Engagement Support Member

Program Overview

CYC started Corps for a Change in 2015 with a focus on providing one-on-one support to middle and high school students. Corps for a Change is an Ameri Corps program that supports students by addressing barriers to learning and helping students increase a sense of belonging at school and in their community. The Corps for a Change program places caring, service driven members in schools to support students, helping them navigate academic and non-academic needs, with an emphasis on connecting students to mental health resources.

In 2024, Corps for a Change became a part of the Youth Mental Health Corps. The Youth Mental Health Corps is a collaborative initiative that supports youth mental health in schools and communities while giving young adults on-ramps into behavioral health careers.

Members commit to a term of service and receive rigorous training plus ongoing supervision throughout the year.

This is an Ameri Corps service member position within an Ameri Corps program, Corps for a Change. The Student Engagement Support member is placed at one middle or high school to provide individualized support to a caseload of 20-40 students who exhibit a lack of school engagement or need additional resources and support. The member works one-on-one with students to improve school engagement and help support a path toward academic success.

Members will have the opportunity to take college courses through Aurora Community College toward earning Behavioral Health Assistant credentials. The Behavioral Health courses are fully-funded, and cover topics like psychiatric care, mental health crisis and intervention, therapeutic communication skills, case management, clinical documentation, and social welfare. This credential is Medicaid/Medicare recognized credential which means that members could leave their term of service with potential opportunities for employment at community clinics, school-based clinics, and more.

Members serve during school hours and are needed for the entire school year. The position is full-time (40 hours per week). This position begins on October 19th, 2026 and ends on May 28th, 2027.

Student Engagement Strategies and Assessment

• Identify caseload students who qualify for support services.
• Conduct oneonone meetings with caseload students to support them in being more engaged and successful in school.
• Develop and maintain a weekly meeting schedule for 2040 students that allows each student to receive weekly support.
• Build strong relationships with caseload students.
• Provide tutoring or tutoring resources to students as needed.
• Address challenges to learning by connecting students with inschool and local community service supports.
• Help individuals and families navigate and connect to mental health resources.
• Develop education and training materials on mental health issues.
• Conduct community outreach and workshops.
• Help schools and organizations establish norms and practices to support programs and policies around healthy social media use.
• Collaborate with school staff, students, families, and CYC staff.
• Provide school wide engagement /attendance supports.
• Engage parents/guardians through phone calls, meetings, or home visits.
• Track all students’ progress within CYC’s database, school databases, and other spreadsheets.

• Communicate and interact with students in an age and developmentally appropriate way.
• Build professional relationships and communicate regularly with CYC Corps for a Change staff, members, and school staff.

• Demonstrate regular, timely attendance and adherence to hours as scheduled.
• Commit to service for the full service term, serving the total commitment of hours within the term.
• Participate in all required Corps for a Change sponsored training sessions & meetings.
• Attend classes and complete coursework toward a Behavioral Health Assistant credential.

Members serve full-time (40 hours a week), during a typical school schedule. Daily hours are usually within the time frame of 7:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday, however these may vary slightly from site to site. Members may attend site-sponsored…