Bilingual Family Advocate

Overview

Originally founded in 1991 as Harlem RBI, DREAM has grown to annually serve more than 2,500 youth across East Harlem and the South Bronx through a network of seven PreK-12, extended-day, extended-year DREAM Charter Schools and community sports-based youth development programs. Through our commitment to rigorous academics, social-emotional learning, deep family and community engagement, and health and wellness, we create lifelong learners who are equipped to fulfill their vision of success in and out of the classroom.

We dream big, with an aggressive five-year plan to expand to serve 3,500 students across seven schools—growing our organization’s impact and leveling the playing field for all children. To learn more, visit wearedream.org.

The Bilingual Family Advocate’s primary role is to engage all families to promote children’s healthy development and school readiness. The Bilingual Family Advocate uses knowledge of the principles of family engagement to support families in their roles as their child’s primary educator, encourages parent/child interactions that promote children’s school readiness and healthy development, and enhances family well-being. The Bilingual Family Advocate will also provide more intensive and targeted support to vulnerable families and families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs to ensure engagement strategies meet their specialized needs.

The Bilingual Family Advocate will work as part of the program’s broader team to expand family engagement strategies that will create a sense of belonging and shared community among families, with the goal of enhancing the relationships and support that families provide to one another in their shared aspirations for their children and themselves. The position may involve reassignment of caseload and/or center location as deemed necessary for program operations.

• Promote Family Environments that Enhance Children’s Development
• Engage families as partners in their children’s development and school readiness;
• Participate in outreach, recruitment, and attendance follow up activities;
• Engage families in the Family Engagement Contract process in order to build relationships and shared accountability for promoting children’s development;
• Extend classroom curriculum into the family's home, modeling and coaching families on positive adult/child interaction, with a focus on coordination and collaboration with education.

• Support Families to Meet Self-Identified Goals and Needs
• Utilize family self-assessment information to assist families with goals to enhance self-sufficiency in areas such as education, employment, housing, and access to community resources;
• Provide intensive support to vulnerable families on caseload and ensure that families receive immediate support during times of crisis;
• Analyze self-sufficiency data to plan and coordinate family cohort groups that allow families to support one another to achieve self-sufficiency goals;
• Coordinate or refer families to community-based resources, opportunities for continuing education, employment training, and other services.

• Engage Families To Support One Another
• Conduct workshops and activities designed to build social capital and create a welcoming program community that fosters family engagement in children’s learning and development;
• Cultivate family leadership and support family advocacy efforts through participation in program governance bodies and community-based advisory groups;
• Support the planning and execution of family engagement activities that provide opportunities for families to support one another.

• Enhance Program Collaboration
• Build strong relationships in order to enhance communication and collaboration among internal and external stakeholders;
• Collaborate with others to support the families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs;
• Ensure all family medical, dental, and EPSDT determinations are completed by program deadlines.

• Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance
• Support the functioning of all eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment, and attendance systems, events, and activities;
• Review…