Board Member - Medicine Hat

About us

SafeLink Alberta is a non-profit organization that has been serving and advocating for priority populations in Alberta since 1983. Our mission is to reduce the harms associated with sexual activity and substance use through education, non-judgmental services, referral to appropriate supports, and programming. Today, SafeLink operates two offices – its main office in Calgary, and a second office in Medicine Hat.

About the Role

As its governing body, the Board of Directors plays an integral role in setting SafeLink’s mission, vision, and strategy, and ensuring the organization meets its legal, financial and ethical obligations. The Board is comprised of dedicated volunteers who bring a breadth of professional and lived experience and help ensure SafeLink’s long term success.

What you will do

• Attend Board meetings, which are generally held once per month, on a Tuesday evening.
• Sit on at least one of the Board’s Committees. Each committee may meet approximately once per month, virtually, on a weekday evening.
• Represent SafeLink and/or the Board at events in and around Calgary (and Medicine Hat if you choose).
• Act as a voice for Medicine Hat on the Board, ensuring that Medicine Hat-specific issues, concerns, and opportunities are raised to the Board.
• Support stakeholder engagement activities in and around Medicine Hat, including government relations activities.
• Similar duties to support SafeLink’s operations.
• Estimated monthly commitment may be 10 hours dependent on the committee work selected.

What you will bring

• Professional experience and/or advanced education in an area directly applicable to the work of one or more of SafeLink’s Board Committees. Of particular interest is expertise in:

1. Finance, audit, and accounting;
2. Indigenous peoples;
3. Law; and,
4. Public health, health promotion, nursing, medicine, or another health-related discipline.

• An understanding of, and passion for the type of work SafeLink does, which includes health education and health/social service system navigation.
• Respect for, and a desire to support, our priority populations, including individuals living with sexually transmitted and blood borne infections, those engaged in sex work, immigrants, indigenous people or persons that may use substances.
• Professional, volunteer, and/or lived experience with any aforementioned populations.
• Experience on a non-profit board, however; mentorship/support will be available for those without this experience.
• Strong personal and professional networks in and around Medicine Hat, and an eagerness to leverage these connections to further the goals of SafeLink.
• The ability to attend Board and Committee Meetings virtually. Occasional day trips to Calgary may be needed (based on your availability), up to 3-4 times per year to attend events such as our strategic planning retreat, AGM, or other similar events.
• Possess foundational knowledge on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) principles in line with SafeLink Alberta’s values.
• Provision of a criminal record check with a vulnerable sector search is required. A positive result may not disqualify candidates; decisions are case-by-case and confidential.

Join an organization that values IDEA

At SafeLink Alberta, we are committed to promoting Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) within our organization and the communities we serve. For us, Inclusion means fostering a welcoming and respectful culture, diversity is ensuring a fair representation of voices and perspectives, equity is supporting everyone in accessing needed resources, and accessibility is making services available to everyone. We view IDEA as essential to building inclusive, empowered, and healthier communities while acknowledging that this involves continuous work and learning, and sometimes we will make mistakes. We strive to adapt to unlearning and learning as needed. We pledge to integrate IDEA principles into our strategic plans and keep the community informed of our progress for transparency and accountability.

We especially encourage applications from communities that are under-represented among our staff, such as people living with HIV, visible minorities, those with lived/living experience, and people with culturally diverse backgrounds. We value your experience, and we encourage you to self-identify in your application should you feel comfortable doing so.

Ready to Apply?

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to volunteer@safelinkalberta.ca. While professional references are not required at the time of application, two references will be requested from successful candidates.

You must be available for in-person/online interviews. No phone calls please. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.