Professional Mentor

JOB POSTING: Professional Mentor (Friend)

STATUS: Exempt Full time

REPORTS TO: Program Manager

SALARY: $58680

When applying it is a good practice to check your spam or junk mail folder to be sure you dont miss an email from us!

Friends Austin matches program youth with mentors who identify as the same sex. We have a cohort of 8 MALE youththat we are seeking to pair with an extraordinary bilingual individual who will spend a minimum of four intentional hours per week with each of them.

Friends of the Children Austin is one of the fastest growing chapters of a 30yearold national professional mentoring organization. Our model is proven to break the cycle of generational poverty for children who face the highest risks by providing professional mentors to the most vulnerable youth in our community for 12.5 years kindergarten through high school graduation.

We employ trained fulltime salaried mentors called Friends to provide a stable caring and sustainable relationship in each childs life.

Are you looking to make a lasting measurable difference in the lives of children who need it most by developing intensive longterm trusting relationships

TheFriendwill report directly to the Program Manager/Program Director and will:

• Embody a commitment to positive expectations.
• Nurture and promote each childs individual strengths talents and abilities.
• Help assure physical and emotional wellbeing.
• Teach life and academic skills in creative ways.
• Provide diverse enrichment activities.
• Model responsible behavior.
• Simultaneously manage multiple priorities to ensure goals are met.
• Be comfortable with and adept at logging information into a database in a timely and accurate manner.

The ideal candidate will:

• Be bilingual in Spanish and English (strongly preferred)
• Be culturally competent and trauma informed.
• Have superior scheduling and time management skills.
• Have data entry and database management skills as well as a commitment to detail accuracy.
• Be willing and excited to make a minimum 3year commitment.

Are you this amazing leader Here is what we have to offer you:

• A committed leadership team and the opportunity to grow with a quickly scaling nonprofit.
• Youll be part of a dynamic and supportive national network with a proven evidencebased highly unique model.
• A team of talented employees who are passionate about working together to create an extraordinary organization.
• Respect for worklife balance. You will work hard and we expect you to recharge your batteries.
• Most of all you get to be a leader at an exceptional organization that helps children facing incredible odds change their life story every day.
• Competitive salary
• 100 Employer paid dental vision and medical benefits (with option for employer paid HSA)along with disability and life insurance for the standard package for all employees
• Three weeks paid vacation
• Two weeks paid sick leave
• Additional paid time off the week between Christmas and New Years Day
• Simple IRA up to 3 employer match
• Eight weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregiver (birth adoption foster) and four weeks for the secondary caregiver

Are you ready to use your skills to make an impact in the Austincommunity See the position details below.

The following statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work to be performed by individuals assigned to this position.They are not intended as a comprehensive list of all responsibilities duties and skills required of personnel so classified:

Basic Function:

AFriendworks intensively with eight 8 children as a positive adult role model to develop a caring trusting and sustained relationship with each child. For each child aFriendwill set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional wellbeing; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior. AFriendwill fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process.Friendswill work primarily oneonone with their children. AFriendmust also know understand honor and support the organizations mission vision values principles and policies and be able to clearly articulate the organizations function.

Core Job Accountabilities:

• Spend time with children oneonone and in the classroom.
• Develop maintain and follow a Roadmap or Transition Plan for each child.
• Set realistic expectations and goals based on each childs strengths talents abilities and needs.
• Teach life skills and healthy habits to contribute both to basic development and learning and to contribute to building positive selfesteem.
• Develop a talent/skill/area of interest with each child to help develop positive selfesteem and experience growing confidence.
• Contribute to children acquiring behavioral management skills tolerance respect for others courtesy and compassion.
• Develop positive relationships with families teachers and others involved in each childs life.
• Facilitate the development/progress of academic skills and learning.
• Model and promote good problem solving and decisionmaking skills.
• Participate in the programming and resources available through the organization effectively utilizing program resources to meet the needs of each child.
• Maintain spending within budgetary guidelines.
• Complete distribute and collect time summaries activity journals short term plans expense reports and evaluation materials accurately and in a timely manner.
• Attend and actively participate in team meetings and staff functions.
• Provide information and support to development team and related activities as needed.
• Fulfill other responsibilities as required.
• Spanish proficiency preferred
• Ability to relate to children and to develop and sustain trusting supportive relationships with them.
• Strong crossgenerational interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work with children in varied capacities and settings to help them learn and grow.

Essential Skills and Abilities:

• Spanish proficiencypreferred.
• Ability to relate to children and to develop and sustain trusting supportive relationships with them.
• Strong crossgenerational interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work with children in varied capacities and settings to help them learn and grow.
• Ability to cultivate trusting relationships with children parents teachers community members and other supportive adults in a youths environments.
• Ability to use creativity and initiative in planning activities to continually develop children.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and communicate appropriately within the workplace.
• Ability to work independently in diverse environments with limited supervision.
• Ability to work as a team player.
• Ability to manage several concurrent issues and solve problems effectively exercising appropriate discretion and judgment.
• Ability to set goals and develop plans to meet those goals to ensure the development of each child.
• Ability to complete administrative tasks accurately and on time.
• Ability to handle high mobility and driving demands safely and with good judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to have compassion patience and cultural competency for families/youth who have experienced trauma.
• Basic computer and keyboarding skills proficiency with email and database systems.
• Familiarity with MS Outlook OneDrive SharePoint preferred.Ability to exercise good judgment independently in various situations and environments and under varying levels of stress.

Additional Job Requirements:

• Transport children in personal vehicle as required for mentoring activities within a 30mile radius of the Friends Austin office. This can sometimes result in 90 miles per day. (Standard IRS mileage rates will be reimbursed).
• Maintain a current drivers license good driving record and ensure that your vehicle insurance is current.
• Maintain First Aid/CPR certification.

Working Hours:

This is a fulltime exempt position. Due to the nature of aFriendsrole the work hours are somewhat nontraditional and include late afternoon and evening work. We recognize that eachFriendsdaily work schedule will vary due to the uniqueness of the role and the needs of the individual children being served. Each Friend is expected to exercise appropriate discretion in this regard. During the school year the general workweek is Tuesday through Saturday with Sunday and Monday as days off. During the summer and for spring and winter breaks manyFriendswork a standard Monday through Friday workweek. The Program requires that you see each of your assigned children both in and outside of school for an average of four hours each week although how you accomplish that is at your discretion within established Program guidelines.

Education and Experience Required:

• Associate degree required; bachelors degree preferred.
• Mentoring experience with children facing systemic barriers.
• Three years experience working/volunteering with children.

Friends of the Children is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The equal employment opportunity policy of Friends of the Children provides fair and equal opportunities for all employees and job applicants regardless of race color religious creed national origin ancestry age sex gender pregnancy sexual orientation marital status familial status disability or genetic information in compliance with applicable federal state and local law. Friends of the Children hires and promotes individuals solelyon the basis oftheir qualifications for the job to be filled.

It is a good practice to check your spam or junk mail folder to be sure you dont miss an email from us!