Streetworker

UTEC, Inc • Lawrence, MA

8d • $55,000

About The Position

UTEC’s promise is to ignite and nurture the ambition of our most disengaged youth to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success. UTEC’s outcomes-focused model begins with intensive street outreach, reaching proven high-risk youth “where they’re at.” UTEC engages youth in workforce development and educational programs and provides intensive case management. Social justice and civic engagement are embedded in all programming. For more info, please visit www.utecinc.org.
Serving young adults throughout Merrimack Valley (Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill), UTEC was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young adults (ages 17-25) overcome the very real challenges of poverty, gang involvement, unemployment. UTEC reaches 500+ youth annually through an evidence-based model aimed at reducing recidivism while increasing education and employment attainment.
Job Summary
UTEC’s Streetworkers meet young adults "where they’re at"; which includes on the streets, in jails or prisons, or at court. Their work serves as the engaging point of UTEC's model. The primary goals of the Streetworker are to: 1) recruit participants for UTEC’s Workforce Program (direct recruiting Streetwork); and 2) assist in reducing violence in the communities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill through gang peacemaking (indirect recruiting Streetwork).

Requirements

• Ability to connect with young adults, and foster relationships with individuals both internal and external to the organization
• Excellent verbal and written communication, organizational, and time management skills
• Ability to be on call: our Streetworker team follows a rotating schedule, taking turns being on 24-hour call to respond to youth crises
• Excellent facilitation skills for training, circles, and focus groups
• Ability to develop Individual Success Plans and help execute those plans
• Knowledge and experience with trauma-informed and asset-based approaches to learning and support
• Lived experience highly preferred
• Youth work experience, such as experience working with proven risk young adults and justice-involved young adults, reentry work, outreach, home visits, etc.
• Knowledge of correction institutions and reentry programs
• Must have a driver’s license and the ability to travel to different institutions
• Able to lift 25 lbs.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree a plus

Responsibilities

• Design and implement an outreach plan to target specific groups of young people such as those out-of-school, homeless, gang-involved young adults. Their outreach is based on a three- pronged approach: 1) providing street and neighborhood-based outreach (i.e. frequenting the local gang hotspots, parks, etc.) 2) visiting other youth-serving organizations on a regularly basis and 3) receiving referrals from other "systems-based" agencies. Streetworkers will also provide training to other community providers on topics such as gang awareness and intervention.
• Implement peace making processes with all gang involved youth. The peacemaking process involves introduction meetings, peace trips, peace circles, and peace summits.
• Provide crisis intervention and conflict resolution (between both gang and non-gang involved youth).
• Follow up on young adult referrals from project partners (jails and prisons, schools, probation department, gang unit, DYS, etc.).
• Conduct “in-reach” wherein they visit young adults inside locked juvenile detention and adult correctional facilities, starting three to six months prior to their release back into the community, to assist with reentry plans and related documentation.
• Facilitate small group talking circles in county jails to address issues of shared interest and to deepen relationships
• Provide immediate transition support for young adults returning from incarceration, including picking them up from their facility, taking them out for a meal or haircut, bringing them to their family or transitional housing, etc.
• Serve as a point of entry for UTEC programming.
• Work with a caseload of (15-21) selected young adults that are justice involved.
• Maintain updated paperwork and files.
• Provide supportive counseling and advocacy for gang and homeless youth.
• Identify and provide resources, referral and follow up for each youth re: education, employment, treatment, shelter, recreation, peacemaking, etc.
• Work with neighborhood organizations and social service agencies to gain knowledge and visibility at youth hangouts and local hotspots. These partnerships will provide a framework for strong service plans.
• Intervene/practice respectful curiosity and follow up on incidents related to youth population.
• Be on 24-hour on call to respond to youth crisis (rotating schedule).
• Follow-up: Transitional Coaches and caseworkers provide intensive follow-up to young people most in need of services (i.e. phone calls, home visits, follow-up calls to their teachers, youthworkers, DYS caseworkers, or probation officers). Follow-up is essential when working with out-of-school, gang, or court-involved young people.

Benefits

• 3 weeks of vacation plus a week off between the Christmas and New Year holidays
• 12 holidays
• 10 sick days
• 2 personal days
• 3 bereavement days
• health, dental, and vision insurance starting day one
• life insurance
• first-time homeowners down payment assistance
• cost of living increases
• a paid sabbatical after three years
• a 401K retirement plan with up to $2,000 savings match

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees