Youth Engagement Support Staff Per-Diem (Day-Time)

Covenant House New Jersey•Atlantic City, NJ

About The Position

The Youth Engagement Support Staff member provides strength-based, trauma-informed, and harm-reduction-focused support to young people. The role involves continuous youth engagement, facilitating activities, and supporting young people in working toward goals identified in their success plans. The staff member models respect and unconditional positive regard, works within a multidisciplinary team, and helps create a safe and inclusive environment. The position supports case management by welcoming youth, helping them understand the program and access supplies, building supportive relationships, coaching them through self-identified goals, and connecting them with opportunities and resources. It also includes monitoring medication, documenting services and incidents in program databases and case files, facilitating assigned group activities, and providing crisis intervention and de-escalation. Additional duties include supporting daily house activities and off-site experiences; maintaining youth supplies, files, common areas, and residential spaces; attending supervision and training; responding to agency communications; covering the front desk or other building areas as assigned; and transporting youth in agency vehicles when assigned. This is an on-call, as-needed position with a stated shift of 7:30 AM–3:30 PM and an hourly rate of $20.00.

Requirements

Must be a self-starter and team player able to work well with others.
Knowledge of adolescent development and ability to build positive rapport with young people.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, demonstrated through concise, timely, and professional correspondence.
Must have a valid driver’s license and an insurable driving record.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, or a related field.
Experience with young people ages 18–24 experiencing homelessness or human trafficking, and/or relevant lived experience.
Knowledge of public benefits and communities in New Jersey.
Bilingual Spanish skills.

Responsibilities

Provide unconditional positive regard to young people regardless of their behavior.
Welcome young people to the program and help them feel comfortable and safe, understand the program structure and engagement opportunities, and access needed supplies.
Build supportive relationships that encourage youth to find their voice and connect with enriching opportunities, experiences, and resources.
Support each young person’s identified success-plan goals and coach them in planning, implementing, and following through on tasks.
Encourage youth to explore wellness, education and employment, financial literacy, social navigation, and other goals affecting their success plans.
Monitor youth while they take medication and complete medication logs, including nightly medication counts and reporting inaccuracies to a supervisor.
Engage with youth in daily house activities, including chores, dining, gym activities, other recreation, bus tickets, and movement throughout the day.
Explore and participate in outside activities with youth, such as trips, park walks, and college-campus visits.
Provide crisis de-escalation and intervention according to training and best practices.
Document intake, orientation, and transitions in ETO, HMIS, and case files.
Enter regular daily progress notes in youth case records in HMIS and ETO.
Complete Youth Incident Reports, Medication Logs, and House Activity Logs as appropriate.
Facilitate assigned youth group activities supporting the five resiliency objectives: wellness, social navigation, financial literacy, education, and employment.
Perform supervisor-assigned duties to meet youth needs and follow the daily program schedule.
Make copies of assigned forms and documents and prepare welcome kits.
Sort donations, organize storage closets, and replenish youth supplies as needed.
Do youth-linen laundry as assigned.
Clean and prepare vacant residential spaces for new intakes and maintain youth common areas according to cleanliness standards.
Rotate youth files according to the annual system.
Attend supervision, assigned meetings, and professional development training.
Read and respond daily to emails, calendar invitations, and other agency communications.
Cover the front desk and other building areas as assigned.
Transport youth in agency vehicles when assigned.
Use agency resources, including vehicles, computers, and telephones, for agency purposes only.
Assist with fundraising affairs and special events, which may occur outside the employee’s normal work schedule.