826 Boston AmeriCorps Fellowship, Volunteer Engagement Specialist

About the Opportunity

826 Boston seeks mission-driven change-makers to join the 826 Boston AmeriCorps Fellowship for the 2023-2024 school year. This is an exciting opportunity to join a cohort of 16 AmeriCorps members and play a key role in driving impact to serve more students in the Boston Public Schools through 826 Boston’s In-School and Out-of-School Programs.

Serving as an AmeriCorps Volunteer Engagement Specialist in the Writers’ Room Fellowship is a challenging yet rewarding experience. Your role is designed to affect individual students and school-wide systems. Through your year of service, you will work with students to empower them to find their voices, tell their stories, and gain critical communication skills while also recruiting, training, and supporting the corps of 500 volunteer tutors in 826 Boston’s programs.

AmeriCorps Volunteer Engagement Specialists will serve out of 826 Boston's writing and tutoring offices, located in Egleston Square, Roxbury. Additionally, AmeriCorps Volunteer Engagement Specialists will travel to three of the six 826 Boston Writers’ Rooms located in a Boston Public Schools on a weekly basis to serve directly with students. The Writers’ Room Fellowship is an 11-month service program, beginning on Monday, August 14, 2023.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

826 Boston provides reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities at every stage of the application process. Disclosing a disability or requesting a need for accommodations is a separate process from admissions and will have absolutely no bearing on a candidate’s application status. 826 Boston will make every effort to meet your request, but specific requests are not guaranteed. If you need to request an accommodation, please contact our Human Resources Manager, Catherine Gomez at Catherine@826Boston.org.

The AmeriCorps Writers' Room Fellowship program is dependent on a yearly funding award from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Key Responsibilities and Functions

Writers’ Room Volunteer Coordination

• Support volunteer management, including attending recruitment events, creating volunteer email campaigns, and co-facilitating new volunteer trainings

• Develop and co-lead supplemental training for volunteer tutors

• Oversee on-boarding of service-learning partners within universities and collaborate with faculty and students to enrich 826 Boston Writers’ Rooms
• Coordinate a series of volunteer appreciation initiatives, including social media campaigns, monthly newsletters, and in-person celebrations
• Support Volunteer Manager with cultivation and stewardship of potential corporate partners, with a specific focus on engaging more STEM professionals in Writers’ Rooms
• Communicate project progress to staff supervisor and seek counsel when help is needed to execute goals

Tutoring students

• Serve as writing tutor to students seeking support with writing assignments in 826 Boston Writers’ Rooms through class visits, individual drop-ins, writing workshops, and publication projects
• Support students’ writing development through one-on-one conferences, small-group collaboration, and whole-class instruction of creative and professional writing and reading workshops

Qualifications

• High school diploma
• Interest in teaching/tutoring writing to students grades K-12 in an urban setting
• Desire to work with and support volunteers from diverse backgrounds and wide ranges of experience
• Ability to coach and mentor volunteers and interns
• Ability to adapt to various working and management styles
• Ability to participate in open communication to build community and foster team goals including the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency in organizational, time management, project management, and resource management skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Apps

• Proficiency in Spanish to support our bilingual Writers’ Room strongly preferred
• Familiarity with the Boston Public Schools system, particularly the schools in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain preferred, but not required

Compensation and Benefits

• Professional Development: As an AmeriCorps Community Engagement Specialist, you will build upon your personal strengths and develop transferable skills, such as teamwork, leadership, decision-making, project management and relationship development. You will develop your knowledge of school and community partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and the day-to-day operations of a nonprofit organization. 826 Boston provides AmeriCorps Members with formal onboarding in the summer, ongoing training throughout the year, and individualized coaching from a direct supervisor.
• Living Stipend: AmeriCorps Volunteer Engagement Specialists will receive a gross bi-weekly stipend of $989, totaling a minimum of $23,750 annually.
• Education Award: As an AmeriCorps Member, Volunteer Engagement Specialists qualify for an Eli Segal Education Award for every successful year of service, which includes completing 1,700 hours of service and completing the full duration of the 11-month program. The education award can be used to repay student loans or cover tuition costs for graduate studies at an accredited college or university and will amount to at least $6,895.00.

Additional Benefits:

• Travel Stipend: $100/month travel stipend for months of active service
• Medical Coverage: AmeriCorps members have the opportunity to apply for the Corps Network Health Plan but may decline it in favor of alternative coverage obtained through a parent, guardian, or spouse.
• Time Off: 80 hours time off 9 holidays off 1 week winter break.
• Public Benefits: AmeriCorps Members may be eligible for food and public utility benefits.

About 826 Boston

826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life. Our high-impact programs are based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can occur with individualized attention, and that writing skills are fundamental to future success.

826 Boston is part of a national network of youth writing centers, founded by the award-winning author Dave Eggers and the educator Nínive Calegari, which was voted one of the top 30 companies to work for by Good Magazine. Since opening in 2007, 826 Boston has delivered its free youth writing and tutoring programs to more than 29,000 students and has been recognized by The Boston Globe as one of the best places in the city to volunteer. 826 Boston’s youth writers have published their work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and in numerous award-winning 826 Boston books, including A Place for Me in the World, which was hailed as a “triumph of middle school education” by The Boston Globe. In 2013, the 826 National network garnered the prestigious American Literacy Prize awarded by the Library of Congress.