Community Outreach Worker Job Description & Career Opportunities

A community outreach worker candidate is a person who wants to improve his or her community. The candidate lives in the community where he or she will help the residents. Their responsibilities include the overseeing of workshops and all kinds of activities. The candidate gets involved with community affairs and helps residents who are in need. Being a community outreach worker gives the candidate the opportunity to reach out to the grassroots level of people and make a difference in their lives. The residents interact with each other and socialize with the community outreach worker. Educational programs are organized for the benefit of the residents.
Relationship Building

The community outreach worker candidate has the power to influence choices and behavior in the community. Relationships are developed through one-on-one interaction. It is important for the candidate to be able to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate community programs. With the many fields that a community outreach worker can engage in, it is the United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, nonprofit organizations, and local health departments that are most well known. In this kind of work, flexible work hours are needed and hard work is required of the community outreach worker.
Physical Demands

Being a community outreach worker requires the candidate to have a certificate or associate’s degree. There are employers who want the candidate to have a bachelor’s degree. In this field, plenty of community outreach workers sacrifice their time to be of service to the residents and make their quality of life better. With the physical activities needed for the work, the candidate needs to be physically strong and energetic in interacting with the community residents. The level of work to be done can be demanding on the health of the community outreach worker candidate. Weeknights and weekends can be spent preparing for community activities or attending events.
Community Service

As a community outreach worker, the candidate is willing to make plenty of sacrifices in terms of personal happiness. The happiness of the community members matter more than personal gratification. In this non-lucrative field, the candidate is expected to be happier in serving the community than getting personal wealth. It entails plenty of time socializing with the community members, understanding their needs, and being empathetic. Candidates who want to be in this field need to understand the nature of the work well and how they can maximize their time in making the community members feel good about their lives.
New Lifestyle

Since the community outreach worker candidate adapts to the lifestyle of the community that is served, the candidate needs to be open-minded about other people’s way of life. Depending on the duration that the community outreach worker candidate needs to spend in a certain community, the candidate has to be prepared physically and emotionally in dealing with a new group of people. It is important for the community members to trust the community outreach worker candidate. With trust as the foundation, the community members can open up about their need for programs that can improve their lives.