This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team at CfD (Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People).  This new wide-ranging role will support the delivery of our community development work within our “Deaf People Together: in charge of our own futures” project, funded by Bristol City Council’s Bristol Impact Fund.  The role will also include supporting the development of other exciting new initiatives from CfD.

We welcome applications from people who understand the Deaf Community and the needs of hard of hearing people of all ages.  You will be enthusiastic and passionate about Deaf and hard of hearing issues.  You will be an outstanding communicator who believes in people organising themselves and who wants to support Deaf and hard of hearing people to set up activities. You will be enthusiastic about working towards making Bristol a city that is more inclusive of Deaf and hard of hearing people.

This is a temporary post but we very much hope to be able to extend it for 18 months to 2 years, subject to funding.

Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People:

CfD is a small deaf-led charity that delivers a wide range of services including community development and assistive equipment services to people in Bristol who are Deaf, hard of hearing or deafened.  As our mission statement says, we are working toward creating a Bristol “where everyone can participate in all aspects of life in the city, whatever their level of hearing”.

CfD challenges the prejudice and barriers that Deaf and hard of hearing people face in their daily lives.  We are developing exciting new plans for activities that will contribute to our aims and promote equality for all deaf people.

Summary of duties:

The Project Worker will support the Community Development Officer (CDO) and the CEO to deliver the ‘Deaf People Together’ project.  You will organise and facilitate project activities.  You will work with the CfD team to increase the number of Deaf and hard of hearing people who are involved in the project, and in other CfD activities.

The Project Worker will also be involved in the development and delivery of new initiatives, such as:

• Making Bristol’s Welcoming Spaces more “deaf-friendly”
• Assisting with setting up workshops for hard of hearing people so they can understand their hearing loss better
• Supporting an exciting new project we are working on in partnership with Gloucestershire Deaf Association and the Deaf Studies Trust 

Responsibilities: 

• To support the delivery of the Deaf People Together project so that it meets its aims by:
  • Helping to run events so that local Deaf and hard of hearing people and communities have their say about how services are developed
  • Planning and attending project events e.g. coffee mornings, workshops etc
  • Developing positive relationships between service providers and Deaf and hard of hearing people, and advising providers on how to improve their services to become more accessible and inclusive
  • Supporting the CDO with collecting project monitoring and evaluation data e.g. equality monitoring data, case studies on the experiences of Deaf and hard of hearing people, and recording information on the database
  • Supporting the CDO with publicising our Small Community Grants scheme, and supporting existing groups with organising their events/activities
  • Work with the CDO to set up and facilitate Deaf-led advisory group(s)
• To support the CDO and CEO with the development and delivery of new initiatives, such as CfD’s Welcome Spaces, Living with Hearing Loss and Deaf in the Covid Aftermath projects. (See below for more information about these projects)
• To provide content from project activities for CfD’s website and social media, such as information about activities and events
• Contribute to the design, development and delivery of training programmes on deaf awareness and equality
• Support the CDO and the CEO to produce reports for the Board and for funders
• Be part of the team representing CfD at local events and exhibitions
• Work to CfD’s GDPR policies, safeguarding practices and to ensure all health and safety requirements are met
• Be flexible in your working hours.  You may be asked to represent the project at meetings/events outside core working hours, or to complete any other duties that may be reasonably required for the performance of this position.

Essential skills and competencies:

• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team.
• Able to anticipate problems and develop solutions.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
• A positive attitude toward Deaf and hard of hearing people with some understanding of the barriers they face in their lives.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and confidence in communicating with Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users and hard of hearing people. This may be direct communication or through a BSL interpreter or speech-to-text operator.
• Experience of supporting or working with groups of people, either as part of paid work or as a volunteer.
• Good influencing and negotiating skills so that you can persuade people to make their services more inclusive of deaf people.
• Good attention to detail.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office and associated software, including Excel, Word, and Outlook.

Desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Personal experience of hearing loss.

