Family Worker- Bilingual Applicants only

CHICAGO COMMONS HISTORY

Founded in 1894, Chicago Commons was one of Chicago’s original settlement houses serving immigrants on Chicago’s northwest side. Today, Chicago Commons is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower individuals, families, and communities to overcome poverty and systemic barriers, embrace opportunities, and thrive across generations. To fulfill that mission, Chicago Commons provides high-quality early childhood education, family-centered adult education, and senior services to more than 4,000 individuals annually.

Chicago Commons’ Early Childhood Education Programs are Reggio inspired program that implement a problem-solving approach to learning, provide unique engaging environments, include extensive art studios and provide outdoor play through nature-based playgrounds. 

POSITION SUMMARY:

The person in this position is responsible for the Family Engagement portion of the Head Start Standards at the school level including (but not limited to) parent partnerships, community partnerships, and the creation and follow-up of family goals. The Family Worker will be responsible for the coordination of parent involvement meetings and trainings as well as working closely with the staff of the Family Hub to bring parents/guardians into our schools and increase their involvement. Additionally, the Family Worker will be responsible for meeting the needs of all diverse learners. This includes paperwork, monitoring of IEPs and IFSPs, data entry, scheduling and facilitating family review meetings. The family worker will also be responsible for providing direct and indirect supportive services in the area of medical health, dental health, social services. The family worker will also assist the Recruitment Coordinator with the recruitment of students into our schools.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Education & Certification Requirements
• Bachelor’s Degree in social services or related field (Masters preferred). 
• Hold a Gateways Family Specialist Credential Level 5.
• Bilingual in Spanish preferred

Experience & Training Requirements:

• Must have excellent communication and customer service skills 
• Must be able to work with a diverse clientele 
• Must be able to maintain confidentiality 
• Must display strong leadership skills 
• Must be able to share ideas and information effectively 
• Must have the ability to work under stress in a fast-paced environment 
• Must be a flexible team player able to adapt to any situations 
• Must be able to serve as an advocate for children and families 
• Ability to read, write and speak in English.
• Ability to communicate in Spanish is a plus 
• Availability to work some evenings and weekends
• Candidates must regularly operate a word-processing system and therefore must be able to read, produce and transmit data on such a system.
• The candidate must also have experience with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

Desired Outcomes:

• Ability to meet full enrollment requirements set by program funders including recruitment efforts
• Increase family engagement participants to meet individual needs
• Ability to maintain recordkeeping as required by program funders

Essential Job Requirements & Duties:

• Contributes to the development of the agency’s child development philosophy and goals 
• Establishes relationships and trust with all families 
• Work with families in completing “Family Assessments” and in setting realistic goals. Monitors these goals on an ongoing basis through personal contact (no less than three times per year). 
• Maintain compliance with family goals, family partnership agreements, diverse learners, and parent engagement activities. 
• Conduct the recruitment of children and families (including 10% of children identified as diverse learners). 
• Assist with intake and registration of new students, as needed  
• Enter all case notes into the computer database weekly.  
• Participate in-home visits and parent/teacher conferences. 
• Be responsible for Diverse Learner Tracking and oversee the efforts for serving families of children considered diverse learners – including, but not limited to, referrals, observations, required documentation, and interdisciplinary team meetings. 
• Participate in and track all student transitions. 
• Assist in planning, participation, assessment and documentation of all Family Engagement Activities and Family Hub activities. 
• Develop and maintain annual partnerships with community organizations to provide resources and referrals to families to meet identified needs.
• Attends community events to recruit families and develop community partnerships
• Assist with maintaining Community Resource Directory. 
• Meet regularly with Center Directors to collaborate between center needs and family worker resources including the coverage and school events. 
• Contribute to teams including Center Leadership Teams, Family Worker Teams, and larger teams that span across Chicago Commons.  
• Follow up (as needed) with Program Information Report (PIR) monitoring.  
• 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 frequently is 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 40 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).