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Professional Male Mentor

Friends of the Children

Professional Male Mentor

Portland, OR
Paid
  • Responsibilities

    ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW:

    In June 2019, Friends of the Children, a nationally recognized, dynamic non-profit mentoring organization serving the most vulnerable youth in our community, has selected our second class of youth. We are seeking talented Professional Mentors (“Friends”) with experience working with youth from high-risk environments and confidence in understanding and navigating systems (DHS, Schools, Mental Health) to join our diverse team of dedicated and passionate professionals.

    Friends of the Children’s mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty for the highest priority youth in our community. We do this through a 12 ½-year program that emphasizes development of socio-emotional assets and the skills to succeed in post secondary programs and sustainable careers.

    Friends of the Children is at an exciting point in our trajectory. In partnership with the Center for Equity & Inclusion, we completed a year-long racial equity initiative, and are poised to transform our organization through the development and implementation of a staff-driven equity action plan. Additionally, we have just launched a five-year strategic plan that sharpens our programmatic focus on supporting long-term self-sufficiency for our program graduates. We are committed to our community, to equal employment opportunity, and to diversity in our workplace.

    BASIC FUNCTION:

    A Friend works intensively with an assigned group of eight to ten (8-10) youth as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with each youth.

    For each youth, a Friend will:

    • Set positive expectations.
    • Nurture and promote their strengths, talents, and abilities.
    • Help assure physical and emotional well-being.
    • Teach life and academic skills.
    • Provide enrichment activities.
    • Model responsible behavior.

    Friends work both one-on-one and in group settings with each of their youth for about four hours per week. A Friend will fully document all youth service efforts and participate in an ongoing reflection, observation, and evaluation process.

     

    A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

    CORE JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES:

    • Develop and sustain a long-term, caring, trusting and accepting relationship with each youth
    • Spend time with each youth, one-on-one and in the classroom
    • Collaboratively develop, maintain and follow a Roadmap Goal Plan or Transition Plan for each youth
    • Set realistic expectations and goals based on each youth’s strengths, talents, abilities and needs
    • Teach and model life skills and healthy habits to contribute both to basic development and learning, and to contribute to building positive self-esteem
    • Develop a talent/skill/area of interest with each youth to help develop positive self-esteem and experience growing confidence
    • Provide enrichment resources and activities which include opportunities for cultural awareness, diversity and community service
    • Contribute to youth acquiring behavioral management skills, tolerance, respect for others, courtesy and compassion
    • Develop positive relationships with families, teachers and others involved in each youth’s life
    • Reinforce basic academic skills and learning
    • Model and promote good problem-solving and decision-making skills
    • Participate in the programming and resources available through the organization, effectively utilizing program resources to meet the needs of each youth
    • 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 supervision, team meetings and staff functions
    • Provide information and support to Development team and related activities as needed
    • Fulfill other responsibilities as required

    ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

    • Ability to relate to youth and to develop and sustain trusting, supportive relationships with them
    • Strong interpersonal skills
    • Demonstrated ability to work with youth in varied capacities and settings to help them learn and grow
    • Ability to cultivate trusting relationships with caregivers, teachers and community members
    • Ability to develop working knowledge of community, systems and resources of the Portland/Gresham area
    • Ability to maintain confidentiality and communicate appropriately within the workplace
    • Ability to use creativity and initiative in planning activities to continually develop youth
    • 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 youth
    • Ability to complete administrative tasks accurately and on time
    • Ability to be physically mobile and meet vehicle driving demands safely while exercising good judgment
    • Strong written and verbal communication skills; organizational and time management skills
    • Basic computer and keyboarding skills, proficiency with e-mail systems, familiarity with MS Office including Access (or other database applications)
    • Ability to exercise good judgment independently, in various situations and environments, and under varying levels of stress
    • Demonstrated commitment to equity

    EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

    Associates degree or three years of direct experience in lieu of degree; Bachelor’s degree preferred, plus a minimum of one year of experience working/volunteering with youth. Mentoring experience with youth from high risk environments preferred. Bilingual/bi cultural candidates strongly preferred. Candidates with strong knowledge of systems that our youth encounter preferred.

    Mentoring experience with youth from high risk environments preferred. Bilingual/bi cultural candidates strongly preferred. Candidates with strong knowledge of systems that our youth encounter preferred.

    ADDITIONAL JOB REQUIREMENTS:

    • Maintain current driver’s license, good driving record, and vehicle insurance
    • Maintain First Aid/CPR certification
    • Transport youth in personal vehicle as required for mentoring activities (we reimburse for mileage)
    • Must pass a pre-employment drug screen and background check

    WORKING HOURS:

    This is a full-time, exempt position. Work hours vary but are generally 10:00am – 7:00pm, Tuesday – Saturday; flexibility is essential. Due to the nature of a Friend’s role, the work hours are somewhat nontraditional and include late afternoon and evening work. We recognize that each Friend’s daily work schedule will vary due to the uniqueness of the role and the needs of the individual youth being served. Each Friend is expected to exercise appropriate discretion in this regard. During the school year, the general work week is Tuesday through Saturday, with Sunday and Monday as days off. During the summer, and for spring and winter breaks, many Friends work a standard Monday through Friday work week.

     

    The Program requires that you provide direct and indirect service to each of your assigned youth 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.

    COMPENSATION:

    Starting annual salary is $35,000 base pay (depending on experience) plus a generous comprehensive benefits package for all of our employees.