Resource Specialist (Parkway West CTC / Sto-Rox)

Company Overview

Pittsburgh Area Community Schools (PACS) strives to be the leader of the community school implementation throughout the Pittsburgh Region ensuring an equitable education experience for ALL students.

Our Mission: To surround students of the greater Pittsburgh region with a community of support empowering them to achieve in school and succeed in life.

Job Summary

The Resource Specialist works in partnership with the PACS Site Manager and is responsible for deploying PACS' Full-Service Community Schools model in the Sto-Rox School District. The Resource Specialist is responsible for providing case management to a targeted number of students and their families who face difficulties with engaging in their learning environment.

Essential Duties

• Work with students and their families to complete a needs assessment, that will inform the development of a Support Plan that will address identified need areas.
• Collaborate with school personnel in identifying students in need of attendance, academic, or behavioral support services.
• Connect students to community resources and providers that will address their attendance, academic, behavioral, and/or basic needs.
• Conducted regular check-ins with case managed students and their families, school personnel, and community providers to evaluate progress and effectiveness of their Support Plan goals.
• Connect the families of case managed students with community providers based on their area of need.
• Develop strong relationships with those families being served to help identify needs and barriers.
• Create opportunities for parent involvement and inclusion in school events and activities that will benefit their children.
• Coordinate and deploy basic needs resources and address urgent wellbeing needs.
• Collaborate with the Site Manager, Team Manager, school personnel and volunteers to support the administering of PACS' annual school needs assessment to identify key strengths, areas of growth, and opportunities.
• Ensure open communication by providing required progress reports on services provided to the PACS Team Manager.
• Provide weekly documentation and data tracking of all case managed students and their families in the PACS data management system.
• Provide regular updates on student progress to all appropriate stakeholders (parents, teachers, community partners, etc.).
• Lead by modeling the Sanctuary commitments in all aspects of daily responsibilities.

Secondary Duties

• Participates in the organizational culture of trauma informed practices using the Sanctuary model.
• Participate in required training as well as team and all-staff meetings.
• Provides culturally competent and trauma-informed services to all students and families.
• Participates in 40 hours annually of professional development opportunities relevant to position.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Possess a passion for serving youth from diverse populations.
• Integrity, credibility, and a commitment to and passion for PACS' mission.
• The ability to identify opportunities for supportive partnerships that will benefit the school, its students and their families and the skills to execute these opportunities on the ground.
• Commitment to developing strong collaborations to support students, schools and families and a strong commitment to social change through community empowerment.
• Strong project management, problem-solving and conflict management skills
• An understanding of social service work and advocacy.
• Ability to engage students, parents and the greater community.
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships and collaborative partnerships.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to take initiative and handle situations with diplomacy.
• Ability to deal with ambiguity and change, flexible working in a fast-paced, nonprofit environment.
• Experienced in understanding and diffusing sensitive situations with a balanced approach to handling diverse populations and situations on a case-by-case basis.
• Clearly and consistently represents PACS in all aspects of delivery of service to help promote PACS, our values and mission.
• A strong commitment to accountability, data collection, and service documentation.

Experience/ Education Requirements

• Experience and knowledge equivalent to that gained from a bachelor’s degree in the social services field required.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in social services or a related field required.
• Demonstrated related experience may substitute for preferred education.

Working Conditions/ Physical Demands

• Travel up to 35% for home visits, meetings, and job-related tasks.
• Perform light work – exerting up to 30 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects.
• Must have a valid PA driver’s license and reliable transportation.
• Must be willing to use personal cell phone when working remotely.

To apply: Send your cover letter and resume to HR-Payroll@pghareacs.org with the position in the subject line.