The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is searching for an experienced technology and project management expert to oversee the process of modernizing our 24/7 English-Spanish crisis intervention hotline and laying the groundwork for future technological advances that will enhance our ability to: support LGBTQ and HV-affected survivors of violence; collect and disseminate data about that violence; and develop organizing and advocacy campaigns to address and prevent violence.  

About AVP: 

AVP empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and supports survivors through counseling and advocacy. AVP envisions a world in which all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-affected people are safe, respected and live free from violence. 

AVP was founded in 1980 in response to a series of brutal anti-gay attacks, and today, provides free and confidential assistance to thousands of LGBTQ and HIV-affected people across New York City each year through our 24-hour bilingual hotline, counseling, support groups, legal representation and individual advocacy. In addition, AVP helps survivors of violence and allies become advocates for safety through participation in community education, outreach, and organizing strategies. AVP coordinates the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a coalition of nearly 50 organizations that works to prevent, respond to, and end all forms of violence against and within LGBTQ communities. Through the coalition, AVP publishes reports on national trends of violence in LGBTQ communities. 

About the Project: 

Ultimately, our goal is to continue to build and harness technology to help us build an anti-violence movement that is flexible and can mobilize and activate thousands to take collective action and demand changes that will create safety and dismantle the conditions that lead to violence. The COVID pandemic has exposed the urgent need for anti-violence services and activism to be digital, portable, multi-faceted and adaptable to the needs of community members.

While we want to upgrade several of our systems to function more virtually, our first priority is our hotline. Our goal is to add text and chat capability, increase call capacity, and improve and enhance engagement with our communities, including volunteers and staff, in order to bring the lifeline of AVP’s hotline to more LGBTQ people, and to better connect with current and future generations of survivors in the ways they feel most comfortable. The hotline advancement must be operational by June 2021.

The consultant will:

• Oversee the hotline expansion project from start to finish including consulting on and having ownership of the project timeline and budget. 
• Create a roadmap of up to two years for implementing a fully integrated platform that modernizes the hotline that can integrate into an overall improved utilization of technology across programmatic areas, creating an on-line anti-violence hub.
• Determine the most efficient and cost-effective plan and system for immediately upgrading the hotline, including adding text and chat features, and removing the need for duplicate data entry across systems, to facilitate better work across departments. while ensuring that there is capacity for future growth and expansion.
• Draft and present a project rollout communications plan for key stakeholders. 
• Create thorough and accessible project documentation for staff use.
• Train key AVP personnel to access and maintain the hotline and community tools.
• Conduct a look-back assessment of project outcomes and go-forward plan for hotline assessment.
• Identify overall cost outline, to support fundraising opportuniites.
• Conduct an assessment of AVP’s current hotline processes and infrastructure.
• Review caller feedback and interview staff and volunteers to identify ways to improve the experience for all AVP hotline users.
• Review hotline and client services operations for opportunities to streamline processes and expand services.
• Consider how best to fully integrate expansion technology into the work of the wider organization.
• Present a project roadmap recommendation with at least two approaches to achieve desired project outcomes. Achieve buy-in from AVP stakeholders and communicate a final plan including key milestones and budget.
• Identify and recommend the required service providers and suppliers for project execution. Work with AVP staff leads to onboard and manage project resources as needed.

Desired Experience:

You or your firm may be the right fit for this project if you have

• Extensive project management experience
• Demonstrated experience balancing a strong needs assessment with a tight execution timeline
• User-centered design experience alongside the ability to see the bigger organizational picture
• Portfolio work that shows how you tackle organizational challenges, drive solutions from start to finish, and share back valuable insights