Street Outreach Worker - Gun Violence Prevention

Old Colony YMCA•Brockton, MA

17h•Onsite

About The Position

The Peace Advocate has the primary responsibility to work with the street outreach team to foster a community that addresses potentially violence situations with nonviolent solutions by extensive networking and collaborating within the community and reaching out to identified and at-risk gang members and working directly with them to mediate potentially violent situations. He/she will model and teach nonviolence in the street while also seeking to link gang involved and at-risk youth to services and resources in the community; and will work to reduce attachment of project youth to gangs and gang activities, and assisting in community mobilization in the target area. The Peace Advocate will be a member of and participate in all intervention Team meetings and violence prevention initiatives within the city. He/she will reflect and display the values of Character Development which are caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.

Requirements

High School Diploma or GED required
Familiarity with the community
Familiarity with the ethnic culture of the target population
Knowledge of local agencies’ programs and services (school, social services, law enforcement, courts/corrections), local units of government, and grassroots organizations
Possess strong communication and interpersonal skills and work effectively with agency staff and service providers and with gang members and their family members
Work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends
Clearly communicate ideas in both written and verbal form
Understand and relate to the needs of project participants of diverse ethnic, cultural, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds
Work effectively with high-risk, gang-involved populations
Operate a computer to enter data, maintain records, and generate reports
Network effectively with various types of organizations, including government agencies, law enforcement agencies, schools, social service agencies, courts/probation/corrections, and grassroots organizations
Work effectively with community residents, diverse population groups, and youth
Prioritize tasks and work independently in the absence of supervision

Nice To Haves

Valid driver’s license and car insurance by date of hire is preferred

Responsibilities

Identify appropriate youth to participate in the project based on target characteristics
Work extensively in the communicate to develop networks and collaborative efforts to both identify at-risk youth and offer services, especially with schools, police, grant providers, and other providers
Organize the street outreach efforts with the overall efforts of the Gun Violence Prevention initiative in the city
Mediate potential street violence and gang violence situations
Recruit and retain project youth by providing access to job skills training, information, resources, pro-social role modeling, and encouragement
Serve as an advocate for project youth in securing social services, education, and job-related opportunities; provide information about services; and assess needs.
Assess the needs of family members as related to the target youths’ gang involvement, identify gang-affected siblings of target participants, and make referrals to appropriate services
Provide information on available services for participants’ family members
Provide appropriate referral and follow-up to ensure that target youth are aware and able to access services
Plan and attend social and recreational activities for the target youth
Maintain records of contacts with youth, enter data in real time and write reports on status of clients
Identify community resources to assist in implementation of the project
Work with victims of gang related crime within the community
Attend all internal/external meetings and trainings as required by supervisor
Other duties as assigned