Bilingual Community Health Navigator (Health Access & Essential Needs)

Austin, TX
Full Time
Experienced
Who We Are
For more than 35 years, El Buen Samaritano (El Buen) has been a trusted community resource for Latino and immigrant families in Central Texas. Through innovative and culturally relevant food access, health literacy, and education programming, El Buen serves more than 30,000 individuals annually. The organization is recognized as both a direct service provider and a systems leader—building equitable pathways to health, education, and economic stability.
Visit our website to learn more about our organization: https://elbuen.org/

Job Description
Purpose
The Community Health Navigator (CHW I) is a multifaceted and versatile community support generalist who assists clients and participants who visit or call El Buen Samaritano for a wide range of support services, including education, food access, health education, economic assistance, essential needs, and homelessness/displacement prevention, including rental assistance and other interventions designed to help families remain housed.
The CHW I provides culturally and linguistically appropriate navigation, outreach, assessment, referral, and follow-up services to ensure participants are connected to the resources and support they need. This position contributes to El Buen’s mission by fostering trust, improving access, and empowering families to achieve health and economic stability through trauma-informed, person-centered engagement.
This is a full-time, exempt position based at El Buen headquarters, generally Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The role may require occasional evening or weekend work for special events or reporting deadlines. Following a three-month probationary period, employees are eligible to work one day per week remotely in accordance with organizational policy. Employees are expected to attend all staff training, professional development activities, and in-person organizational events.

Scope
  • Provides navigation, education, and referrals across multiple program areas (Health, Food Access, Education, Financial and Rental Assistance).
  • Works collaboratively across departments and with community partners to strengthen client outcomes and program integration.
  • Contributes to data collection and reporting aligned with El Buen’s evaluation and learning systems.
  • Participates in professional development and training to maintain CHW certification.
  • Represents El Buen positively with partners and the community.
What You Will be Doing:
Assessment, Referrals, and Follow-Up (55%)
  • Interpret, translate, or provide cultural mediation for services or information.
  • Perform client needs assessments, including screening for household size, social and health needs, and educational goals.
  • Provide referrals and facilitate connections to community resources such as social services, legal aid, housing supports, or public health programs to address social determinants of health.
  • Conduct follow-up with households to confirm connections and address additional barriers or needs.
Program Coordination (25%)
  • Respond to program-related inquiries to ensure smooth operations.
  • Support workflow processes and assist with escalation issues involving landlords, service providers, and clients.
  • Track workflow status of applications, check processing, and service delivery.
  • Maintain organized case files and ensure compliance with program documentation standards.
Evaluation and Reporting (10%)
  • Understand program measurements per grant or funder requirements.
  • Accurately collect, enter, and maintain data electronically to demonstrate program effectiveness and outcomes.
  • Contribute to evaluation and quality-improvement efforts in collaboration with the Data and Evaluation team.
Professional Development and Collaboration (5%)
  • Participate in CHW professional development and certification activities.
  • Engage in cross-department collaboration and share best practices with peers.
Other (5%)
  • Participate in cross-departmental initiatives, strategic planning, and organizational committees.
  • Support El Buen’s emergency-response efforts by assisting with data collection and reporting during community crises.
  • Perform additional duties as assigned.
Qualifications and Competencies
At El Buen Samaritano, Community Health Workers (CHWs) are trusted advocates, educators, and guides that facilitate access to needed resources. They play a foundational role in ensuring that every participant interaction is empathetic, accurate, and empowering. CHWs promote quality, teamwork, and continuous improvement across programs.

Required Education & Experience
  • Certification as a Community Health Worker (CHW); must obtain CHW certification within six (6) months of hire.
  • Minimum two (2) years of experience facilitating referrals to community resources for families with limited financial, healthcare, or housing stability.
  • Bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish required.
  • Valid Texas driver’s license with good driving record; insurable under El Buen’s auto policy.
Skills & Abilities
  • Demonstrated ability to engage clients with empathy and cultural responsiveness.
  • Strong organizational and time-management skills; able to manage multiple cases and deadlines.
  • Demonstrates the ability to provide trauma-informed, person-centered care, recognizing the impact of trauma on individuals and families.
  • Willingness to engage in ongoing professional development that strengthens individual and organizational competencies as a trauma-informed care provider.
  • Ability to use data systems (e.g., Apricot, Salesforce) to track assessments and outcomes.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
  • Ability to work under pressure and maintain professionalism when assisting clients in crisis.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with diverse stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience with motivational interviewing or client-centered counseling preferred.
  • Experience in social services, behavioral health, or public health education.
  • Experience implementing community-based programs or group education.
  • Two (2+) years in nonprofit or public-health settings.
What You Will Bring:
  • High school diploma or equivalent required.
  • Bilingual and biliterate English/Spanish required.
  • Certification as a Community Health Worker or Navigator preferred, and within a year of being hired would be supported in certification as a CHW.
  • A minimum of (3) years of experience in health and social services, including reproductive, behavioral, adolescent health, access to food and nutrition, or chronic disease management.
  • At least two (2) years of experience of facilitating referrals to community resources for families with limited financial and healthcare resources in Travis County and surrounding areas.
  • Client Centered Counseling experience or motivational interviewing experience preferred.
  • Work will often require working outside during extreme temperatures (summer and winter) during our food pantry operations.
  • Frequent activity requiring the ability to stand, walk and/or reach with hands and arms.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office suite including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
  • Utilize data collection system to track client information, assessments, encounters, and outcomes.
  • Effectively communicate and understand how to work with and listen to clients who are under a great deal of stress and anxiety and stakeholders from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
  • Adapt to quickly changing business environment including learning and applying new training and knowledge.
  • Demonstrate the ability to problem solve, analyze data, make good decisions, attend to details, and manage projects.
  • Strong familiarity with the community we serve and strive to understand the socio-economic and cultural environments in which our clients live.
What We Can Offer You for All Your Hard Work:
  • Medical/Dental/Vision
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • A 403(b)-retirement plan is offered, for which you will be immediately eligible.
    • El Buen will match employee contributions dollar for dollar, up to 4%
    • El Buen will make a retirement contribution of 5% of earnings (must enroll)
  • Employer paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
  • Professional Development Opportunities
  • Time Off Including
    • 8 paid holidays are observed each year, plus Thanksgiving Week
    • Winter Break in December (up to 10 days) through New Year’s Day
    • You will accrue a total of 80 hours annual vacation time
    • You will accrue 1 day of sick leave per month of service (12 days per year)
Safeguarding certification is required in order to work as an employee at El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission (El Buen), an institution of the Diocese of Texas. The steps in this process help to protect the individuals who are employees; the children, youth or adults with whom you work, and the institution (El Buen) where you work. Our goal is to make El Buen a safe place where each person is treated with care and respect. 

Criminal background check will be conducted on all final candidates. 

The qualifications and physical demands listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations will be made in accordance with the ADA to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

Job Type: Full-time
Annual Salary $50,000

Please no phone calls or recruiters.
 
Share

Apply for this position

Required*
We've received your resume. Click here to update it.
Attach resume or Paste resume
Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

Human Check*