National Center for Youth Law
The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) (www.youthlaw.org) is a non-profit organization that for over four decades has worked to ensure low-income children have the resources, support, and opportunities they need for healthy and productive lives.

FosterEd

FosterEd (www.foster-ed.org) is a NCYL initiative aimed at improving the educational outcomes of system-involved youth.  FosterEd operates in Arizona, California, Indiana, and New Mexico and strives to ensure that every student in the state’s care has an educational champion and an education team supporting his or her success in school. Our goal is that every young person in care will graduate from high school with a wide array of possibilities for their future.

FosterEd: California
This position will be a part of FosterEd: California. FosterEd: California works with education, child welfare, probation, judicial and other agencies at the state, county, and local levels to ensure foster and probation-supervised youth can graduate from high school with the widest array of opportunities for their futures.

Position

NCYL seeks Education Liaisons for the FosterEd demonstration site in Santa Clara County, a collaboration with the County Office of Education, Probation, Superior Court, Legal Advocates for Children and Youth, and school districts, aimed at improving education outcomes for youth supervised by Probation.  Responsibilities include:

• Demonstrate your belief that all children can succeed in school and life and are equally deserving of the resources and supports they need to achieve their goals.
• Exhibit compassion, hold youth to high expectations, and strengthen the natural supports of caregivers by promoting empowerment and self-determination.
• Embrace best practices for promoting positive youth development and student-centered engagement.
• Value the new possibilities that are created when diverse people, beliefs and perspectives are included in our work.
• Demonstrate the ability to adjust to program requirements and changing priorities to support youth, caregivers, child welfare workers, and school staff.
• Participate in respectful, two-way communication, including giving and receiving constructive, candid feedback with supervisors, peers, and supporting teams.
• Help create a culture of strong partnership and collaboration within the FosterEd: California team and among external partner agencies and organizations.

Essential Functions

• Improve educational outcomes for youth on probation by working directly with youth to identify their educational goals and utilizing effective educational planning and teaming to support achievement of those goals.
• Bring together diverse teams of biological parents, caregivers, probation officers, behavioral health case managers, teachers and other adults to support students in achieving their educational goals.
• Provide individual coaching and support to students on probation to help them develop the skills and capacities needed to champion their own education.
• Provide individual coaching and support to biological parents, relatives, caregivers and other adults serving as educational decision-makers for young people under probation supervision to ensure they are equipped to actively support the youth’s education.
• Advocate to ensure that youth are getting the supports and services they need and to which they are entitled. This can include advocating for special education or section 504 services to meet the needs of students with disabilities, advocating for students to remain in their schools of origin, and advocacy around school disciplinary proceedings.
• Track required data in a web-based case management tool in a consistent and timely manner.
• Work remotely from a co-located school site and/or local community centers, with flexible work hours.
• Frequently travel within Santa Clara County to attend meetings on behalf of youth and to build relationships with schools, caregivers, probation, and other service providers within those communities.
• Support capacity-building efforts via presentations and trainings to community partners.

The Education Liaison must be able to work full time in Santa Clara County.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and/or experience in at least one of the following three fields: education, social work, juvenile justice
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Experience with advocacy or organizing, preferably related to education or juvenile justice
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and coordinate services with community agencies in a professional manner
• Ability to pay close attention to details and to successfully manage time and prioritize workload.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to pass a background check
• Car and valid California driver’s license

Desired Qualifications

• Bilingual (Spanish) highly desired
• Demonstrated commitment to social, racial and/or economic justice
• Experience with youth-serving agencies and community resources in Santa Clara County
• Experience working directly with young people and families
• Knowledge of trauma-informed and culturally sensitive practice

Salary and Benefits
This is a full-time, at-will, position. Salary is competitive with a range of $56,000 - $62,000 annually. NCYL provides health, dental, life, short-term and long-term disability insurance, vacation benefits, and an employer contribution to a retirement plan.  Please no calls or emails.

Applications
Applications are due by April 22, 2018.  You will need a cover letter, resume, and three professional references. Please no calls or emails.

Apply at: https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/List/1881/National-Center-For-Youth-Law

NCYL is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, age, ethnic background, sex, disability, or sexual orientation. Applicants of color are strongly encouraged to apply.