Life Guide
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Job Location:
Kalamazoo, MI - USA
Monthly Salary:
Not Disclosed
Posted on:
30+ days ago
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Job Summary
WHY WORK FOR GOODWILL
Ready for a career with impact Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan (Goodwill SWMI) gives you the opportunity to make a difference in your local community while building your professional skills. Goodwill SWMI is a complex enterprise offering a wide range of career opportunities. Our organization rewards creativity and innovation while offering competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package. Our team members enjoy a unique work environment that is professional fast paced and fulfilling.
ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION
Goodwill SWMI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Kalamazoo Michigan. Our nearly 300 dedicated team members help achieve our mission of improving the community by providing employment education training and support services tailored to individual needs across a six county territory. At Goodwill SWMI the work we do makes a difference in the lives of the individuals we serve and in turn in the communities in which we live.
Goodwill SWMI manages ten retail stores (with attached attended donation centers and one stand-alone donation center) Contract Manufacturing Operations as well as Custodial & Janitorial business units. These business operations provide stability to our organization that is not always enjoyed by nonprofit organizations solely funded by outside sources.
Our organizations values shape our culture and guide our interactions with program participants customers community and one another. Our shared commitment to Living the Mission; Promoting Teamwork; Driving Collaboration; Taking Responsibility for our Actions and Behaviors; Respecting and Appreciating Others is what makes us successful and inspires all that we do.
Want to learn more about Goodwill SWMI Go to our website at:
JOB DESCRIPTION
The Life Guides program is a 20-year commitment to families with a child aged 0-3 who want to exit poverty. The program a partnership between families and the Life Guide coach focuses on helping families overcome the interconnected obstacles erected by generational poverty and systemic inequity by focusing on individual and family level change. The Life Guide carries a caseload of families and helps each family develop family/youth specific goals to move toward ending poverty and enhance the success of the target child. The goal is for the target child (children in the family 0-3 years old at the start of the program) graduate high school (or a high school equivalency program) enter post-secondary education or trade school and exit poverty by earning a living wage for their family size. Each Life Guide should exemplify the Agencys values of People Positivity Success and collaboration.
Essential Duties Responsibilities and Functions
Include but are not limited to:
- Assist in recruiting enrolling welcoming and onboarding new Life Guide families to the program as a whole (not just on individual caseload).
- Identify annual and monthly goals with each family on the caseload. Coach and support families as they work toward their goals. Coordinate wrap-around services for families related to these goals and other needs that may arise. Connect families with supportive and crisis intervention services as needed.
- Establish a coaching partnership and build relationship with families focused on helping them maximize their potential and move out of poverty by discovering clarifying and aligning with what the family wants to achieve in that context The coaching relationship assumes that the family is creative resourceful and whole and is not a prescriptive relationship but one where the family leads in generating solutions and strategies.
- Ensure that the target child is meeting development and educational benchmarks as well as receiving services conducive to their success and achievement of the programs key outcomes.
- Host a monthly evening meeting with a partner Life Guide where families come for food fun networking and educational activities.
- Collect participant data and assist with grant reporting when needed.
- Other duties as assigned by supervisor
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
- At least one-year previous work with families and/or individuals experiencing poverty
- Case management experience including related record keeping and outcomes management
- Competent in use of Microsoft Office especially Word and Excel
- Ability to develop relationships with families and Goodwill teammates
- Knowledge of community resources in the Kalamazoo area
- Experience working in social work or similar environment
- Experience working with youth and families
Education and Experience
- Bachelors degree and/or Masters degree in human services field preferred
- Formal Training and/or experience related to social work counseling/therapy early childhood an or youth development preferred.
Physical Requirements
Normal office environment of sitting speaking listening seeing keyboarding; occasional lifting and pulling of 35 pounds; standing/walking for two plus hours at a time. Occasional local travel.Other
- Must pass background check related to working with children
- Valid drivers license and ability to be insured under Agencys automobile insurance policy
- Flexible schedule of 40 hours per week three to five evenings a month occasionally more
- Must provide official transcripts upon hire
Key Skills
- Environment
- Anatomy
- Fisheries
- Morphology
- Behavioural Sciences
- Biophysics
- Evolution
- Forestry
- Ecology
- Biotechnology
- Agriculture
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- Ecosyatem
- Entomology
About Company
We are a nonprofit that uses revenue from our thrift stores to provide job training, education, and guidance so people and families can escape poverty.
