Education and Employment Specialist

Salary: $21.98 - $24.18/hr

Education and Employment Specialists (EES) are members of our FAP teams consisting of the Program Director, Supervisor and Therapists/Case Planners. The primary role is to provide comprehensive educational and vocational supports, advocacy, and technical assistance to school-age children as well as other family members needing supports around employment and/or their vocational interests. In addition, the EES is responsible to support the work of the Therapists/Case Planners in performing case management tasks to assist families with concrete needs and services, entitlements, pro‑social activities, and referrals to support services to alleviate barriers to their participation in treatment.

Each FAP Program is staffed with an EES responsible for providing educational and vocational services to all families receiving services in that program. For FAP Programs serving multi‑boroughs, the EES serves clients in all contracted boroughs.

The EES will obtain medical and educational records for all school‑age children and attend all school related meetings/hearings, to assist caregivers with advocating for their child's educational and social‑emotional needs in a school setting. Accordingly, the EES will ensure recommended educational support services are provided.

The EES will also be trained by the Columbia University Workplace Center in the Young Adult Work Opportunities for Rewarding Careers (YA WORC) curriculum. YA WORC is an evidence‑informed model that focuses on helping young people to develop the relational competencies essential to being successful in the world of work and on providing young people with the support, skills and knowledge needed for career planning.

The EES will be responsible for implementing the YA WORC curriculum in their work with young persons, including Career/Education Planning and Career Club.

The EES will also perform case management tasks such as conducting home and financial assessments as well as safe sleep assessments of infants and safety and risk assessments of all children in the home. Based on these assessments, the EES will provide families with direct case management and advocacy services to address their needs for support in areas such as public assistance, housing, emergency food, clothing, furniture and referrals for community‑based services such as parenting classes, mental health services, after school activities, SYEP, summer camps, and other pro‑social activities, etc.

The EES will report to the Director of the program.

• Understand and promote the organization's Mission, Vision, and Core Values to ensure alignment with organizational policies and procedures.
• Obtain and review copies of education and medical records for all school‑age youth in the home (report cards, IEPs, immunizations, etc.).
• In collaboration with Case Planners, participate in educational planning meetings including IEP/504, disciplinary hearings, Parent Teacher Conferences, suspension hearings and other educational meetings in support of students and their families.
• Advocate for children to receive quality, consistent educational experience through school visits, meetings with pertinent school personnel, dialogue with students and parents, and monitoring school documentation and attendance to ensure that appropriate academic interventions, mandated special education supports (as applicable), social‑emotional supports (i.e., bullying) and opportunities to participate in extracurricular programming are provided as mandated or needed.
• Serve as the YA WORC liaison and implement the YA WORC curriculum with eligible youth, including the Career/Education Planning and co‑leading the Career Club.
• Enroll youth in SYEP and provide supports to ensure their success in SYEP job placements.
• Develop resources in the community where youth can receive internship placements and connect eligible youth to these internships.
• Perform case management responsibilities in collaboration with Therapists/Case Planners, including
  • Collaborate with Office of Client Advocacy to assist families with concrete needs such as NY Times Neediest requests for rent arrears,…