One of my theme components can accomplish this with CSS. The code for hiding a link in the (old) community section at the top for everyone except staff is, (where #{$staff_link} is the name of that link):
.sidebar-section-link-wrapper[data-list-item-name="#{$staff_link}"] {
display: none;
}
.staff .sidebar-section-link-wrapper[data-list-item-name="#{$staff_link}"] {
display: block;
}