Life Guide

Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan•Kalamazoo, MI

About The Position

The Life Guides program is a 20-year commitment to families with a child aged 0-3 who want to exit poverty. The program, a partnership between families and the Life Guide coach, focuses on helping families overcome the interconnected obstacles erected by generational poverty and systemic inequity by focusing on individual and family level change. The Life Guide carries a caseload of families and helps each family develop family/youth specific goals to move toward ending poverty and enhance the success of the target child. The goal is for the 'target child' (children in the family 0-3 years old at the start of the program) graduate high school (or a high school equivalency program), enter post-secondary education or trade school, and exit poverty by earning a living wage for their family size. Each Life Guide should exemplify the Agency's values of People, Positivity, Success and ollaboration.

Requirements

At least one-year previous work with families and/or individuals experiencing poverty
Case management experience, including related record keeping and outcomes management
Competent in use of Microsoft Office, especially Word and Excel
Ability to develop relationships with families and Goodwill teammates
Knowledge of community resources in the Kalamazoo area
Experience working in social work or similar environment
Experience working with youth and families
Must pass background check related to working with children
Valid driver's license and ability to be insured under Agency's automobile insurance policy
Flexible schedule of 40 hours per week, three to five evenings a month, occasionally more

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree and/or Master's degree in human services field preferred
Formal Training and/or experience related to social work, counseling/therapy, early childhood an or youth development preferred.

Responsibilities

Assist in recruiting, enrolling, welcoming and onboarding new Life Guide families to the program as a whole (not just on individual caseload).
Identify annual and monthly goals with each family on the caseload.
Coach and support families' as they work toward their goals.
Coordinate wrap-around services for families related to these goals and other needs that may arise.
Connect families with supportive and crisis intervention services as needed.
Establish a coaching partnership and build relationship with families focused on helping them maximize their potential and move out of poverty by discovering, clarifying and aligning with what the family wants to achieve in that context
The coaching relationship assumes that the family is creative, resourceful and whole, and is not a 'prescriptive' relationship, but one where the family leads in generating solutions and strategies.
Ensure that the target child is meeting development and educational benchmarks, as well as receiving services conducive to their success and achievement of the program's key outcomes.
Host a monthly evening meeting with a partner Life Guide where families come for food, fun, networking and educational activities.
Collect participant data and assist with grant reporting when needed.
Other duties as assigned by supervisor