Success Mentor

Grand St Settlement•Brooklyn, NY

6d•$20•Onsite

About The Position

Success Mentors are caring adults who mentor chronically absent students to identify the barriers preventing them from attending school each day. The Success Mentor will work closely with families and the Community School team to support Community School Attendance Initiatives. The Success Mentor will help support parent-school communication to increase student attendance. The Success Mentor will ensure optimal academic, social, and emotional development for students. The Success Mentor will work closely with the Community School Team (Community School Director, Mental Health Advocates and 21st CCLC Education Coordinator) to provide resources that will enhance the Community School. Success mentors are the most successful strategy for combating chronic absence. The idea is not for a Success Mentor to have the answers, but for the mentee to talk about and explore ideas. Staff members would need to have a working reliable computer.

Requirements

High school diploma required
Two years or more experience in the field of youth development
Family outreach and home visit experience
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Excellent documentation skills
Facility to motivate others toward achieving goals
Ability to develop alliances with high risk and difficult to engage youth and families
Knowledge of community resources and counseling practices with high risk populations
Outstanding collaborative skills
Must have a working reliable computer.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree preferred
Bilingual Spanish/ English is a plus.

Responsibilities

Maintain a caseload of 25 to 30 chronically absent students for the full school year.
Meet and greet mentees each morning during Mental Health Lounge time.
Make positive morning phone calls home to families of absent students.
Monitor mentee’s attendance data and maintain a folder to include notes and other information to track mentee attendance.
Utilize the Student Profile from the New Visions Attendance Heat Map or Portal.
Meet with mentees regularly—both one-on-one and in small groups—to check-in, listen, and chat about how school is going.
Work with school staff, teachers and Attendance Social Worker to identify appropriate interventions to support and engage mentee(s).
Celebrate improvements, no matter how small.
Create and maintain thorough written record of assessments, attendance outreach efforts and all required documentation
Work collaboratively with community resources to establish timely and effective referral processes.
Maintain ongoing open communication with the school principal, Assistant Principals, parents, and school-based staff.
Assist Outreach Worker with home visits to engage families and develop relationships between school and families of students identified as the targeted population (At-risk and chronically absent students).
Assist Outreach Worker with recruiting additional mentors, assigning mentees and monitor mentor and mentee relationships and track mentee attendance
Partnering with families to create family goal plans that increase student attendance and enhance parent and child well being.
Maintain written records of home visits, family goals, and all required documentation.
Support to implement attendance incentives with the School Leadership Team and Community School Director.
Work collaboratively with community resources and advocate for families when necessary.
Refer participants to social workers for counseling to support with crisis intervention and safety planning.
Participate in ongoing efforts to advocate for program needs via community coalition building.
Seek partnership opportunities and bring in at least 3 new partners a year to leverage resources to support programs.
Work closely with the Community School Director, Attendance Social Worker, Mental Health Advocate, 21st CCLC Education Coordinator and school’s attendance team to support targeted student needs.
Ability to maintain State Central Registry (SCR) clearance- $25 nonrefundable fee required and fingerprint clearance throughout the duration of employment.
Attend all required department/ agency meetings and/or training.
Perform other duties as assigned by the Community School Director.