Primary purpose:
The Youth and Young Adult Program Manager uses a social determinants of health approach to develop programming and advocate for youth, young adults, and families in Newton, with a particular emphasis on supporting marginalized residents. This position leverages, collaborates with, and builds upon the work of other HHS team members, other city departments, and community-based organizations and service providers to meet the needs of youth, young adults, and families in Newton.
Supervision:
Scope and Judgment: This position requires excellent judgement and the ability to learn and work within a wide range of human services arenas. The position is responsible for moving long term projects forward and keeping them on schedule and done to the highest standards without daily oversight. The position must be able to take decisive action when matters are time sensitive while recognizing the municipal setting and limits to resources. Critical thinking, self-motivation, and a passion for serving the public are all key elements of the role.
Supervision Received: This position reports to the Director of Human Services and operates in accordance with applicable state and local laws and regulations, department policies and procedures, and standard or accepted practices, requiring the ability to plan and perform operations to independently complete assigned tasks according to a prescribed time schedule. Independently establishes own daily work plan based on regular routine and special assignments.
Supervision Given: May provide supervision to interns and/or junior staff.
Job Environment:
Work is performed under typical office conditions as well as other settings including community-based settings, schools, and home visits.
Frequent contact with Newton residents, other city departments and officials, outside agencies, businesses, vendors, and other governmental organizations and attorneys, etc. Communication is by means of in person meetings, telephone, online meeting platforms, personal discussion, and correspondence and involves discussing routine and confidential information, requiring patience, courtesy and judgment.
Regularly works evening and weekend hours for meetings and events. The work is often unpredictable and requires flexibility in both work performed and schedule.
Has access to confidential and sensitive information. Errors in judgment could result in significant delay or loss of services, legal ramifications, adverse public relations, and monetary loss.
Essential Functions:
(The essential functions or duties listed are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position.)
Responsibilities:
• Develop, plan, implement, and evaluate community programming to address a wide range of issues that impact youth and young adults such as, but not limited to, career readiness, mental health, substance use, and civic engagement. Programs may also serve caregivers and support systems or address social determinants of health that impact the success and wellbeing of youth and young adults.
• Build and maintain partnerships with schools, other city departments, and community-based organizations and service providers to collectively address the needs of youth and young adults and their families in Newton.
• Oversee the City’s summer youth internship program. This includes recruiting and selecting work sites and interns and running weekly workshops.
• Lead and/or represent the department on youth and young adult related coalitions, task forces, committees, and commissions including the City’s Youth Commission and Advisory Board.
• Work with the Director of Human Services on strategic planning, needs assessment, and development of standard operating procedures.
• Collect, analyze, and report data related to the needs of youth, young adults, and their families.
• Assist with managing contracts related to community support services (i.e., mental health, substance misuse, youth employment) to ensure appropriate use of funding.
• Assist with identifying funding opportunities, applying for grants, and overseeing grants awarded including reporting requirements and budget management.
• Create educational and outreach materials. Present to various audiences including the public, stakeholders, and other team members.
• Provide short-term case management to youth, young adults, and their families. This includes meeting with clients to assess needs and facilitate access to services, assisting residents with problem solving and self-advocacy, and following up with referrals.
• Maintain knowledge of trends and developments in the human services field.
• Perform other related job duties as required.
Minimum Entrance Qualifications:
Education, Training, and Experience:
• Bachelor’s degree in social work, human services, education, or related field plus 3 to 5 years of related experience; or any equivalent combination of education, training, certification, and experience required. Master’s degree preferred.
• Valid Massachusetts driver’s license required.
• Experience working in a government agency preferred.
• Experience working with marginalized youth and young adults preferred.
Knowledge, Ability and Skill:
Knowledge. This position requires a knowledge of human services principles; an understanding of human services trends and best practices; knowledge of appropriate documentation and confidentiality protection approaches; and an understanding of appropriate responses in a wide range of situations.
