Education Advocate Job Listing at TCB in Cleveland, OH (Job ID 3113599)

Description

Position: Community Life Parent Education Advocate

Location: Cleveland, OH

About The Community Builders:

The Community Builders, Inc. (TCB) is a nationally recognized nonprofit developer, owner, and manager of affordable and mixed-income residential and commercial properties. We envision a world with vibrant, safe and inclusive neighborhoods in which all people live in healthy homes with equitable access to resources and opportunities to pursue their dreams. Our mission is to build and sustain strong communities where all people can thrive. We realize our mission by developing, financing, and operating affordable, mixed income residential communities, neighborhood amenities and resident opportunity programming. Founded in 1964, TCB currently owns/manages 13,000+ units of rental housing across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest.

About Community Life at TCB

Community Life (CL) is TCBs place-based model that uses stable housing as a platform for connecting families, seniors, and households with disabilities to community resources and opportunities. We engage residents in creating programs and building strategic partnerships with local stakeholders to create pathways to opportunities in early education, economic mobility, youth development, voting registration, health, and resident leadership. Community Lifes goal is to create equitable access to community supports, resources, and opportunities for all residents so that everyone can thrive. The successful candidate will have a chance to join in a once-in-a-generation neighborhood transformation process made possible through a federal Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant.

About Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant (CNI)

The federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative leverages significant public and private dollars to support locally driven strategies that address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. Local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that unleashes the full potential of communities by revitalizing severely distressed public and/or assisted housing and catalyzing critical improvements in the neighborhood, including businesses, services, and schools.

Woodhill Homes: The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the City of Cleveland were awarded a $35 million FY 2020 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant for the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood. In 2018, the Housing Authority, City, and community partners secured a Choice Neighborhoods Planning award. Now through the Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant, the partners are moving from planning to action. The lead grantee (CMHA) and their partners will: create 638 new, mixed-income rental units (with 162 project-based voucher units); develop a new health clinic, early childhood education center, and retail space on a commercial corridor; rehab owner-occupied

Position Description:

The Community Life Parent Education Advocate (PEA) is responsible for supporting Woodhill parents to navigate the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). Working in close collaboration with the Community Life Services Coordinators (CLSC), the PEA will ensure that children will have the supports they need to succeed academically and socially in the schools (public & private).In addition, the PEA will partner with the Woodhill Education Navigator (WEN) to discuss and address the specific needs and challenges of the Woodhill families located on-site and off-site. In close collaboration with the Community Life Senior Manager, the PEA will work to achieve the CHOICE People Education outcomes.

Core Responsibilities Include:

• In coordination with the CL Senior Manager, identify resources, partners, and community organizations to address the identified needs of Woodhill families.
• In collaboration with the CLSCs, and Woodhill Education Navigator, conduct education assessment to identify the education needs of each family.
• Use assessment results to meet with families one on one to foster trust and communication with parents and students to gain information and/or discuss needs and challenges involving the student(s) and families.
• Work with the WEN to contact schools (public & private) and accompany parents to school meetings to advocate for what children need.
• Be in direct email correspondence with school to get the services and supports that children need in school.
• Provide training sessions to show parents how to view PowerSchool, and trainings about how to best communicate with teachers and other school administrators.
• In close collaboration with the CL Senior Manager, coordinate and bring afterschool homework help on site, and connect youth to mentoring programs, like Big Brother, Big Sister program.
• Help parents understand how best to prepare and support their children for successful testing.
• Assist parents to understand test results, report cards, progress reports, IEPs, 504 plans and their implications.
• Build relationships with supportive services within the school districts (Parent Ambassadors, Say Yes to Cleveland, etc.).
• In collaboration with the CL Senior Manager, create and implement academic-based learning opportunities/workshops for parents.
• Attend meetings with educational partners to inform them about Woodhill families needs and seek guidance and support.
• Attend meetings held by school districts to learn critical information and convey to families .
• Enter documentation regarding resident engagement in CL Connect database system.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment and team culture.
• Ability to engage, communicate and collaborate with residents of diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
• Strong ability to design and execute an approach to achieve the expected outcomes.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Comfort working in a dynamic and challenging community context.
• Strong personal initiative, attention to detail, and ability to work independently required.
• Flexibility to work evening and weekends.
• Access to a personal car required.
• Availability for evening and weekend engagements required.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelors degree in a relevant field of study, with skills and experience working in the educational field or within the school districts.
• Former school principal or school counselor or special ed preferred.
• Experience working with the CMSD preferred.
• Knowledge and understanding of The Cleveland Plan to support education and student success.
• Experience working directly with diverse and vulnerable families living in challenging circumstances.

TCB succeeds with diverse and inclusive teams

The Community Builders, Inc. is committed to ensuring diversity in its workplace, and candidates from diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. TCBs commitment to diversity is reflected at all levels of the company, including a governing board which is 50%+ people of color and 40%+ female and senior staff--director level and above--which is currently 40%+ people of color and 50%+ female. As a mission-directed nonprofit with a longstanding focus in urban neighborhoods, TCB believes that our potential impact as a local partner, housing provider, and great neighbor, are immeasurably enhanced when staff and leadership combine technical proficiency with the abilities, perspective and insight that can only arise from true representation of the communities that we serve.

The Community Builders is committed to diversity in its workplace. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.