Student Advocate

Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) — a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York — seeks an enthusiastic, dedicated, and mission-aligned Student Advocate to support our After-School programs.

The Student Advocate works directly with high school scholars to provide individualized support that promotes academic achievement, personal development, health and wellness, and college, career, and life readiness.

Each Student Advocate manages a caseload of approximately 30–35 high school scholars, serving as a primary point of connection, support, and accountability. Advocates build strong relationships with scholars and families, assess individual needs, develop and monitor action plans, and collaborate with schools and HCZ teams to ensure scholars receive the appropriate supports and interventions to thrive.

The ideal candidate will be able to develop individualized action plans to help students achieve academic, social, and personal success.

For more information, check out Want to Work at Harlem Children’s Zone? Here’s 7 Things You Need to Know.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• At least one year of experience working with youth in an educational, youth development, counseling, case management, or community-based setting.
• Knowledge of the New York City school system.
• Strong communication, organization, relationship-building, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, maintain accurate documentation, and follow through in a fast-paced environment.

Who you are

The ideal Student Advocate demonstrates strength across five core priorities:

• Relationship Building with Scholars: A natural relationship-builder who develops authentic, trusting relationships with scholars and creates a culture of belonging, accountability, and growth.
• Collaboration & Relationship Building with Peers:
  An effective collaborator who builds strong partnerships with colleagues, families, schools, and community stakeholders to ensure coordinated scholar support.
• Student Needs Assessment: A thoughtful and proactive advocate who identifies scholar strengths, academic and social-emotional needs, barriers, and opportunities and translates those insights into meaningful support strategies.
• Organization, Progress Monitoring & Action Planning: A highly organized professional who can manage a dynamic caseload, establish measurable goals, maintain accurate documentation, monitor progress, and adjust interventions as scholar needs evolve.
• Emotional Intelligence & Student Advocacy:
  An empathetic, self-aware, and resilient advocate who demonstrates sound judgment, navigates challenging situations effectively, balances support with accountability, and advocates for scholar needs.

• Serve as the primary Advocate and mentor for a caseload of approximately 30–35 high school scholars, building meaningful relationships that support their academic, social, and personal success.
• Conduct regular one-on-one advising, coaching, and support sessions to establish goals, monitor progress, celebrate successes, and address challenges.
• Assess scholars’ academic, health, social-emotional, and personal development needs and identify barriers that may impact their progress.
• Develop, implement, and regularly monitor individualized Action Plans and SMART Goals related to academic achievement, wellness, personal development, and college, career, and life readiness.
• Maintain a current understanding of scholars’ academic standing, including grades, credits, school attendance, assessment performance, and progress toward graduation.
• Monitor scholar program attendance, engagement, and retention and conduct timely scholar and family outreach when patterns of disengagement emerge.
• Utilize scholar data,…