Ability. This position requires the abilities to: communicate effectively in writing and orally; comprehend the scope of laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to specialty area; organize time, work independently, and accomplish tasks despite frequent interruptions; maintain detailed records and database; operate various types of office equipment; maintain confidentiality of information; organize clerical and statistical records; maintain detailed and extensive records and to prepare reports from same; work effectively under time constraints to meet deadlines; deal tactfully and appropriately with the general public and City departments in an effective manner; interpret and follow departmental procedures and guidelines; be a strong team player; absorb and learn quickly and maintain a departmental sense of urgency; collect and analyze data to inform evidence-based human services programming; use judgement in the analysis of facts and circumstances to solve practical problems and deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations; interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form; perform public presentations to educate and support residents and/or colleagues; be flexible, recognizing that priorities and work portfolios may change abruptly; respond to emergency situations requiring unpredictable schedules and sudden shifts in workload and conditions.
Skills. This position requires strong organizational skills and the ability to work under pressure; excellent interpersonal and customer service skills; excellent writing skills including writing of memos, reports, proposals, analyses, and professional communications; excellent oral communication skills for presentations, meeting facilitation, and public interactions; and expertise and skill in using personal computers and common computer programs (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.).
Physical requirements:
(The physical demands described here represent those requirements that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.)
Regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, feel or operate objects, tools, equipment, machinery or controls, and reach with hands and arms as in picking up/accessing paper, files, and other common office objects as well as equipment and supplies relating to programs and needs in the HHS Department. Lifts and/or moves objects weighing up to 20 pounds. Manually operates all office equipment and other necessary equipment. Needs to operate a computer keyboard at an efficient speed.
Performance Standard:
Employees at all levels are expected to effectively work together to meet the needs of the community and the City through work behaviors demonstrating the City’s values. Employees are also expected to lead by example and demonstrate the highest level of ethics.
(This job description does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and requirements of the job change.)
THE CITY:
The City of Newton is a wonderful place to live and work. Newton has safe and attractive neighborhoods, an excellent public school system, an active community life, multiple transportation systems, proximity to Boston and a well-managed and financially strong City government. The City of Newton has a population of approximately 88,900, with 32,600 housing units and occupies a land area of 18.3 square miles. Newton is principally suburban-residential in character. Unlike many other communities that are established around a single Main Street or downtown, Newton is comprised of thirteen distinctive villages. Newton has a diversified economic base with approximately 4,700 establishments employing approximately 79,500 people. Newton is special in many ways. It is home to a variety of private secondary and post-secondary schools including a portion of Boston College, Lasell University, William James College, Hebrew College, and the UMass Amherst – Mount Ida Campus. The longest stretch of the Boston Marathon runs through the City, including the well-known Heartbreak Hill. Newton-Wellesley Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham health care system, serves as an important partner to the City. In September 2018, Newton was again ranked #1 in Massachusetts as the best place to live and #12 in the U.S.
OUR GOVERNMENT:
Newton has what is known as a “strong Mayor” form of government with the Mayor having the executive and administrative powers of the City. The legislative branch is comprised of 24 City Councilors. Mayor Marc C. Laredo was sworn in on January 1, 2026 after serving on the City Council. The City of Newton was evaluated by Moody’s Investors Services in February 2020 and assigned its highest rating of AAA. Newton was thus well-positioned to weather the pandemic and economic downturn.
AS AN EMPLOYER:
The City of Newton believes that its employees are its greatest asset. To that end, we are committed to supporting our employees by providing competitive wages and growth, a comprehensive benefits package which includes a defined municipal pension plan, quality health and dental insurance plans, generous paid leave benefits, paid holidays, and access to supplemental benefits such as deferred compensation, short term disability plans, flexible spending accounts, and other employee benefits. We also provide access to an Employee Assistance Program and access to employee training and professional development opportunities. We continuously work to review and expand upon our benefit offerings. We encourage you to visit our Human Resources Department website to learn more about our organization and benefits which are available to our employees. And as always, you are encouraged to reach out to our dynamic HR Team by emailing hr@newtonma.gov.
Human Resources Diversity Statement
We recognize our workforce is a source of strength that is vital to our ability to effectively serve the City of Newton’s diverse community. We will:
The targeted salary range reflects what the City of Newton reasonably and in good faith expects to offer for this position at the time of posting, but the final salary determination may be within or outside this range based on various factors, including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, and market factors. The range will be reviewed regularly and is subject to change.