Top Jobs that Help People and Give Back (and are Hiring in 2022)

At Father Joe’s Villages, we believe that together, we can end homelessness, one life at a time.

Our team of talented and dedicated staff is critical to ensuring that over 2,500 people in need have a safe place to sleep each night.

The people that choose to work at Father Joe’s Villages demonstrate great care and compassion, both for each other and for our clients, through our CREED:

Compassion-Concern for others and the desire to assist.

• Respect – An act of giving particular or special regard.
• Empathy – Understanding and being aware of and sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and the experience of others without judgment.
• Empowerment – Helping others to help themselves.
• Dignity -All people are considered worthy of our esteem.

We’d love it if you made our CREED your own. A career at Father Joe’s Villages allows you to live by the tenants of the CREED through your job. If you’re looking to make giving back your career, head on over to the Father Joe’s Villages’ Career Center.

However, if homeless services isn’t the right fit for you, there’s an array of careers that can help you give back.

Here is a list of jobs that give back to the community.

Some of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, while others require special certifications or just a desire to help. Regardless of the training, what’s most important is a passion for community involvement!

1. Case Manager

Many people experiencing homelessness are alone and have little to no support from families or friends. Case Managers provide ongoing intensive support to our neighbors in need by connecting them to resources, providing assessments, coordinating services, doing crisis intervention, and helping them apply for benefits.

A case manager can be a crucial resource in helping a person end their homelessness for good by not only helping them obtain housing but also maintain their home for the long-term. Our Case Management team truly makes a big difference in the lives of those we serve.

“Our Case Managers are able to feel pride and gratitude, taking solace in the fact that they are able to be a positive influence and change lives every day; knowing that one more person was able to attain their own housing—probably for the first time in over a decade for many—and now no longer has to live on the streets.” – Case Management Supervisor

Apply to Become a Case Manager Today

3. Emergency Responder

From paramedics to firefighters, emergency responders throw themselves into stressful or dangerous situations to keep situations from getting worse and put you on course to things getting better–even if that just means surviving for one more moment or day.

4. Human Rights Advocate

As a human rights advocate, you and your team members are on the frontlines of the war to extend compassion and respect to everyone irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, religion, political affiliation, class, disability, or any other category. Your job is to fight for the most marginalized people in the world and your community.

As an advocate, you could volunteer at a nonprofit or follow a career pathway at a non-governmental organization.

5. Lawyer

A lawyer doesn’t have to help their corporate big-wig employer get away with crimes. That’s just an outdated cliche about lawyers that overshadows other types of lawyers.

Lawyers also do selfless work by representing:

• Charitable organizations who represent people living in poverty who are fighting to stay in their homes
• Children who can’t speak English who’ve been separated from their parents at the US southern border
• Workers fighting for their rights
• Women and minorities who’ve been subjected to discrimination and unfairly sidelined at the workplace
• And much more

Lawyers can be more than just punchlines; they can be heroes guided by the CREED!

6. Mental Health Counselor / Behavioral Health Worker

The daily lives of people experiencing homelessness are often filled with fear, anxiety, and hopelessness, which can cause and exacerbate serious mental health problems. Clinicians at our Behavioral Health Services build relationships and trust with people in need and connect them to the resources they need to thrive.

It takes a lot of training to know how to discuss mental health, navigate mental health issues, and pass those tools and that knowledge on to someone else.

Apply for a Behavioral Health Position Today

7. Nurse

Every day you’re a nurse, you’re putting the CREED into action. From giving someone their medication and running tests to making someone feel less alone in a scary situation, nurses are the backbone of health care.

At Father Joe’s Villages, nurses provide a range of critical health services to people in need.

These include:

• Our Street Health Team provides wound care and services to people on the streets.
• Standard health care is provided through our brick and mortar Village Health Center.
• Our at-home service provides care for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

Apply to Become a Clinic Registered Nurse Today

8. Physical or Occupational Therapist

Being a physical or occupational therapist can be a very satisfying profession because you teach people to let the CREED guide how they treat themselves as they work to improve their mobility, minimize pain, and reduce the likelihood of things getting worse.

From veterans to youth, you can help people significantly improve their quality of life!

9. Senior Life Enrichment Coordinator

A senior life enrichment coordinator’s job is to transcend the challenges seniors encounter as they age. The ultimate role of a Life Enrichment Coordinator is to inject joy into older people’s lives while also helping them navigate the challenges of old age.

10. Substance Use Disorder Alcohol & Other Drug Counselors

Unfortunately, too many people choose not to extend the CREED to individuals living with addiction. But when you’re living with addiction, you sometimes need a substance use disorder counselor to enter your life to help you take control and improve your situation.

See what opportunities we offer in this career at Father Joe’s Villages.

11. Shelter Chef or Cook

Some of us take our three hot meals a day for granted. However, many individuals living on the street go without regular meals. If you want to cook for people who will be grateful for some sustenance, you should consider being a chef or cook for a shelter like Father Joe’s Villages.

Being a chef or cook at a shelter can be an excellent opportunity to put your culinary skill to work.

Apply to Become a Shelter Chef Today

12. Speech-Language Pathologist

Struggling to communicate can be as much a challenge for children as it is for adults. But thanks to a speech-language pathologist, people of all ages can be taught to speak with minimal impediment.

13. Child Development Specialist

Neurodiversity is the term for the many ways in which human brains can be different. These nuances result in variations in people’s sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions. The term challenges the dominant paradigm that some neurodevelopmental disorders are necessarily problematic.

The special education teacher’s job is to teach neurodiverse kids and teens how to navigate a society that isn’t properly structured to accommodate neurodiversity. The application of Father Joe’s Village’s CREED is apparent for these teachers.

If you’re a special education teacher, don’t be surprised if a student teaches you as much as you teach them!

Apply to Become a Child Development Specialist Today

14. Veterinarian

The CREED doesn’t only apply to people. From the littlest bird to the biggest fish, sometimes animals need help just as much as people do.

Veterinarians provide that help to the animals in our lives–animals we can love just as much as family or friends.

Bottom Line on Finding a Non Profit Career

From the executive director to young professionals just entering the workforce looking for career opportunities to a volunteer at a local non-profit organization, the CREED can guide anyone.

If volunteering or a career path isn’t for you, then a monetary donation to a nonprofit organization works too (and don’t forget to share on social media).

However, you choose to change lives through a career choice, volunteer or charitable giving, the key values of Compassion, Respect, Empathy, Empowerment, and Dignity can serve as a guiding light on your journey.