Family Advocate II North Hollywood

VOALA
Helping Our Most Vulnerable Change Their Life Stories

Volunteers of America is a non-profit human services organization committed to serving people in need, strengthening families, and building communities. VOALA provides a variety of social services to Los Angeles area communities such as Head Start programs, Upward Bound college prep programs, veterans’ services, homeless shelters, low-income housing program as well as drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Learn more at www.voala.org.

PAY RATE: $23.80 - $25.05 PER HOUR

BENEFITS: VOALA offers competitive medical, dental, vision and retirement benefits.

HEAD START

Through our Head Start and Early Head Start programs, we work with children (ages 0 – 5) and their families to provide the skills, confidence and stable home life necessary for a smooth transition into kindergarten and beyond. Children also receive a broad array of health services including screenings and referrals, maintenance of immunization schedules, nutrition assessments and follow-ups, mental health assessments as part of initial screenings, and determination if any mental or physical delays are present. Children receive health and dental services and have access to ongoing and acute and routine health and dental care. Enrolled children receive healthy meals, along with an assessment of their nutritional needs and the necessary follow-ups. Nutrition education is available for parents and incorporated into daily classroom activities for the children.

Cities served include: Carson, Commerce, Compton, Culver City, Del Rey, East Los Angeles, El Segundo, Harbor City, Hawthorne, South Central Los Angeles, Lomita, Lynwood, Mar Vista, Newhall, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Palms, Paramount, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Fernando, San Pedro, Santa Clarita, Shadow Hills, South Central Los Angeles, South LA, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Torrance, Tujunga, Val Verde, Valencia, Valley Village, Wilmington.

JOB SUMMARY AND PURPOSE

The Family Advocate II recruits and enrolls children into the Head Start Program, and assesses each family’s strengths, concerns, and priorities in order to provide services that improve a family’s future prospects in supporting their child through school. Using a case management methodology, the Family Advocate II will manage a caseload of families and assist them in all program areas, and engage families in activities that support them and their child’s development in becoming school ready.

The Family Advocate II supports the classroom care and supervision of children, as needed, when the class is temporarily understaffed. During this period, the Family Advocate can provide auxiliary services, such as food preparation, set up and cleanup, that allow the available teaching staff the ability to provide effective supervision of the children. The Family Advocate is responsible for working as a team with teachers, site supervisors, family Service Specialists and other support staff to help families make choices and decisions that will respond to each family’s unique culture, roles, values, strengths and beliefs. The Family Advocate complies with agency policies, goals and objectives.

Specific Duties include:

• Establish and maintain outreach and recruitment to ensure the assigned Head Start site is fully enrolled with eligible children, and monitor attendance to ensure children are actively involved in the program.
• Establish contact with community resources that can enhance program services. Interview Parent(s) to compile mandated information and documentation for enrollment and services. Establish each child's file. Collect, maintain, update and disseminate, as needed, information and documentation pertaining to the file, observing confidentially at all times. Use a computerized data system to input, receive, and update required data.
• Initiate, maintain, and follow up with the referral process in conjunction with the family, teachers, Family Service Specialists and service support personnel.
• Provide Children with a learning environment of varied activities that support each child’s age appropriate development and prepares them to be school ready; Facilitate and ensure Parent Involvement activities and trainings. Promote parent advocacy. Make a minimum of one home visit or more, as needed, within established timeline.
• Work with a team at the site to ensure that the safety and security of the children is the first priority. Establish and maintain direct communication channels with the family, program, program staff, Family Service Specialist, Administration and community members. Attend meetings and trainings, and continue on an educational path to meet the needs of the position and achieve professional growth. Actively participat