Professional Mentor "Friend" - Deschutes/Crook/Jefferson County

Friends of the Children is a nonprofit that is breaking the cycle of generational poverty by giving children facing the highest barriers the ability to create a new story. We do this by providing the most vulnerable children with a long-term, salaried, professional mentor, who we call a “Friend,” from kindergarten through high school graduation, 12 ½ years – no matter what. We are currently seeking an extraordinary professional to embark on a new career journey as a Friend at our Central Oregon Chapter.  

At Friends of the Children we put children first and use our values to change the way the world treats and views our most vulnerable youth. As a Friend you will nurture long-term relationships from a foundation of love, acceptance, and culturally-informed practice. Do you want to help eight of our male youth discover their limitless potential, by fostering their internal resiliency?  Are you ready to help build relationships within the communities of our youth and families to strengthen social networks and provide bridges to new opportunities?  If so, the impactful role of a Friend might be for you.  

Curious to learn more? See the position details below.

Job Description:

Basic Function:

A Friend works intensively with eight (8) children as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with each child.  For each child, a Friend will set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths, talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional well-being; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior.  A Friend will fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process.  Friends will work primarily one-on-one with their children.  A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

Core Job Accountabilities

• Develop and sustain a long term, caring, trusting and accepting relationship with each child;
• Spend time with children, one-on-one and in the classroom;
• Develop, maintain and follow a Roadmap or Transition Plan for each child;
• Set realistic expectations and goals based on each child’s strengths, talents, abilities and needs;
• Teach life skills and healthy habits to contribute both to basic development and learning, and to contribute to building positive self-esteem;
• Develop a talent/skill/area of interest with each child to help develop positive self-esteem and experience growing confidence;
• Provide enrichment resources and activities which include opportunities for cultural awareness, diversity and community service;
• Contribute to children acquiring behavioral management skills, tolerance, respect for others, courtesies and compassion;
• Develop positive relationships with families, teachers and others involved in each child’s life;
• Reinforce basic academic skills and learning;
• Model and promote good problem solving and decision making skills;
• Participate in the programming and resources available through the organization, effectively utilizing program resources to meet the needs of each child;
• Maintain spending within budgetary guidelines;
• Complete, distribute and collect time summaries, activity journals, short term plans, expense reports and evaluation materials accurately and in a timely manner;
• Attend and actively participate in team meetings and staff functions;
• Provide information and support to development team and related activities as needed;
• Fulfill other responsibilities as required.

Essential skills and abilities:

• Bilingual in Spanish preferred, additional salary bump for proficient/fluent speakers
• Ability to relate to children and to develop and sustain trusting, supportive relationships with them;
• Strong interpersonal skills; 
• Demonstrated ability to work with children in varied capacities and settings to help them learn and grow;
• Ability to cultivate trusting relationships with children, parents, teachers and community members;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and communicate appropriately within the workplace;
• Ability to use creativity and initiative in planning activities to continually develop children;
• Ability to work independently in diverse environments with limited supervision;
• Ability to work as a team player;
• Ability to manage several concurrent issues and solve problems effectively exercising appropriate discretion and judgment;
• Ability to set goals and develop plans to meet those goals to ensure the development of each child;
• Ability to complete administrative tasks accurately and on time;
• Ability to handle high mobility and driving demands safely and with good judgment;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; organizational and time management skills;
• Basic computer and keyboarding skills, proficiency with e-mail systems, familiarity with MS Outlook and Access (or other database applications);
• Ability to exercise good judgment independently, in various situations and environments, and under varying levels of stress.

Additional job requirements:

• Maintain current driver’s license, good driving record, and vehicle insurance;
• Maintain First Aid/CPR certification;
• Transport children in personal vehicle as required for mentoring activities;

Working Hours:

This is a full-time, exempt position.  Due to the nature of a Friend’s role, the work hours are somewhat non-traditional, and include late afternoon and evening work.  We recognize that each Friend’s daily work schedule will vary due to the uniqueness of the role and the needs of the individual children being served.  Each Friend is expected to exercise appropriate discretion in this regard.   Schedules vary during the school year, summer and school breaks, some Sat. maybe required. The Program requires that you see each of your assigned children both in and outside of school, for an average of four hours each week, although how you accomplish that is at your discretion within established Program guidelines.  

Education and Experience Required:

Associate’s degree required; Bachelor’s degree preferred, plus one to three years’ experience working/volunteering with children.  Mentoring experience with children preferred. 

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply through this posting in HiringThing. Thank you for your interest.

BENEFITS

Comprehensive

PROFESSIONAL LEVEL:

Professional

MINIMUM EDUCATION REQUIRED:

2 or 4-year degree

Location: Bend/Redmond

Friends of the Children is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to addressing discriminatory practices, and to working toward racial equity. The equal employment opportunity policy of Friends of the Children provides fair and equal opportunities for all employees and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, disability, or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. Friends of the Children hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled.

Friends of the Children is growing rapidly as communities across the country are experiencing the power of how “One” changes a child's story: One Friend. One Child. 12 ½ years. No matter what. #ThePowerOfOne

To learn more about Friends of the Children go to: https://friendscentraloregon.org/