Youth Program Specialist

• Country: USA
• Organization: IRC 
• Deadline: N/A
• No of Vacancies: N/A

Major Responsibilities:

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Visit a caseload of 12-15 clients regularly in their homes (between 5:00-7:30 PM during the academic year for clients in high school and during regular business hours in the summer) to provide mentoring, advocacy and case management services as necessary.
• Assist the Youth Intake Specialist with client outreach, recruitment, and enrollment.
• Assist the Youth Services Coordinator with planning and leading group activities for clients through Saturday Learning Series and Girls Groups.

Client Services

• Conduct client assessments in order to set a baseline for growth and a starting point for service provision.   
• Establish an individualized service plan with each client on caseload; provide mentoring, guidance, and psychosocial support to aid clients in reaching goals in their service plans. 
• Facilitate caregiver involvement in minor clients’ education through phone calls, home visits, and other mechanisms, including teaching caregivers how to access their parent portals, attending Parent/Teacher conferences.  
• Screen clients for emotional distress and mental health; submit referrals to the Mental Health Department. 
• Facilitate activities with clients to teach positive coping mechanisms.  
• Track grades and attendance, advocate for and connect high school clients to relevant resources such as counselors, coaches, tutoring programs and extra-curricular activities.  
• Invite and encourage clients to attend quarterly Saturday Learning Series and Girls’ Group activities. 
• Collaborate with external organizations and internal departments to connect families to additional resources as necessary (food security, extended case management, immigration, etc) through referrals. 
• Occasionally provide homework assistance or English tutoring to help clients succeed with their schoolwork.
• Secure interpretation to provide services and information in the client’s language; Work with interpreters during client appointments.
• Drive clients to occasional appointments and program activities as necessary.

Compliance Documentation

• Monitor and track clients’ progress from one grade level to the next as well as immigration status and age.
• Ensure required intake documents, assessments and service plans are fully completed and updated as appropriate.
• Maintain comprehensive case notes, update case files, and regularly update service plans to respond to clients’ needs.

Team/Office Participation

• Participate in all program meetings, staff development activities, and other duties as assigned.
• Work as part of a team to provide comprehensive strength-based services to IRC clients through coordination of cases and effective communication between team members and departments.
• Comply with all policies, procedures, and protocols of the agency, placing importance on client confidentiality. 

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Youth Program Supervisor

Position directly supervises: N/A
Other Internal and/or external contacts: Dallas Education and Learning Manager, Youth Services Coordinator, HQ Youth and Education Technical Adviser

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, education, or related field of study is preferred, or related job experience.
• Well organized self-starter with excellent problem-solving skills and the proven ability to prioritize duties and manage time effectively. 
• Strong written and oral and interpersonal communication skills: the ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and partners in a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary environment.
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written; Bilingual in a client language (Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Spanish, Swahili) is a plus but not required.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook); 
• Valid driver’s license, access to reliable vehicle with current insurance, and the ability to travel regularly throughout the service delivery area (home visits, service provider visits, Saturday Learning Series,etc).

APPLY NOW