Youth Advocate

Salary: $18 - $25/hr

Position Summary:

The Youth Advocate will work with chronically absent, elementary youth and early childhood youth to address barriers to consistent daily attendance at CS 61 Francisco Oller Community School. The Youth Advocate will support students by designing individualized interventions which support academic and socio-emotional needs. The Youth Advocate will help to identify the causes of poor attendance and collaborate with internal and external service partners to seek solutions and encourage meaningful engagement in school for students and families. Youth Advocates will receive training specific to this role as well as participate in monthly staff meetings and case management sessions with the Community School team.

Children’s Aid Mission:

To help children in poverty to succeed and thrive. We do this by providing comprehensive support to children and their families in targeted high-needs New York City neighborhoods. Children’s Aid annually serves children and their families at over 40 sites in New York, as well as through three national program models. Children’s Aid is concentrating its efforts on creating cradle-through-college pathways in high-need neighborhoods, with a focus on children’s health, family stability, education, and social and emotional development.

Culture and Values

We put children, youth, and families first: We listen to and incorporate the voices of children, youth and families in all that we do.
We seek equity and transformation in our communities: We courageously work within and outside systems to create opportunities for children, youth and families.
We strive for excellence: We hold ourselves to the highest standards and are committed to continuous learning and improvement.
We are powered by collaboration: Our work is stronger when we trust, partner, and respect each other and the communities we serve.
We are driven by compassion: We lead with kindness, care, and empathy and believe in the endless potential of the people we serve and our team.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with school and site leadership to devise tiered interventions to enhance attendance awareness, school culture and, address chronically absent students/youth mentees.
• Collaborate in the planning of events or initiatives that help create a positive experience for youth, families and staff.
• Facilitate individual and small group weekly check-in sessions with students who have attendance struggles
• Seek guidance and identify targeted sources of youth or family support from appropriate school staff and community-based partners under the direction of the Program Coordinator.
• Develop, plan and coordinate parent engagement opportunities to educate families on the importance of attendance and to create enriching experiences between families and youth. (For youth in grades 3k - 5th grade)
• Keep notes about youth attendance patterns, needs and interventions-make sure monitoring of data is strategic.
• As a member of the Attendance Team, youth advocate will participate in weekly/bi-weekly attendance meetings to discuss best practices, challenges, data and youth updates to improve attendance averages and reduce absenteeism
•  Work with groups of youth to encourage children to develop pro-social behavior and self-discipline.
• Work with parents and students, as partners, to develop individual attendance plans that will outline strategies and outcomes that will ensure student success in the area of attendance and tardiness.
• Develop and facilitate club lesson plans that motivate youth to attend school and strive for a minimum 90% attendance average.
• Support programming with day-to-day operations, such as lunch supervision, recess, snack, and program coverage.
• Complete 2 employee evaluations per school year.

Minimum Qualifications:

● Highschool Diploma or Associate’s Degree
● Experience working with elementary school students in urban, public education settings
● Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred

Key Competencies:

● Highly effective in motivating, stimulating, and engaging students around academic and personal success.
● Highly organized and able to demonstrate sound judgment
● Detail oriented and an effective listener
● Highly skilled in verbal and written communication skills