Youth Development Specialist

Position Summary: Children's Aid's The P² Project (The Pregnancy Prevention Project) aims to reduce and prevent the incidence of unintended adolescent pregnancy in Children's Aid's priority areas in NYC by providing young people with the holistic tools to meet their greatest potentials through evidence-based sexuality education, comprehensive reproductive health services, and peer health education.

Under the supervision of the Program Manager, the Youth Development Specialist will be responsible for outreach, recruitment, and engagement of foster care adolescents within partnered agencies to connect them to the evidence-based programming, reproductive health care services, and other support services needed. The YDS will also work closely with health center sites to arrange for youth tours of their centers. The YDS will coordinate youth development activities with youth in programming. Additionally, the YDS will coordinate, with assistance from the PM, the recruitment, training, and schedules of the peer educators who will deliver/co-facilitate reproductive health education workshops to their peers across programming. The YDS will submit required internal and external reports to the PM.

Essential Duties:

• Understand and promote the organization's Mission, Vision, and Core Values to ensure alignment with organizational policies and procedures.

• Establish collaborative relationships with caseworkers at foster care agencies to develop and implement recruitment and engagement strategies for their adolescents.
• Monitor and track the outcomes of all referrals for family planning services and work closely with partner health center administrative staff in this process.
• Assist the Program Manager and Senior Health Educators in scheduling evidence-based curricula and expanded topics such as adolescent growth and development, birth control methods, STI's, HIV/AIDS, etc. with foster care agencies
• Oversee implementation of all youth development activities for participants involved in evidence-based programming
• Coordinate peer health educator activities as they relate to the program
• Facilitate the referral of sexually active youth identified through the program to family planning services provided at the CA Milbank or Bronx Health Centers and/or partnering health centers.
• Participates in the process of developing, obtaining, evaluating and maintaining written and audio-visual health education materials, as directed.
• Collects and maintains accurate client data, activity records, and other related statistical information.
• Ensures that all patients, visitors and guests as well as co-workers receive personalized, prompt attention and are treated with receptiveness, dignity and respect, no matter how limited the contact.

• Perform other duties as assigned

The main objectives of the program are:

Provide comprehensive, age appropriate, sexuality health education for adolescents (11 - 22).

Provide strategies for young people to make healthy decisions and set goals for the future.

Connect youth to reproductive health services.

Encourage youth/adult partnerships and effective communication.

Create and foster community and organizational partnerships to reduce the incidence of unintended adolescent pregnancy in our communities.

Minimum Qualifications:

• BA in Health Education, Social Work, or related field and 2 - 3 years related field experience with adolescents required.
• Must be able to travel to multiple sites throughout NYC.

Key Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Accurate record keeping skills and organizational abilities.
• Computer literacy.
• Bilingual: English/Spanish a plus.

Working Conditions/Physical Demands: Place a checkmark next to the applicable options and specify any additional ones in the space provided after "Other"

It is the policy of Children's Aid to provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment and is dedicated to maintaining a work environment that is free from harassment and discrimination. Children's Aid will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on any basis, including race, creed, color, national origin, ethnicity, alienage or citizenship status, gender/sex (including pregnancy), disability, religion, source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, familial status, caregiver status, military status, marital or partnership status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking, predisposing genetic characteristics, arrest or conviction record, credit history, unemployment status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Children's Aid is committed to complying with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Children's Aid will conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of all allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or any violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Policy in a confidential manner and will take appropriate corrective action, if and where warranted. Children's Aid prohibits retaliation against employees who provide information about, complain about, or assist in the investigation of any complaint of discrimination or violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Policy.

The incumbent is expected to work a schedule, whether in-person or hybrid, as determined by the department's needs to facilitate effective collaboration with the team. This flexibility is essential for maintaining seamless communication, fostering teamwork, and ensuring the smooth operation of the department's processes. The position's requirements are subject to periodic review and adjustment based on organizational needs and changes in work dynamics.