Purpose:

Save lives and prevent injury by providing leadership and/or support to Disaster Cycle Services team members through The Pillowcase Project. The Pillowcase Project and Prepare with Pedro are national youth preparedness programs offered by Red Cross regions across the country. The time-scalable presentations provide emergency preparedness education to youth in K-5 in school classrooms or other settings. Numerous tools have been developed for these programs including a standardized curriculum, workbook, quizzes and activities which have been carefully constructed with the help of curriculum and hazard experts. Many tools for presenters have been developed to foster consistency and fidelity to the preparedness programming goals and objectives. The highly interactive presentation addresses home fire safety, a local natural hazard, psycho-social coping skills and household preparedness steps like making a plan and building a kit.

Responsibilities: Worker roles include either being a presenter, presentation assistant, or administrative support. Depending on which worker role you choose, your key responsibilities will vary.

Typical Worker Role responsibilities may include but are not limited to:

• Conduct The Pillowcase Project and/or Prepare with Pedro presentations given to youth in schools and community settings
• Successfully complete the Basic Instructor Fundamentals for Youth (BIF-Y) (60-75 minute on line course)
• Successfully complete The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 1 (60-90 minute web-based or 3 hour instructor led course)
• Successfully complete The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 2 (in person teach backs) (Note: this is at a minimum a 3-hour training experience) and/or the Prepare with Pedro Presenter Fundamentals Module 2 (a minimum of a 2 hour training experience)
• Successfully complete The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 3 (web-based assessment)
• May assist with community outreach to schedule presentations at sites
• Work as a team with the Team Lead and other volunteers and employees to build The Pillowcase Project in the region
• Ensure all reporting data for each presentation given is collected and given to regional staff in a timely manner
• Other duties as agreed to between the presenter and the Team Lead

Time Commitment: 5-12 hours monthly (dependent on team capacity)

Qualifications: Worker roles include either being a presenter, presentation assistant, or administrative support. Depending on which worker role you choose, your qualifications will vary. All Workers are expected to (be):

• Enthusiastic about the American Red Cross mission and programs
• Fluent in basic computer skills; adaptable to new systems
• Aware and respectful of the role and the responsibilities of others; highly collaborative
• Reliable, punctual, good time management skills
• Able to meet all background check requirements imposed by the Red Cross and any imposed by local school jurisdictions
• Complete of all required training in school and out of school in community settings
• Have a working knowledge of emergency preparedness principles or a strong desire to learn about emergency preparedness and protective actions in order to teach them to youth
• Flexible and willing to teach new ideas and concepts, such as the psycho-social "coping skills"
• Possess strong organizational skills and ability to follow through with minimum supervision
• Demonstrate excellent communication skills, including public speaking
• Possess a dynamic personality that relates well to youth in the target age group
• Reliable, punctual, good time management skills
• Able to complete reports and conduct follow up calls with sites in a timely manner, if requested
• Able to problem solve and be flexible with program changes, regional changes, etc.
• Willing to learn and use Monster Guard: Prepare for Emergencies, an interactive electronic game based on the youth preparedness curriculum
• Have daytime and/or weekend availability
• Able to arrange transportation to the Red Cross office to pick up materials, travel to event location, and return materials, etc. to the office at the end of the presentation

Relationships: Works closely with all other Preparedness team members to ensure team goals are achieved. Schools, other volunteers and employees, community partners, youth.

Development Opportunity:Advancement within the disaster workforce, mentoring opportunities, develop technical expertise in preparedness programming, develop leadership skills, build skills through training provided.

Training: Worker roles include either being a presenter, presentation assistant, administrative support, or presenter trainer. Depending on which worker role you choose, your training will vary. Every volunteer is expectation to take:

• Disaster Cycle Services: An Overview (Required)
• Everyone’s Welcome (Required)
• Review all relevant preparedness programs, The Pillowcase Project and Prepare with Pedro materials that are posted on The Exchange.
• Participate in regular calls and webinars with national and divisional teams

Presenter Worker Role training may include but are not limited to:

• Basic Instructor Fundamentals for Youth (BIF-Y), 60-75-minute on-line course
• The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 1 (web-based 60-90-minute or instructor led 3 hours)
• The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 2 (in-person teach-backs 3-4-hour course)
• Prepare with Pedro Presenter Fundamentals Module 2 (in-person teach-backs 2-hour course)
• The Pillowcase Project Presenter Fundamentals Module 3 (web-based assessment, 25 questions)
• The Pillowcase Project: Presentation Demonstration Video (YouTube 30-minute)
• Basic Instructor Specialty Training (Recommended)
• Disaster Services: An Overview (Recommended)
• Psychological First Aid (Recommended)
• Other Region-specific Training as required.

How to Apply:

Please go to www.redcross.org/volunteer and select Apply Now. You will then be redirected to our Volunteer Connections page. Once on the page, you will fill in the form, that says, “Create a Red Cross ID”. After you create a Red Cross ID, you will be redirected to the application page.