Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist

About the Role

You Matter 2 is seeking a full-time Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist to lead community engagement, recruitment, partnership‑building, family engagement, and participant support efforts across South Suburban Cook County.

This role will help strengthen You Matter 2’s presence by building trust with youth, families, schools, community partners, faith‑based institutions, libraries, park districts, local agencies, municipalities, and other stakeholders. The Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist will support participant recruitment, enrollment, retention, family communication, partnership development, data tracking, grant reporting, and community visibility.

This position is ideal for someone who is relationship‑centered, organized, community‑minded, and comfortable balancing people‑facing outreach with follow‑up, documentation, and data tracking.

• Lead outreach and recruitment efforts to increase awareness of You Matter 2 programs among youth, families, schools, partners, and local stakeholders.
• Represent You Matter 2 at school events, community fairs, resource fairs, open houses, partner meetings, parent nights, and local events.
• Conduct direct outreach to families, youth, schools, faith‑based institutions, libraries, park districts, agencies, municipalities, and referral sources.
• Build trust, visibility, and a strong community presence for You Matter 2 across South Suburban Cook County.
• Maintain an outreach calendar that tracks community events, school visits, partner meetings, tabling opportunities, recruitment deadlines, and follow‑up tasks.

• Support participant recruitment from initial interest through completed registration and program participation.
• Help families and youth navigate program information, applications, consent forms, transportation options, and program expectations.
• Follow up with interested families and youth to answer questions and encourage completion of enrollment steps.
• Monitor enrollment numbers and communicate recruitment progress to the Program Director and program team.
• Support retention strategies by checking in with families and participants when attendance becomes inconsistent.
• Identify barriers that may prevent youth from enrolling, attending, or remaining engaged in programs.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with schools, counselors, social workers, community organizations, faith‑based institutions, libraries, municipalities, park districts, youth‑serving agencies, funders, and local stakeholders.
• Serve as a key point of contact for community partners, referral sources, and families seeking information about You Matter 2 programs.
• Identify new partnership opportunities that expand access to youth development, wellness, leadership, college and career readiness, workforce readiness, service, and community‑based initiatives.
• Maintain a partner contact list or database with updated contact information, communication history, referral activity, meeting notes, and partnership opportunities.
• Support partnership follow‑up, including thank‑you messages, meeting notes, shared materials, referral updates, and next steps.
• Help identify guest speakers, field trip partners, service partners, volunteers, mentors, community resources, workforce partners, wellness partners, and referral agencies.

• Serve as a welcoming and supportive contact for families seeking to learn more about You Matter 2 programs.
• Support families through enrollment, program navigation, attendance expectations, communication updates, and access to resources.
• Conduct follow‑ups with participants and families to support retention, consistent attendance, and continued engagement.
• Help address barriers to participation, including awareness, access, scheduling, transportation coordination, technology, communication gaps, and resource needs.
• Connect families to appropriate community resources, referral partners, or internal staff when additional support is needed.
• Maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality, and a…