What are the responsibilities and job description for the Education and Workforce Readiness Instructor – Young Women position at Roca, Inc?
Job Description – Education and Workforce Readiness Instructor – Young Women
Location – Boston, Lynn, and Chelsea
Classification – Non-Exempt
About Roca
Roca is an internationally recognized violence intervention and behavioral health program that works with the young people most likely to shoot or be shot. Founded in 1988 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Roca now serves nearly 2,000 of the highest-risk young people each year across seven sites in Massachusetts, Baltimore (MD), and Hartford (CT).
Roca’s work is grounded in Rewire CBT, a breakthrough adaptation of cognitive behavioral
therapy designed for young people living with trauma, disconnected from traditional services, and involved in/impacted by violence. Through relentless outreach, long-term relationships, and skill-building, Roca helps youth move from reacting to choosing, from surviving to living.
Meanwhile, the Roca Impact Institute extends this reach nationally. Launched in 2020, the
Institute trains community violence intervention staff, criminal justice agencies, and police
officers in Rewire CBT, building trauma-informed practices and systems change across the
country. To date, the Institute has trained more than 10,000 staff across 75 organizations in 17 states and D.C.
Position Overview
The Education and Workforce Readiness Instructor (Educator) reports to the Assistant Director of Programming The Educator will work intensively to support and motivate the target population to re-engage in education and workforce programming to enable participants to enter the workforce. The Educator will also ensure quality and fidelity instruction of Life Skills programming, including Rewire CBT, Harm Reduction, and Parenting. The Educator will implement assessments, assist in creating a weekly and monthly programming schedule, monitor program completion and create target lists, and deliver educational, life skills, and workforce readiness programming in support of organizational benchmarks for successful program completion with participants.
Responsibilities
Outreach
- Provide weekly attendance and participant target lists for educational classes to youth workers in team check-ins and meetings.
- Conduct general and targeted outreach to young people to increase participation in programming.
- Go on outreach with Youth Workers to meet and find participants who may require off site programming.
Transformational Relationships
- Engage and build relationships with young people for the purpose of supporting change and skill development
- Engage in intentional CBT based contacts with participants to help them identify and learn skills to shift negative behavioral cycles.
- Communicate with youth worker regarding participant barriers (substance abuse, street, domestic violence, etc.) and skills needed to be job ready.
- Follow-up daily with young people and youth workers regarding participation and progress in educational programming.
- Assess student level of engagement readiness (i.e. can they sit through a class, do they have substance abuse barriers, do they have street issues with other participants, etc.).
- Actively participate in the safety of the space for all participants through building coverage and communication across the organization.
Stage Based Programming
- Responsible for administering educational assessments/tests for baseline and follow up intervals to determine educational levels and monitor educational gains
- Design and deliver programming for young people at various levels of readiness to engage in learning (i.e. engagement, drop in, semi-structured; formal-structured)
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Responsible for implementing high quality group and individual skill building programming including but not limited to:
- HiSET
- ESL
- Workforce Readiness
- Digital Literacy
- Financial Literacy
- Driver’s Education
- CBT
- Healthy Habits
- Parenting
Management, Learning, & Continuous Improvement
- Manage and oversee assessment testing and tracking for participants in educational programming.
- Support the development of appropriate individualized learning plans and coordinated educational supports for participants.
- Work with Assistant Director on weekly and monthly programming schedules including engagements and Family Night programming.
- Monitor program data to create target lists for programming completion.
Partners/Networks
- Maintain relationships with key partners as determined (i.e. testing centers, employment partners, etc.)
- Stay current and connected to networks or learning communities that inform best practices in educational programming.
General Responsibilities
- Maintain Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) data base through daily data entry of all work with participants, completion of assessments and all other tools as required for evaluation purposes.
- Utilize ETO reports and data to track participant progress and own performance in moving young people through change process and achieving expected performance indicator targets.
- Demonstrate mindfulness for resources and actively work to maintain their functioning.
- Participation in team meetings, participant reviews, program planning, trainings, etc.
- Participate in curriculum development and improvements as instructed.
- Understand, practice and promote the vision, mission, and values of the organization.
- Other tasks as assigned.
Qualifications
The very nature of Roca’s work requires an individual of great commitment and energy to the mission. Roca seeks a highly driven individual who is a good fit both personally and professionally for the culture of Roca. In addition, the ideal candidate for this position will be a trustworthy decision-maker. He/she will have a sense of humor, feel passionate and committed to direct work with high-risk youth, and demonstrate interest in coaching and supporting coworkers.
Roca expects candidates to have the following skills:
- Bachelor’s Degree
- 1-3 years of teaching experience required - Post-collegiate experience teaching or working with a disenfranchised population is preferred
- Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred
- Experience teaching ESL preferred but not required
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Excellent group management and behavior modification skills
- Desire to work with street involved high risk young people
- Ability to outreach to, engage and motivate young people to increase attendance in educational programming
- Capacity to think and act intentionally and strategically to help young people change behaviors
- Creative and flexible problem-solving and thinking
- Excellent at organizing, managing and completing multiple complex projects and tasks simultaneously with thoroughness, accuracy, timeliness and good humor.
- Self-motivation, initiative, sound judgment, and commitment to ongoing learning are essential
- Ability to work as a part of a team.
Requirements for the position:
- Travel around the service area
- Computer Literate
- Valid state issued Driver’s License and current Driving Record
- Willingness and ability to work outside of normal business hours, and Holidays and/or weekends as needed
- Ability to work with diverse cultures
- Strong attendance and high energy