Recreation Coordinator

Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York•New York, NY

8d•$20 - $23•Onsite

About The Position

St. John's is a nonprofit social services agency providing residential care to New York City youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. We offer holistic, trauma-informed support to young people up to age 21. Our main campus in Rockaway Park, Queens, houses a Residential Treatment Center, Close to Home Non-Secure Placement programs, administrative offices, clinical services, and an on-site NYC Department of Education school. We also operate a Non-Secure Detention residence in Richmond Hill and Limited Secure Placement programs in Brooklyn and Staten Island. St. John’s is dedicated to helping youth heal, grow, and build the skills they need to achieve their goals and return to family or a stable, supportive environment as engaged members of their communities. This role provides a broad and creative array of organized, recreational activity on and off-grounds for the youth, typically during afternoon and evening time slots (i.e., non-school hours). Activities include sports, tournaments, special events, parlor games, clubs, and field trips. The measure of success is how many youths productively engage in the activities provided.

Requirements

High School diploma or equivalent
Minimum of one-year direct experience working with, and providing activities for, troubled youth in a congregate setting
Valid NY State driver’s license required
Must enjoy working with youth
Must be high energy
Physically capable of implementing and engaging in physical activities
Emotionally mature and able to function effectively under stressful conditions
Able to attract and engage youth in a wide variety of recreational activities
Creativity a must
Must display a high level of personal authority
Must be dependable and responsible
Must be able to accept direction from supervisors and work collaboratively with others

Nice To Haves

AA Degree, preferred with experience working with groups in child welfare

Responsibilities

Demonstrates fidelity to the agency’s service values and organizational imperatives.
Plans, schedules and markets recreational activities by the week.
Maintains a calendar/written schedule and actively participates in agency-wide special events.
Assures good supervision of youth participants, ensuring an 'eyes on, ears on' philosophy during all activities.
Responsible for ensuring the physical and emotional safety of all youth participants during recreation.
Coordinates and assists with birthday recognition and celebrations for youth.
Must know or be trained in First Aid.
Orders and secures activity related equipment and supplies.
Maintains assigned activity spaces (clean, orderly, presentable).
Transports youth in agency vehicles for off-grounds activities.
Works to develop/maintain strong, caring, therapeutic relationships with the individual youth during recreational engagement.
Demonstrates mature authority and practices agency-approved methods to manage youth behavior.
Counsels youth as appropriate; Shows interest in their physical being, lives, feelings and circumstances.
Coordinates with Youth Counselors, Permanency Specialists, clinicians, medical personnel, teachers, etc. as required.
Attends treatment and other meetings related to residents as appropriate.
Responsible for documentation, as required, including daily activity log, attendance reports and the like.
Attends trainings as recommended/mandated.
All other duties as assigned by supervisor.