Post-Secondary Coordinator

Position Summary

Post-secondary and vocational development professional that interacts with vocational training, degree educational institutions, early childhood centers, and neighborhood residents. This position leads the vocational and post-secondary pathway component of the Family Hub at Chicago Commons by (1) identifying education able to provide wraparound and financial assistance/resources for people from target neighborhoods, (2) helping families to connect with skills training to advance to a better job, and (3) helping families determine post-secondary pathways.

Education & Certification Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Education, Sociology, Social Work, Public health, or related field. 3-5 years or more experience working in/for non-profit organization(s)

Experience & Training Requirements

• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
• Self-starter and team member
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Have considerable knowledge of vocational and post-secondary strategies
• Be culturally competent with an understanding of the populations we serve
• Must be comfortable speaking to and/or teaching small groups
• Demonstrate understanding that everyone is on a unique path to their own learning and educational pursuit.
• Utilize motivational strategies to support overall education attainment
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, data analysis, and vocational development
• Valid driver's license, motor vehicle liability insurance and personal injury insurance
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be bilingual having the ability to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish proficiently.
• Candidates must regularly operate a word-processing system and, therefore, must be able to read, produce and transmit data on such a system.

Desired Outcomes - position is tied to programmatic outcomes of

• Coordination and implementation of at least 12 workshops a year
• Planning 1 series on creating your own home day care and at least 4 vocational/educational pathway fairs and workshops annually
• Developing a calendar of activities 4-6 months in advance
• Increasing number of families receiving one on one services
• Increasing number of families attending workshops with at least 2 focused on child-parent activities
• Increasing client's exposure, application, enrollment, and attainment in post-secondary/vocational programs.

• Essential Job Requirements & Duties
• Outreach to clients served by the Early Childhood and Senior Services departments.
• Recruit high-quality instructors/consultants to provide complementary workshops/classes.
• Identify growing educational pathways based on client employment and career interests and capacities.
• Develop relationships with vocational and education programs in order to understand their support for parents and flexibility for balancing family and education needs.
• Deliver workshops on career and educational activities including education references and enrollment application preparation; financial aid and sources of support for students who are undocumented, DACA, and US citizens.
• Work as a member of a cross-functional team providing services to families served by the Family Hub, sharing information, participating in team meetings, and helping to track and report progress and outcomes.
• Research best practices and create 2-Gen’ programs that engage children and their caregiver(s)
• Providing education and career coaching, follow up, and education retention services to Family Hub participants.
• Interface with neighborhood service providers as needed, with an emphasis on developing relationships with organizations that provide vocational training services of benefit to Family Hub participants.
• Advocate for hard-to-serve such as Limited English Proficiency, disabled and ex-offenders.
• Assisting with organizing career and education fairs for neighborhood residents where new career opportunities are presented.
• Analyze the data, process, and results and improve the process as necessary.
• Provide reports and data on a timely basis as needed by project partners and funders.
• Monthly documentation of educational offerings, neighborhood applicants, and an analysis of outcomes.
• Manage data entry and documentation in Salesforce system and assist Manager with reporting and documentation requirements.
• Represent the organization in the community-wide meetings.
• Other duties as assigned.

Physical Requirements

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to speak and read English proficiently.
• The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds.
• Specific vision requirements include the ability to see at close range.

Working Conditions

(The unavoidable, externally imposed conditions under which the work must be performed, and which create hardship for the incumbent including the frequency and duration of occurrence of physical demands, environmental conditions, demands on one’s senses and mental demands.) None

Chicago Commons is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, marital or parental status, sexual orientation including gender identity, gender expression, military discharge status, physical or mental disability, or any other status or characteristic protected by law. In addition, Chicago Commons provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state and local laws (including during the application or hiring process).