Street Outreach Specialist II

The Street Outreach Specialist conducts face-to-face, street-based engagement with youth and young adults under age 22 across Essex, Hudson, Union, Morris, and Passaic Counties who have left home due to family conflict or other crisis, are experiencing homelessness or housing instability, or are living on the street. The Street Outreach Specialist builds trusting relationships with youth where they gather, provides gateway services and safety information, screens for sexual abuse and sexual and labor exploitation and trafficking, and connects youth to emergency shelter, safe and stable housing, and community-based services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The position operates within a Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework and a trauma-informed model of care, helping young people leave the streets, work toward permanency including family reunification where appropriate, and prepare for independence.

• Conduct scheduled, recurring face-to-face street outreach at identified locations across the five-county service area where youth gather, including transit hubs, commercial corridors, encampments, and parks, on a consistent published schedule adjusted for seasonal patterns and youth-reported information.
• Apply youth-focused engagement strategies tailored to each young person's needs, readiness, and circumstances rather than a single standardized approach.
• Facilitate youth access to emergency shelter or safe, stable housing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through immediate placement at Covenant House New Jersey facilities and referral to partner shelters.
• Provide immediate basic needs during street engagement — food, drink, clothing, seasonal gear, hygiene products, and transportation and distribute basic need packs with hygiene supplies, snacks, socks, and branded materials carrying program contact information.
• Operate agency vehicles to reach outreach sites, transport youth to shelter and appointments, and carry supplies
• Administer a standardized assessment during street engagement or intake, evaluating each youth's strengths, goals, and immediate needs physical and behavioral health, substance use, trauma, safety, victimization, family connection and conflict, neglect or abuse, and access to resources — and assess the distinct needs of subpopulations, including pregnant and parenting, system-involved, and trafficked or exploited youth.
• Use the Quick Youth Indicators for Trafficking (QYIT) tool to identify labor and sex trafficking concerns
• Assess for foster care history and reunification potential, prioritizing reunification with an adult who has the youth's best interests in mind and can provide safe, stable housing.
• Comply with all mandated reporting requirements, including reporting suspected child labor and sex trafficking as child abuse and neglect under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
• Develop individualized street-based safety plans with each youth engaged and educate youth on reducing risk of violence, sexual exploitation, trafficking, sexual assault, unplanned pregnancy, substance use, and other risks of street life.
• Provide case management to youth needing assistance with physical, emotional, and behavioral health, access to resources, and engagement with service providers, and develop plans for permanent housing.
• Provide follow-up services to youth engaged through street outreach and assess youth progress after safety and resource referrals are made.
• Coordinate services and referrals with entities serving the same or similar populations, including DCP&P, juvenile justice, schools and McKinney-Vento liaisons, and the Continuums of Care serving the five-county area; refer youth to social services, health…