Family Foster Care: Coach

Job Description

Job Description

Coaches are paired with up to 15 - 20 young people and work with each of them from 9th grade (or age 14, if they are disconnected from school) to age 21, regardless of their academic status. Coaches build trusting, long-term relationships with young people. Once the relationship between a Coach and young person is established, the overall goal is to support the young person to:

• Graduate high school.
• Persist in a post-secondary setting.
• Build progressive career development experiences in line with their interests, strengths, and academic/vocational plans that will help them navigate onto a living wage career pathway.
• Successfully navigate the transition into adulthood (and into independent living, for those young people who are aging out).

Responsibilities

• Given the nature of their work, Coaches should also be able to be reached outside of a 9-5 office schedule.
• Build relationships with up to 15- 20 young people.
• Provide ongoing social/emotional support.
• Work 1:1 with young people to conduct an interest/strength inventory in order to develop individualized academic and career development goals; implementation of measurable steps to effectively assist young people in reaching their desired goals.
• Connect young people to quality schools, programs, resources, and opportunities in line with their goals.
• Help young people persist in these settings, navigate any challenges that arise, celebrate successes, and plan/prepare for the next step on their journey.
• Collaborate with Case Planners, Tutors, Specialists, and foster/birth parents, as needed, to help youth achieve their goals and ensure their overall well-being.
• Connect young people to peer group supports and build positive relationships.
• Ensure young people who are aging out can access and maintain stable, affordable housing and build independent living skills.
• Re-engage disconnected youth and help them re-enroll in an academic setting.
• Assess the fit between the young person and their current academic setting and help them transfer into a better-fit high school or high school equivalency (HSE) program, if needed.
• Visit the young person’s school/program and build relationships with school staff, review transcripts and academic data, provide educational advocacy, and discuss progress towards graduation/HSE obtainment.
• Ensure young people are attending school and have the supports and resources they need to be successful, such as tutoring, individualized educational plans (IEPs), 504 Plans, or other special accommodations.
• Expose students to post-secondary pathways, such as college and/or accredited vocational programs, starting in the 9th grade (or as early as possible).
• Assist students with post-secondary planning, along with the guidance counselors and/or College Specialists and Career Development Specialists.
• Connect the student to the College Specialist to apply to colleges, opportunity programs, and all forms of financial aid, funding, and scholarships.
• Provide college persistence coaching, including ensuring students are receiving all the financial and academic supports they need to succeed each semester.
• Collaborate with all relevant partners, such as Case Planners, guidance counselors, Specialists, Tutors, teachers, family members, and caregivers.

• Works closely with Case Planners to insure they have the important data needed to make entries into Connections and to verify the status of Vital documents.

• Assist young people in obtaining working papers, if needed.
• Conduct career exploration activities with young people.
• Assist ALL young people in selecting at least one career development experience each year that is in line with their interests and academic situation/background.
• Work with the young person and Career Development Specialist to identify potential longer-term career pathways based on the young person’s interests, strengths, and academic/vocational plans.
• Connect the young person to the Career Development Specialist, if needed, to explore workforce development programs, vocational programs, and for assistance with job applications.
• Connect young people, as needed, to agency-based job readiness and/or internship programs (e.g., YA WORC or the Mentored Internship Program).
• Provide persistence coaching to young people enrolled in any external program by checking in with them regularly.
• Ensure that the young person coordinates with a Housing Specialist (and/or Case Planner, if the agency does not have a Housing Specialist) to ensure that all young people’s housing applications are submitted as early as possible (by age 18).
• Accompany the young person to visit supportive housing residences, when needed.
• Help young people maintain their housing by providing independent living and life skills supports such as budgeting, obtaining a bank account, and advocating with landlords, if needed.
• Understand the importance of the data platform as a relevant way to track the progress of the Coach/Coache relationship.
• Consistently enter and complete data needed to the platform well in advance of the monthly deadline for when reports are pulled (25th of each month for month prior)

Qualifications

• BA required
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong time-management, organizational skills, and attention to detail.
• Ability to troubleshoot, advocate, and navigate obstacles where there is not always a clear-cut pathway.
• Open to learning how to use and interpret data to inform decision-making.
• Ability to effectively collaborate in team settings and build relationships with external partners.
• Ability to use Motivational Interviewing techniques.
• Ability to use trauma-informed techniques.
• Ability to facilitate therapeutic peer groups.

Competencies

• Ability to work from a strength-based, trauma-informed, youth development lens.
• Compassionate, patient, and empathetic.
• A love for working with young people.
• Strong ability to relate to young people, engage them in conversation, and provide support and encouragement.
• Consistent and reliable.
• Values and promotes diversity.
• A belief that change is possible.
• Able to maintain healthy boundaries.
• Able to remain calm during moments of tension and stress.