• Good working knowledge and use of simple databases (e.g. Charity Log). (CfD will provide training on Charity Log.)
• Knowledge of British Sign Language (CfD will provide training for the successful candidate if they do not have BSL skills).
• Experience working, paid or unpaid, in or with communities, the disability sector or in the third sector.
• An understanding of the importance of evaluating the impact of project work.
• Experience of delivering Deaf Awareness or Equality training.
• Experience of writing simple content for social media or websites e.g. information about events.

Things we expect all staff to support us with:

• Actively seek out opportunities for development and income generation.
• Read, understand and follow CfD’s policies and procedures.
• Stay up to date with key developments in your specialist area.
• Be willing to occasionally work evenings and weekends.
• Participate in team-meetings and development days.
• Be willing to travel across Bristol and occasionally further afield.
• Represent CfD at local, regional and national meetings and events.

In return, you will receive:  

• Competitive pay and holiday allowance
  •  25 days a year plus Bank Holidays pro-rata
• Employee pension contributions  
• A flexible working policy
  • Our core hours are 10:00 until 16:00 Monday to Friday
• The opportunity to be part of a committed, skilled and supportive team
• Support to develop your skills further

About CfD Projects:

Deaf People Together

Launched in October 2021, the “Deaf People Together: In charge of our own futures” project aims to build community resilience and to empower local Deaf and hard of hearing people.  The main activities of the project are to support the Deaf community and hard of hearing people to recognise their assets and to then build on these assets so that deaf people become more self-organised, engage more with CfD, and then help to plan the future strategy of CfD.  The project also works to facilitate the creation and/or strengthening of user-led groups to achieve their self-determined aims.  User-led groups can apply for a CfD Small Community Grant to support their activities and to help them reach more people.

Your role will be to support the CDO with the delivery of this project.  

Welcoming Spaces

Launched in January 2023, the Welcoming Spaces project is funded by the Quartet Community Foundation, as part of their Bristol One City Social Action grant.  The aim of the project is to support Deaf and hard of hearing people through the cost of living crisis.  The project does this by working with Welcome Spaces across the city to ensure their spaces and cost of living activities are accessible for Deaf and hard of hearing people.  The main project activities are to:

• deliver training to Welcome Spaces staff and volunteers
• develop a self-audit package so each Welcome Space can assess how accessible their spaces and activities are for Deaf and hard of hearing people
• provide one-to-one support with 8 partner spaces on improving their accessibility
• run pop-up information sessions in 5 spaces across Bristol.

Your role will be to support the Community Development Officer to deliver the final parts of this project.

Deaf in the Covid Aftermath

This project is a collaboration with Gloucestershire Deaf Association (GDA) and Deaf Studies Trust. Deaf in the Covid Aftermath is a research project that will collect information about the lives of Deaf people, particularly after the effects of Covid. The project aim is to understand the damage and changes that have happened to community life.  For example, the pandemic stopped deaf people’s gatherings, reduced their person-to-person interaction and (damaged/reduced/limited) their access to information.  The project will work to collect Deaf views from interviews and present an analysis that can be used to rebuild community life and set up new services.

Your role will be to support CfD with delivering this project by promoting the project, assisting with scheduling interviews, and with recruiting participants.

Living with Hearing Loss

In 2020-21 CfD ran 4 sets of workshops called “Living with Hearing Loss”. The workshops were for hard of hearing people and their partners, carers or close family members. Topics covered included “the emotional effects of hearing loss”, “assistive technology” and “communication tactics”. The workshops were delivered through Zoom by a number of hard of hearing or Deaf tutors.  Numbers of people attending were small but participants were very enthusiastic about the sessions.

CfD now wants to repeat these workshops. Your role will be to assist CfD with the development and delivery of these workshops, by:

• Exploring how the sessions should be delivered (on different days, all on one day etc)
• Marketing and promoting the workshops
• Supporting tutors to redevelop the sessions so they can be delivered face-to-face
• Facilitating the delivery by chairing sessions and supporting the tutors.