About JFCS Youth Services

Teenagers and young adults are facing tremendous challenges every day, and this is increasingly leading to depression, feelings of isolation and hopelessness, and suicidal behavior. JFCS Youth Services supports young people by instilling a sense of hope for the future and helping to develop knowledge and skills to move through this life phase with success and confidence.

JFCS’ Youth Services team includes specialists in career planning, post-secondary education opportunities, and mental health, while maintaining a sensitivity to cultural issues that present additional challenges to many of our young people. JFCS Youth Services works holistically with all other departments in the agency to ensure that people who are struggling get the range of assistance they need.

Programs include:

• UpStreet, JFCS’s innovative response to youth mental health challenges that offers barrier free service;
• 412 Futures, JFCS career development program for youth with a focus on refugee and immigrant youth and others with barriers to achieving their career goals post graduation;
• Refugee School Impact Services and Bridge Builders programs, which support refugee youth and their families in achieving academic success, English language attainment, and acclimatization to the United States;
• Learn and Earn, a summer program that gives youth from low-income families a chance to experience work and earn money in a supportive environment;

Position Summary:

The Refugee and Immigrant Youth Services Supervisor coordinates youth programming within the JFCS Youth Services Department. This position is responsible for developing, managing and evaluating programs and activities focused on welcoming, orienting, mentoring and inspiring youth success. Our focus is on serving youth experiencing barriers to academic and social success due to culture, socio-economic challenges, or low-English language skills. The Youth Services Supervisor leads a small cross-disciplinary team that provides cultural orientation, English language development, school integration, as well as career and post-secondary educational options for youth K-12th grade. Programming is rooted in cross-cultural curiosity, is responsive through developmentally appropriate interventions, and always employs a trauma informed lens. The Supervisor will explore, implement and advocate for innovative methods to address youth’s evolving needs both within JFCS and externally with teachers, schools and other youth serving bodies. The Supervisor will ensure that the team works in concert with parents and families to coordinate youth activities, understand parental priorities and perspectives, and help interpret youth experience to support family harmony and balance.

Why you should apply:

The JFCS Youth Services team is dedicated to helping youth and young adults acclimate to life and set appropriate and realizable goals for themselves and their future. We provide therapeutic support, career counseling, and cultural acclimatization through a trauma informed approach. We strive to be an inclusive and welcoming community for both staff and clients providing innovative and evidence based interventions for diverse populations of youth and young adults.

JFCS is seeking an innovative team leader who understands the needs of refugee and immigrant youth and is passionate about creating career pathways for youth and young adults within the international community. Join our team and help make our neighborhoods, schools and community more welcoming and inclusive while at the same time, helping newly arrived refugee and immigrant youth feel empowered to express themselves, share their experiences, understand their new surroundings and be equipped to launch into the future of their hopes and dreams. This position reports to the JFCS Director of Youth Services.

About JFCS Pittsburgh

In today’s world, it is important that your life’s work brings you value and purpose. By joining the team at JFCS, you will experience hands-on opportunities that directly help people in the Greater Pittsburgh region through life’s changes and challenges.

Proudly voted by JFCS employees as one of Pittsburgh’s best places to work for +10 years, our care and commitment to our employees and our clients is our top priority. We are looking for new employees who share our commitment to providing critical, high quality services to the community.

Benefits:

• Collaborative work environment and diverse staff
• 37.5 hours work week with flexible scheduling to support work-life balance
• Hybrid work model (part of the week in office, part remote)
• Sick Time = 12 days a year
• Vacation Time = starts at 2 weeks the first year and then increases with longevity up to 4 weeks total
• Additional paid time off for all employees = most federal holidays, 3-5 floating holidays (to be used at employee’s discretion), and a number of Jewish holidays
• Comprehensive health insurance - medical, dental and vision
• Short and long term disability, life insurance and a 401k package for which JFCS contributes 4% of salary after the first year of service
• Annual longevity bonuses after the first year of service

Duties and Responsibilities:

Accountability:

• Maintain accurate data on youth outcomes and milestone achievements.
• Produces accurate, timely reports and coordinates data for audits by granting agencies.
• Refines program processes and activities based on consistent quality improvement and evaluation.

• Facilitate mentor training and supervise mentor interactions focused on youth safety, developmental understanding and cultural respect.

Coordination:

• Develop mutually beneficial collaborations with community organizations such as ARYSE, Open Field, The Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh, and Casa San Jose as well as schools such as Pittsburgh Allderdice, Baldwin, Arsenal, etc. throughout the region.
• Coordinate JFCS youth services staff to provide consistent, timely, and high quality programming.

Development:

• Identify emerging needs in the immigrant and refugee youth community appropriate for JFCS to address.
• Develop new program approaches to address emerging needs identified by parents, community leaders and teachers.
• Evaluate and modify existing departmental programs to better meet youth needs.

Marketing:

• Develop and implement, in consultation with the JFCS Marketing & Communications team, a marketing plan for all JFCS youth programs.
• Assist the Marketing Department in the production of various marketing and fundraising materials.
• Promote the work done by JFCS at various professional and community settings.
• Provide public presentations on behalf of JFCS.

Personnel Management:

• Supervise, mentor, train, support and evaluate program staff.

• Develop, implement and coordinate professional development training aligned with program goals.
• Create a team based on the values of inclusion, respect, warmth, and mutual support.
• Manage volunteers, mentors and interns involved with the program, as appropriate.
• Other duties as needed.

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Must be culturally sensitive to the unique needs of a diverse array of youth and young adults and provide trauma informed services.
• Demonstrate a high level of organization to manage multiple grant funded programs while being responsive to clients’ evolving needs, trends within the youth population, and prioritizing ongoing support for front-line staff.
• Clear, concise written and verbal communication with clients, staff, partners, case workers and other stakeholders.
• A collaborative team leader who leads by example and creates an environment that is inclusive, respectful, warm, and supportive.
• Comfortable using interpreters to communicate effectively with youth and young adults, their families and support systems.
• Be alert to cross-cultural interference in dealing with staff and clients and be culturally responsive in providing insightful program interventions and a responsive workplace environment.
• Cultural humility and openness to learning is a hallmark of this position.
• Ability to work independently and to manage the work of others.
• Good interpersonal communication and writing skills.
• Must have access to reliable vehicle, insurance, and valid license.

Education and Experience:

• Masters degree preferred in child development, social work, adolescent psychology, anthropology, or related field.
• At least 4 years of experience in education or youth service programs.
• Must have at least 2 years of experience supervising staff.
• Must have experience working with youth and young adults from a diversity of backgrounds. Experience working with low-income youth and limited English language speakers is a plus.
• Experience in program planning and development as well as implementation and assessment.
• Strong administrative management and organizational skills with a keen focus on details required for government grant compliance.
• Experience with ensuring quality outcomes for clients and fidelity with monitoring requirements.

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.