at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Job Description
PURPOSE OF POSITION: To offer support and guidance on the educational and vocational goals of the residents in Kelly Home and to ensure progress towards the vocational aspirations of Community Care Members; to represent the Agency at school, post-secondary development programs and employers; to support administrative procedures and processes for Kelly Home; to maintain the professional data and program materials; to provide vocational resources for Community Care, as referred by COTS team or Care Managers.
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:
· At least 21 years of age.
· Bachelor’s degree required, ideally with a major in education, social work, business or related field.
· Keen understanding of, and passion for, the importance of post-high school education and workforce development opportunities, particularly for Mercy Home’s young adult population.
· Demonstrated experience working with youth who have experienced developmental adversity and/or trauma (at least two years’ experience preferred).
· Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
· Ability to conduct trainings with the young adults on relevant topics.
· Ability to seek and schedule guest speakers and special courses for young adults.
· Ability to research and network with educational or workforce development programs and connect with them in the community.
· Ability to work both independently and as an active member of an interdisciplinary treatment team.
· Is open and respectful of cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of clients and is willing and competent to work with a diverse client population.
· Proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as the ability to become proficient in other software packages and programs.
· Comfortable with record keeping, numbers and performing simple statistical analysis.
· Possesses good relationship and coaching skills.
· Ability to maintain confidentiality.
· Ability to work two evenings a week. Ability to attend required Agency trainings and maintain necessary training compliance. Flexibility to attend daytime trainings or sessions outside of regularly scheduled hours.
· Promote, support and role model the use of Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) theory and practice for all co-workers in de-escalating situations.
· Actively engage in learning and integrating developmentally appropriate, attachment-informed, and trauma-responsive theory and practice consistent with the Mercy Model of Care and ARC Framework.
· Commitment to the mission, values, and goals of the Agency.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS FOR KELLY HOME:
· Assess and implement Mercy Model programming with assigned youth and young adults. Including, but not limited to: Strengths Discovery, goal setting, problem solving, in-vivo mentoring and skills coaching.
· Coordinate with treatment team to identify roles in young adult’s future planning, and include any other necessary key players (family, mentors, etc.) to support young adults in vocational and educational planning while at Mercy Home and once they leave the agency.
· Coordinate with treatment team to execute vocational and educational domains of community launch plan.
· Work collaboratively with Residential Programs, Education and Career Resources, and Community Care staff, ensuring collaboration with Transition Coach in relation to PSO/CR planning.
· Monitor and assess youth’s progress, adjusting plans as needed to ensure successful transition to independence.
· Develop, implement, manage and monitor all operational, administrative and programmatic processes and activities related to post-secondary education and vocational planning for young adults in assigned program(s).
· Be responsible for the career and post-high school educational assessment of young adults and the case plan related to their individual needs for career and post-secondary planning, exploring these realms in the community as needed.
· Be responsible for the educational and vocational Admissions assessment and progress of young adults seeking placement in Kelly Home.
· Maintain educational and vocational records for each assigned young adult, including use of BluePrint database for school records.
· Continually assess young adults’ educational and vocational records and to ensure that resources are available and/or being requested to meet young adults’ needs
· Collate and collaborate on information, data and statistics as it relates to QI and ECR department
· Work directly with young adults in seeking on campus, part time, and full-time employment. Participate in the internship prep process and support on-campus employment as applicable and assigned.
· Be responsible for external job placement monitoring and serve as liaison with employers.
· In collaboration with Kelly Home Residential Program, implement Job Preparation Program and Financial Literacy with each young adult.
· In collaboration with Department, research, understand and communicate summer employment and internship opportunities for young adults.
· Coordinate driver’s education for young adults.
· Plan, execute, and attend post-secondary and career program exposure visits.
· Attend weekly Kelly Home staff meetings to maintain clear and direct communication for young adults’ educational and vocational needs.
· Ensure direct communication with the Education and Career Resources team and Program staff for timely daily notification of a young adults’ availability for academic or vocational tutoring.
· Maintain confidentiality of young adults when working with tutors.
· Work two evenings a week to assist during evening programming including tutoring, job skills classes, job lab, or evening education and career workshops.
· Actively seek out, explore, and assess community resources in regard to PSO/CR opportunities for youth and young adults.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS FOR COMMUNITY CARE:
· Maintain relationships with employers and workforce development centers with special consideration given to established Community Partners.
· Ensure that all members interested in employment support complete the employment intake form and coordinate steps to engage them in the supportive process.
· Complete the self-sufficiency matrix for any member that is not working with a Care Manager.
· Maintain an updated roster of members working on SMART employment/financial goals. Maintain records in Blueprint database.
· Check in with vocationally engaged members at least every two weeks to see how they are progressing with their job goals.
· Support members with eliminating any barriers to securing and sustaining employment.
· Conduct monthly employment check-ins once they secure a job for up to one year.
· Review the monthly budget tracker with members who need a better understanding of their monthly income/expenses.
· Keep track of every member’s milestones, that secures employment while engaged in vocational support. (i.e. promotions, pay rate, FT/PT status, etc.)
