Description

Title: BilingualFamily Advocate

Reports to: Senior Director of DEI Engagement and Family Partnerships

Status: Full-time, exempt

Date: February 2024

About Horizons

Horizons for Homeless Children is an independent, non-profit organization exclusively dedicated to serving homeless children and their families.

Within our early childhood education center, young children between the ages of two months and five years old are learning and developing in NAEYC-accredited classrooms. From the moment that a child begins their education at our center, family advocates play an active role in partnering with parents in setting goals that support the success of the family as a unit.

What you’ll do

As a Family Advocate, you’ll offer parents/caregivers strength-based, culturally inclusive, comprehensive support services that promote family engagement, development of protective factors, and supportive and sustainable transitions from homelessness toward self-sufficiency. Simply put, you’ll be making a difference every day in the lives of families experiencing homelessness.

More details about your responsibilities

Partner with parents to set goals that support increasing success in one or more of the following areas: education, employment, family stability, finances, and wellness.

1. 1. Complete regular parent assessments that help to identify parent/family strengths and areas of need/barriers.
   2. Support parents to consistently set and build upon goals.
   3. Provide ongoing follow-up and resource connections.
   4. Act as a mentor, coach, and accountability partner.

Provide concrete support in times of need

1. 1. Provide basic case management to help promote family self-sufficiency.
   2. Conduct yearly home visits.
   3. Coordinate resource and support services for families.
   4. Advocate for a family’s needs as appropriate and support parents in building. their own advocacy skills.
   5. Support families in meeting program requirements.

Support the development of parental resilience

1. 1. Provide wellness check-ins as needed.
   2. Work with parents to develop and/or reinforce self-care practices.

1. 1. Connect parents with mental health resources as needed and provide follow-up.

1. 1. Support parents in the practice of navigating systems.
   2. Acknowledge and celebrate important milestones or achievements in the lives of Horizons’ families.

Foster social connections

• • Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with families.
  • Plan and coordinate onsite community-building activities and events.
  • Connect parents with offsite groups and resources that support and promote family connections.
  • Support parent leaders in organizing and co-leading support groups, workshops, and other connective touchpoints.
  • Cross-collaborate to create the most inclusive space to support cultural and language diversity.

Support parent skill and capacity building

1. 1. Participate in organizing onsite resources.
   2. Outreach to parents as needed.

1. 1. Provide logistics and mentor support to members of the parent council and other bodies of parent leadership.

1. 1. Connect parents to offsite resources as needed.

Help parents foster their child’s social emotional development.

1. 1. Support families to develop strong relationships with classroom teachers.

1. 1. Help parents to identify their parenting strengths and connect them to groups and activities that foster responsive parenting.

Other duties include

• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with teachers and community providers.
• Maintain confidentiality in accordance with agency policy.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with the shelter liaisons that refer families to Horizons.
• Participate in and contribute to care teammeetings.
• Maintain family and child records in the organizational database.

Qualifications

What you’ll bring

• Bachelor’s degree in human services or comparable field required.
• Written and verbal fluency in Spanish is required.
• Experience providing coaching and/or case management support.
• Knowledge of Greater Boston area resources a plus preferred.
• Experience working with vulnerable populations, specifically families who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
• Commitment to a strength-based, culturally competent, collaborative approach to working with families and colleagues.
• Compassionate and reflective communication skills; can distill complex information clearly with a human-centered approach.
• Highly motivated by and committed to the Horizons’ mission and able to embody our core values (Collaborative, Inclusive, Innovative, and Passionate).
• Ability to maintain a programmatic database in an accurate and timely manner.
• Able to cross-collaborate and work effectively within multiple teams.

Where and when you’ll work

This is a 40-hour, full-time position that’s exempt from overtime. You can expect to work a hybrid schedule Monday through Friday with at least 4 days on-site and 1 day working from home during regular business hours, as your biggest client group are Horizon’s families who are predominantly on-site. There will be occasional evening or weekend events with advanced planning and notice. Our beautiful new [in 2021] space is located: Edgerley Family Horizons Center at 1785 Columbus Ave, Roxbury, MA.

Starting salary range, compensation, and benefits

$50,000 – $54,640 is the starting salary range for our Family Advocate roles with a 4% premium uplift for Bilingual English/Spanish. Your starting salary will fall within that range depending on your competencies, experience, and skillset.

Your total compensation package includes the following benefits:

• Health coverage options designed to be as comprehensive and affordable for you as possible, with Horizons covering between 70-75% of premiums (a value that ranges from an additional $8,000 – 20,000 per year based on your enrollment choices).
• While you have a choice between an HMO and PPO plan for medical coverage, most employees pay $76 for individual, $147 for 2-person, or $288 for family coverage per bi weekly paycheck and never pay more than $300 for individual or $600 for 2-person/family toward deductibles.
• Paid leave coverage is offered through Massachusetts’ Paid Family and Medical Leave. Horizons covers both medical and family contributions at 60% (100% for employees who earn less than $50,000 annually) with up to 26 weeks of paid leave available based on eligibility and approval.
  • Horizons’ additionally offers 1 week for paid parental leave for welcoming a child into your family through birth, foster, or adoption, that often covers the waiting period for PFML to begin.
• Visit The Benefits of Working at Horizons for more details on the rest of our benefits package

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

We recognize the value of looking within to ensure our policies, practices, and culture are aligned with Horizons’ vision. Creating a more equitable world has always been at the center of Horizons’ mission, but in the last several years we’ve recommitted to the role Horizons plays in rectifying some of the problems we see and wish to address. Visit our DEI page to learn more about what that looks like at Horizons.

For more information about Horizons, please visit www.horizonschildren.org

Horizons for Homeless Children is committed to diversity and is an AA/EEO