Parent Liaison (Teen Reach)

At Youth Guidance, we believe that no matter what challenges a young person faces, they are more likely to succeed when they have caring adults in their lives. Our highly-trained staff guides kids to overcome the life and academic challenges facing Chicago’s youth. We meet kids where they are — physically and emotionally — to help them focus on their education, make positive choices, and remain on the right path toward life success.

Youth Guidance at Altgeld Garden Riverdale Community is a dynamic team of skilled instructors passionate about engaging students and creating a fun and supportive after school environment. We are seeking enthusiastic and responsible candidates who enjoy working with groups of students and are flexible team players.

Position Summary: Provide assistance to staff to ensure program deliverables are met. The parent liaison will build and maintain the parent programming for Aldridge, Dubois and Carver Elementary Schools Teen Reach Program in the Altgeld Garden Riverdale Community.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

• Assists other YG staff in ensuring that the deliverables are met for the program
• Works with existing parent leadership to create a plan for parent involvement
• Enter data into TIER or other database system in a timely manner
• Recruits parents through flyers, phone calls, in-person solicitation and home visit
• Maintains all parent program records
• Help to plan parent involvement activities
• Advocates on the behalf of parents with the faculty and administration
• Assists in conflict resolution
• Oversees the volunteer training program
• Arranges for parent training and in-services
• Assists the social worker and facilitator
• Attends parent liaison and parent developers meetings
• 20 hours a week (flexible according to program schedule and some Saturdays)
• Able to service adult and children during family engagement programs (Ex: Family Game Night)
• Attend community meetings

• Duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Experience/Training

• Must have High school diploma or GED.
• At least two years’ experience working in a school setting

• Must be committed to the continuous improvement of service quality and the organization’s mission.
• Must function well in group and team settings.
• Must possess interpersonal skills that excel in cultural sensitivity and respect for differences.

Skills/Abilities

• Experience and comfort working with diverse populations
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Rapport building
• Service oriented
• Knowledge of social service or education programs
• Effective time management and prioritization skills
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office products (outlook, word, excel, power point)

Competencies

• Communication: Able to use effective written and oral communication with internal and external audiences and stakeholders; demonstrates empathy and listening
• Client orientation: Can recognize needs of diverse stakeholders and approaches relationships with a service orientation to ultimately maximize impact
• Equity mindset: Understands and is committed to goals of equity; consistently brings an equity mindset to the organization’s work and workplace
• Growth mindset: Views growth as important for personal and professional development; seeks out opportunities to expand skills, even if change is required; Demonstrated ability to be solutions-focused, self-reflective, and dedicated the continuous improvement of service quality
• Ownership and quality of work: Effectively manages own work and work of teams ensuring delivery of high-quality work. Proven ability to be innovative and a self-starter
• Supervisory skills: effectively manages and develops others
• Mission driven: demonstrates commitment to the mission of the organization as whole and alignment with organizational values

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those 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

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• This job operates in a professional office environment, school setting and working with the public, all Youth Guidance employees must be fully vaccinated or approved for a medical or religious exemption
• This job operates in a professional office environment, school setting and working with the public, all Youth Guidance employees must be fully vaccinated or approved for a medical or religious exemption
• Occasional local and national travel
  

DEI Statement

At Youth Guidance, we understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are fundamental to realizing our vision of bright and successful futures for all young people. We celebrate the diversity of youth and recognize them as empowered leaders, problem-solvers, and experts of their own experiences. At the same time, we acknowledge that many systems and institutions meant to support youth are inequitable and unjust.

As such, we are committed to advancing DE&I through our words and our actions, both internally and externally, by:

• Strengthening cultural competence as well as policies, practices, and organizational structures that foster belonging and leverage the unique backgrounds and talents of staff;
• Offering youth-centered programs that are accessible and responsive to people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, sexual identity, gender identity and expression, language, and cultural and religious beliefs and practices;
• Influencing systems that youth, their families, and communities are impacted by, such as schools, organizational networks, governmental bodies, researchers, and the funding community, to apply approaches that embrace DEI in addressing the needs and supporting the aspirations of young people.