Streetworker

Job Title:

Streetworker (Lawrence)

Reports to:

Lawrence Streetworker Manager

Type:
Full Time

Category:
Streetwork Team

Background on UTEC, INC.: UTEC's promise is to ignite and nurture the ambition of our most disengaged youth to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success. UTEC’s outcomes-focused model begins with intensive street outreach, reaching proven high-risk youth “where they’re at.” UTEC engages youth in workforce development and educational programs and provides intensive case management. Social justice and civic engagement are embedded in all programming.

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Serving young adults throughout Merrimack Valley (Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill), UTEC was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young adults (ages 17-25) overcome the very real challenges of poverty, gang involvement, unemployment. UTEC reaches 500+ youth annually through an evidence-based model aimed at reducing recidivism while increasing education and employment attainment.

UTEC’s Street workers meet young adults "where they’re at"; which includes on the streets, in jails or prisons, or ir work serves as the engaging point of UTEC's model. The primary goals of the Streetworker are to:
1) recruit participants for UTEC’s Workforce Program (direct recruiting Streetwork); and
2) assist in reducing violence in the communities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill through gang peacemaking (indirect recruiting Streetwork).

• Design and implement an outreach plan to target specific groups of young people such as those out-of-school, homeless, gang-involved young adults. Their outreach is based on a three-pronged approach:
  1) providing street and neighborhood-based outreach (i.e. frequenting the local gang hotspots, parks, etc.)
  2) visiting other youth-serving organizations on a regularly basis and
  3) receiving referrals from other "systems-based" agencies. Street workers will also provide training to other community providers on topics such as gang awareness and intervention.
• Implement peace making processes with all gang involved youth. The peacemaking process involves introduction meetings, peace trips, peace circles, and peace summits.
• Provide crisis intervention and conflict resolution (between both gang and non-gang involved youth).
• Follow up on young adult referrals from project partners (jails and prisons, schools, probation department, gang unit, DYS, etc.).
• Conduct “in‑reach” wherein they visit young adults inside locked juvenile detention and adult correctional facilities, starting three to six months prior to their release back into the community, to assist with reentry plans and related documentation.
• Facilitate small group talking circles in county jails to address issues of shared interest and to deepen relationships.
• Provide immediate transition support for young adults returning from incarceration, including picking them up from their facility, taking them out for a meal or haircut, bringing them to their family or transitional housing, etc.
• Serve as a point of entry for UTEC programming.
• Work with a caseload of (15‑21) selected young adults that are justice involved.
• Maintain updated paperwork and files.
• Provide supportive counseling and advocacy for gang and homeless youth.
• Identify and provide resources, referral and follow up for each youth re: education, employment, treatment, shelter, recreation, peacemaking, etc.
• Work with neighborhood organizations and social service agencies to gain knowledge and visibility at youth hangouts and local hotspots. These partnerships will provide a framework for strong service plans.
• Intervene/practice respectful curiosity and follow up on incidents related to youth population.
• Be on 24‑hour on call to respond to youth crisis (rotating schedule).
• Follow‑up:
  Transitional Coaches and caseworkers provide intensive follow‑up to young people most in need of services (i.e. phone calls, home visits, follow‑up calls to their teachers, youth workers, DYS caseworkers, or probation officers). Follow‑up is essential when working with out‑of‑school, gang, or court‑involved young people.