Youth Advocate -Syracuse

Job Summary

The Youth Advocate I for Hillside Work Scholarship Connection (HWSC) provides support and mentoring services to an assigned caseload of students in the HWSC program. This position utilizes best practices from education and youth development models to assist students in achieving positive academic outcomes including high school graduation, attaining life skills, and completion of a successful employment experience.

• Assist in the identification and selection of youth who have the personal characteristics to become successful participants in the HWSC program.
• Maintain an active caseload of students based on enrollment targets by recruiting new students and retaining existing students.
• Meet regularly with assigned students in the academic environment to review grades, attendance, social skills, and future plans.
• Connect students who do not meet established expectations for GPA and/or core subject grade with tutoring services.
• Teach student strategies for becoming self‑sufficient (juggling/balancing school, work, friends, planning for college).
• Support the development of good habits by students that enable a successful transition from high school to a variety of pathways post‑graduation, including full‑time employment, military, 2 or 4 years of college, vocational, or trade school.
• Develop Individualized Graduation Plans (IGPs) for assigned students with family support and use the IGP as a guide to gauge student progress and revise IGPs bi‑annually.
• Develop strong relationships with students and their families to understand and/or identify home issues that might impede school, work, and post‑secondary success.
• Provide referrals to community support services as necessary.
• Ensure parents and/or guardians are informed of, and in agreement with, the service goals established for their child during monthly family home visits and/or phone calls.
• Partner with core subject teachers and school counselors to ensure assigned students come to class on time and are prepared to learn.
• Facilitate all evidence‑based coursework, service‑learning projects, and social‑life activities (i.e. pre‑employment readiness training, evidence‑based coursework facilitation, etc.).
• Provide transportation services (using personal vehicle and/or agency vans) for HWSC students attending tutoring services, enrichment activities, and field trips.
• Accurately complete program documentation and reporting on assigned students in the required format and in accordance with required time frames. Inputs into and creates reports from Efforts Toward Outcomes (ETO) as needed.
• Maintain accurate records of own work time and travel information.
• Assist seniors planning to attend college in developing a transition plan and monitor student progress against the plan during weekly meetings, track plan progress in ETO.
• Apply State Department of Education high school graduation requirements and local school specific requirements, as well as necessary post‑secondary planning processes (FASFA, SAT/ACT and/or Accuplacer testing, college applications process, workforce preparation, and job placement) with each student’s guidance counselor for graduation success and post‑secondary success for assigned students.
• Monitor student progress against Academic, Attitude, and Attendance (AAA) standards to determine Youth Employment Training Academy (YETA) eligibility.
• Provide support and encouragement to students completing YETA, and the job search process.
• Monitor placement and progress of students employed by an employment partner.
• Partner with the employment and/or college and career team to resolve employment partner challenges/issues.
• While this job description covers many aspects of the role, employees may be required to perform other duties as assigned.

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Minimum 2 years of relevant work, volunteer or higher education experience in human services, childhood or youth development, student mentoring, coaching adolescent youth, or related field required.
• Associate’s Degree in a relevant field and minimum 1 year of relevant experience required.
• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field required.