POSITION SUMMARY
Under the supervision of the OYC Project Manager, the Opportunity Youth (OY) Assistant is responsible for collaborating in leading complex programs and partnerships. The ideal candidate is a dynamic and goal-driven former opportunity youth (a young adult who experienced disconnection from school or work between the ages of 16-24) entering the human services field, who is interested in a temporary six-month, 50% part-time non-exempt paid position with a possibility for extension.
ABOUT THE ALLIANCE
The Alliance for Children’s Rights is a nonprofit organization that provides free, holistic legal services and advocacy to youth and families impacted by child welfare and juvenile justice systems in Los Angeles County and works to enact policy changes statewide. Our lawyers, advocates and social workers, together with hundreds of pro bono attorneys and community volunteers, work to ensure young people in foster care and guardianships can overcome barriers to stability and success and access to the education, healthcare, and financial supports they need. Since 1992, we have helped over 150,000 children and young adults. For more information visit: www.allianceforchildrensrights.org.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
In order for the LA OYC| LA P3 to achieve their ambitious missions, a dynamic and detail-oriented OY Assistant is required. The OY Assistant is part of a small team responsible for driving the LA OYC | LA P3 work forward, in particular supporting current and former OY, including systems involved youth, to provide insights and recommendations on how improvements can be made to services and programs.
The OYC | LA P3 OY Assistant will lead authentic youth engagement strategies to engage OY. We believe that to be authentic, youth engagement must involve youth participating in youth-adult partnerships that are designed to ensure that both young people and adults contribute to and learn from the experience. Without reciprocal approaches to learning that are integrated and include both youth and adult learning needs, youth may appear to have decision-making roles but in fact have little input and simply serve as decorations.
The LA P3 Coalition would like to deepen their engagement of engaged OY decision making roles in authentic and meaningful ways, as demonstrated by the LA OYC Young Leaders. The LA P3 coalition is challenging itself to facilitate opportunities for youth and young adults to develop as leaders, so they are equipped with the tools necessary to effectively share their knowledge and lead their communities to better outcomes for themselves, their families, and their peers.
Working with Community Partners:
• Understand the key and critical need for youth expertise in policy and programs
• Express a strong and clear commitment to the OYC | LA P3 and the concept of youth development
• Instruct, direct, counsel, and encourage individuals and groups of Transition Age Youth (TAY)
• Effectively facilitate groups, in a professional manner
• Understand and be willing to learn about the unique challenges and obstacles faced by OY: LGBTQ, housing insecurity/homelessness/ substance use/ child welfare/ justice, etc.
• Listen attentively to OYC | LA P3 partners, co-workers and supervisors
• Write professional reports and correspondence
• Speak effectively before small and large groups
• Daily troubleshooting and problem solving
• Understand the barriers of OY and present recommendations for systemic solutions
• Conduct research as needed
• Handle client issues to meet a solution in a timely manner
• Develop partnerships and maintain collaborative working relationships with partner agencies, government partners and philanthropic partners to increase resources and collaboration across systems and silos
• Submit supporting documents of leveraged opportunities to OYC Director
• Make appropriate connections/resources to OYC partners | LA P3 partners
• Represent the OYC | LA P3 in public forums
• Report updates and findings pertaining to project operation at departmental meetings
• Co-plan and co-facilitate workshops as requested
• Handle other duties as assigned.
WHAT YOUR IMPACT WILL BE
The position will interact with various community-based organizations, educational institutions, employers, public workforce agencies to improve the education and employment outcomes for opportunity youth, including young adults who are or have been involved with child welfare, justice or homeless systems. The OY Assistant will provide outreach and engagement to opportunity youth, including foster youth, justice and homeless youth (systems involved youth). The fellow will collaborate with other youth leadership coalitions to help shape and codify the Los Angeles Performance Partnership Pilot strategic plan. The incumbent will help shape our work to ensure the needs of current opportunity youth are represented from the perspective of lived expertise.
The L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) and Los Angeles Performance Partnership Pilot (LAP3) is an exciting initiative that mobilizes cross-sector agencies, community-based programs and investments of the Los Angeles region to improve three key outcomes:
1. High School Completion (graduation or GED attainment)
2. Post-secondary enrollment and credential completion
3. Workforce readiness and gainful employment with a living wage
The OYC | LA P3 is based on the idea of working collaboratively to create system change and seeks to improve outcomes for youth and young adults in Los Angeles County.
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE WILL POSSESS
• Leadership experience working with community social service and health organizations strongly preferred or student or professional leadership experience preferred
• Lived Opportunity Youth Expertise Required – experience being disconnected from school and/or work opportunities
• Associate degree required, Bachelor’s degree preferred
This job description is of a general nature and is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties of the position.
Experience and Skills
• Strong work ethic and an enthusiastic willingness to “roll up your sleeves” and take initiative, and follow through with commitments, to create greater opportunities for our youth
• Job requires being open to change and to considerable variety in the workplace
• Excellent time management – this position entails working with various service providers, agencies and peer advocates, often juggling multiple tasks at once
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a passion for and commitment to helping youth
• Impressive intrapersonal skills and ability to work with all types of people/personalities from diverse ethnic backgrounds
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as a member of a team
• Must be able to work some evenings and weekends
• Ability to maintain composure even in very difficult situations
• Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude
• Exceptional organizational and follow-through skills
• A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges
• Ability to establish and maintain professional boundaries
• Ability to accept feedback and deal calmly and effectively with challenging situations
• Ability to work with community and outside agencies in a collaborative and cooperative manner
• Computer proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Asana
• Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written
• Applicant will be required to present current California driver’s license, proof of liability auto insurance—as this position is required to attend meetings and events throughout Los Angeles County
This job description is of a general nature and is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties of the position.
COVID-19 CONSIDERATIONS:
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this position worked full time from our Los Angeles office. However, since the pandemic, this position has worked remotely from home with travel into the office or to schools for advocacy meetings as needed. This position may be asked to return to work in the office at any time and at the employer’s discretion.
Vaccination Requirement
The Alliance is committed to prioritizing and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of our employees, their families, our clients, and members of our community against the COVID-19 coronavirus. In response to COVID-19 and the increased transmissibility with recent variants, and to support a safe environment for everyone, all new Alliance employees must provide original documentation confirming they are fully vaccinated, and or evidence of an approved qualifying medical exemption or religious held belief exemption at the time of hire.
Salary Range
Target starting salary range is $25/hr up to $26/hr and is set commensurate with experience. Benefits include generous vacation and paid holidays; comprehensive health plans covering 100% of the employee cost of medical, dental, and vision insurance; life insurance; flexible spending accounts for childcare and health expenses; generous retirement savings plan with organization contributions to your 403(b) after one year of employment; and discounts on fitness memberships and entertainment venues.
TO APPLY
To be considered, please send a cover letter and resume to: melisa@laoyc.org. Please include in your cover letter any relevant experiences, background, or perspective, professional or otherwise, you have in working with diverse populations and/or towards goals of equity and racial justice.
The Alliance for Children’s Rights is committed to building and supporting a culturally diverse and inclusive environment that values all staff members’ backgrounds and perspectives in our work. We strongly encourage individuals from all traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, and prohibit discrimination against employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, veteran status, or any other unlawful basis.
