Youth Engagement & Manager - CEDC

If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference and you have a passion for making a difference in the lives of South Carolina's youth, consider joining the dedicated people of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

It is the mission of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to impact and transform young lives, strengthen families, and support safer communities through targeted prevention and rehabilitation.

The Youth Engagement and Incentive Manager provides leadership, management, and oversight of youth engagement, recreation, enrichment, and incentive programming at an assigned secure facility. The manager is responsible for ensuring that youth are provided meaningful opportunities that promote positive behavior, personal growth, leadership development, skill building, and healthy social interaction within a structured and safe environment.

This position supervises facility-based engagement staff, coordinates implementation of agency-approved incentive systems, monitors program effectiveness, and collaborates with facility leadership to ensure engagement programming supports behavior management objectives, facility culture, youth development, and rehabilitative outcomes. The manager serves as the facility lead for youth engagement initiatives and ensures consistency with departmental goals, standards, and expectations.

• Plans, coordinates, implements, and oversees comprehensive youth engagement, recreation, enrichment, and structured leisure programming within the assigned secure facility.
• Ensures programming provides meaningful opportunities for youth to develop positive interests, interpersonal skills, leadership abilities, teamwork, responsibility, and constructive use of leisure time.
• Manages the facility’s implementation of the agency-approved youth incentive and recognition program designed to reinforce positive behavior, achievement, participation, personal growth, and demonstrated responsibility.
• Coordinates incentive activities and ensures established eligibility requirements and program expectations are consistently applied.
• Provides direct supervision, leadership, coaching, scheduling, and performance management to facility-based Youth Engagement staff.
• Establishes clear performance expectations and ensures staff effectively engage youth, maintains professional boundaries, provides appropriate supervision, and delivers quality programming.
• Monitors the quality, consistency, participation, and effectiveness of youth engagement and incentive programming.
• Maintains required records and analyzes program participation, cancellations, youth feedback, incidents, and other relevant performance information to identify trends, barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
• Serves as the facility lead for youth engagement and incentive initiatives and collaborates with facility administration, security, education, clinical services, youth development, youth accountability, and other disciplines to integrate meaningful engagement opportunities into facility operations.
• Solicits appropriate youth input and coordinates internal and external resources that enhance available programming.
• Performs other job-related duties as directed by the supervisor to support division priorities, emergency needs, special projects, or evolving operational requirements within Security and Operations.

• A bachelor's degree and relevant program experience.

• Knowledge of adolescent development, behavior management, and positive youth engagement strategies.
• Knowledge of structured recreational, enrichment, incentive, leadership, and life-skills programming.
• Knowledge of juvenile justice operations and secure facility environments.
• Ability to supervise, coach, and evaluate staff performance.
• Ability to implement behavior-based incentive systems and engagement initiatives.
• Ability to maintain a safe, structured, and productive environment for youth participation.
• Ability to analyze participation data and evaluate program effectiveness.
• Ability to collaborate with security, education, clinical, youth development, and facility leadership teams.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing. Strong organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and program documentation systems.

• A bachelor's degree in criminal justice, social work,…