, and influence across all levels.
• Skilled in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), enabling efficient documentation, reporting, and presentation.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate and support a diverse volunteer team responsible for the implementation of volunteer-led disaster cycle services programming.
• Ensure disaster cycle services are delivered in a rapid, accessible, and equitable manner, both culturally and linguistically, to meet the urgent, disaster-caused needs of our clients, with a focus on frontline communities.
• Assist with the successful implementation of either specific disaster cycle services program activities, or a specific disaster cycle services function within an assigned geographic area.
• Engage disaster volunteers who are the primary workforce, and representative of the communities they serve, both culturally and linguistically.
• Support local efforts to prepare and mobilize communities and engage partners to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies.
• Implement plans to meet assigned targets for volunteer engagement and volunteer-led Disaster Action Team response to local home fires or support specific function tasks within assigned geographic area.
• Act as the local point of contact for partners and communities.
• Partner with local organizations and leaders supporting frontline communities and community resiliency before, during and after disasters.
• Participate in disaster response operations in the region in alignment with the Disaster Cycle Services Concept of Operations, upon completion of training requirements.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental Vision plans
• Health Spending Accounts & Flexible Spending Accounts
• PTO: Starting 15 days a year; based on FLSA status and tenure
• Holidays: 11 paid holidays comprised of six core holidays and five floating holidays
• 401K with 6% match
• Paid Family Leave
• Employee Assistance
• Disability and Insurance: Short + Long Term
• Service Awards and recognition

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees