Join our team

EngAGE Beverly is a small community for older adults on Chicago's South Side, especially those navigating memory changes, and the care partners who walk alongside them. We gather in the Garth Room at Bethany Union Church, with no more than eight people at a time.

We are not hiring right now, but we may be adding to our team in the coming months. If the role below sounds like you, please reach out. We keep a list of people we would like to talk with when a position opens.

You would work alongside our Program Director to shape how our gatherings run. The hours are part-time and predictable, the responsibility is real from day one, and you will know every participant by name.

Adult Engagement Specialist

Part-time · Two five-hour shifts each week · Not hiring right now, interest welcome

Starts at $25 per hour

The work

You are the warm, relational heart of the day. Working alongside our Program Director, who is in the room with you, you help run our gatherings, build a real relationship with each participant, and keep the room calm and memory-capable.

A day includes coffee and conversation, something interesting to turn over together, movement, music, making something, a shared meal, and time to linger. You will facilitate parts of it, sit alongside people for the rest of it, and guide volunteers in the moment.

What you would actually do

• Welcome participants as they arrive, and help them settle
• Lead and support activities, and follow the room as it goes
• Notice how each person is doing, and adjust the day to suit
• Work alongside our Program Director, and guide our Gathering Companions and Guest Facilitators, who are volunteers, so they know where to be
• Help set up, share the meal, and put the room back
• Keep simple notes on how each gathering went

Who we are looking for

Required

• CPR and First Aid certification before your first shift. If you are not currently certified, we will arrange the training and cover the cost.

All of this is welcome, but none of it is required

• CNA or RN certification, current or lapsed
• Experience with older adults, especially those navigating memory changes

What actually matters more

• The instinct to see the whole person. Not the diagnosis, and not the list of things someone can no longer do. Our approach is inspired by Elderwise in Seattle and their spirit-centered philosophy, and this is where it begins.
• Acceptance, and celebration, of who a person is in the moment you are with them. Not who they used to be, and not who they are becoming. The person in the room today is the whole person, and is met as one.
• Patience, and the steadiness to keep offering it
• Comfort with slowness, and with silence
• Real warmth, and genuine interest in who people are
• Good judgment in the moment, and the confidence to ask when you are unsure
• Reliability, because the same face each week is the whole point

We would rather have the right person than the right credential, and we mean that. Retired professionals, parents working school-day hours, career changers, and people returning to work after time away are all genuinely welcome.

Room to grow

We gather two days a week now and plan to add days as our community grows. As the week grows, so do the hours for anyone who wants them.

The person in this role will shape how our gatherings actually run, working directly with our Program Director, and will have first claim on additional days as we add them.

What we offer

• Work that fits around a life, in predictable blocks
• Paid holidays. If a holiday falls on a day you would have worked, you are paid for it. That includes our winter break in December, when we are closed and you are paid for your usual days, so your income is dependable
• A place on a small team that helps shape and build what we become
• Training and mentorship through our affiliation with the national Old Friends Club network
• A role at a nonprofit in its first year, and the story that comes with it

We are a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The role is based at Bethany Union Church, 1750 W. 103rd Street, Chicago, and is on site.

Before you start

New team members begin with paid orientation and shadow a full gathering day before leading any part of a gathering.

Because our participants include older adults living with memory changes, every person who joins us, paid or volunteer, goes through references and a background check with no exceptions. We will always ask your permission in writing first.

How to reach out

We are not hiring right now, but we would love to hear from you. There is no formal application. Send a note to hello@engagebeverly.org telling us who you are, what draws you to this, and when you are free to talk. A resume is welcome if you have one to hand, and not required. We will keep your note on file and get in touch when we are adding to our team.

Julie Singler, Founder and Executive Director

Not looking for a job, but want to be part of this?

Plenty of people who read this page are not looking for work. They are looking for a way in. We welcome volunteers as gathering hosts, gathering companions, and guest facilitators, and a couple of hours a month makes a real difference.

See how to volunteer →