CCE of Schenectady County Healthy Schenectady Families Family Support Educator –Schenectady, NY

Association Subject Educator I

The Healthy Schenectady Families Family Support Educator provides support to improve healthy family and parenting choices among eligible families and individuals in Schenectady County. As part of the Healthy Families New York and Healthy Schenectady Families Programs, this position works closely with the team of educators and supervisors to promote the well-being of parents, children, and families through the use of existing evidence-based health education and parenting curricula delivered through home visits.

Positive, persistent and individualized outreach from the educator keeps families involved in the program and leads to improved outcomes for children, parents, and the community.

Program Responsibilities:

Program Delivery, Evaluation and Applied Research – 80%

• Deliver and document existing educational programs for program participants primarily in homes initially to 15-18 families, gradually increasing to 20-25 families throughout the first year of employment.
• Utilize existing evidence-based curricula and support materials to provide accurate, relevant parenting and health education to participating families.
• Observe parent/child interactions and provide positive feedback to parents throughout the home visits.
• Assist supervisor with development and implementation of Family Goal Plans.
• Meets or exceeds targeted education delivery goals assigned by the supervisor as indicated by the funding source
• Conduct home visits on a weekly basis that then decrease over time until the participant's child begins school or Head Start.
• Assist in ensuring the program conforms to policies and objectives of the program and funder requirements.
• Utilize motivational interviewing strategies in working with all family members to address individual needs.
• Utilize established criteria; provide individualized education and development of family goal plans that result in improved birth outcomes; timely attainment of recommended immunizations and preventive care; increased breastfeeding support; decreased use of harsh parenting practices; improved early literacy and increased demonstration of behaviors that promote learning in a school setting.
• Utilize skills in assessing parent/child interactions, knowledge of child development and developmentally appropriate parenting strategies.
• Provide special educational efforts such as parent/child group facilitation, program/parent committees, and community meetings.
• Serve as subject matter resource for the Healthy Families program; provide standard responses.
• Maintain a strong, supportive, and professional relationship with program participants as part of the program delivery process and have the ability to communicate with families on a wide range of issues including but not limited to, health, wellness and prevention of domestic violence.
• Encourage families to identify a primary health care provider and educate the family about the importance of regular access to preventive care.
• Evaluate family functioning and make connections to other Extension programs and community resources, serve as liaison for client families to other programs such as WIC, SNAP-ed, EFNEP, Head Start, etc.
• Represent CCE to the public, community leaders, government officials and Cornell University in a professional manner.
• Foster acceptance of the Healthy Schenectady Families program, methods, and policies to address community and individual needs.
• Collaborate with community agencies that serve the target audience as part of the program delivery process.
• Based on established parameters, provide program evaluation data and make recommendations to supervisors for strengthening and improving programs.
• May assist in making recommendations for improvements.

Administrative…