Healthy Community Initiative

Summary

Founded in 2005, Tackling Obstacles & Raising College Hopes (TORCH) is a collaborative school-community partnership to address disparities in education. Originally TORCH served exclusively Latinx students, but because of the program’s success, TORCH is now available to all traditionally under-served students, including youth who would be first-generation college students and young people from low-income homes.  TORCH works with more than 500 Northfield youth in grades 6-12 (plus alumni) each year, providing academic advising, tutoring, social emotional support, postsecondary access, career exploration, and connections with community opportunities and resources.

TORCH is a program of the Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) and TORCH staff are staff of HCI.

TORCH is seeking a coordinator for our middle school program to: support TORCH students’ engagement in the Middle School Youth Center (MSYC) and EmpowHER programs, provide academic advising, tutoring and homework help to students; and connect TORCH students with eligible supplementary programs/resources. 

The coordinator will plan and lead programming with eligible students, and communicate with families regarding progress toward applicable goals. The coordinator will assist with fulfilling the collective goals of TORCH and Northfield Public Schools, ensuring that barriers to consistent school attendance and family engagement are removed to promote students’ positive academic outcomes and social-emotional health. 

Tasks

• Recruit students for after school programs, helping families with registration process and logistics.
• Plan and lead after school clubs and homework help alongside Middle School Youth Center (MSYC) staff.
• Plan and lead activities that support a robust EmpowHER program. 
• Provide academic advising, tutoring and homework help for eligible students (late morning through the end of school day, at which point Coordinator would switch to MSYC role).
• Track student progress, including attendance and school engagement, and conduct individual academic counseling sessions with each TORCH student in their cohort at least twice per month.
• Work with each student to create an individual plan that identifies areas of need, interventions, goals, and aspirations.
• Communicate with parents to discuss students’ academic and social-emotional development
• Communicate with teachers, administrators, school counselors and social workers in those cases where additional or different levels of support and intervention are necessary.
• Facilitate students’ connections with summer adventure and academic enrichment opportunities
• Support youth to begin exploring careers and post-secondary education options
• Maintain necessary files (physical and online), track required program data, and complete assigned grant reporting. 

Required qualifications:

• High school diploma and some college level coursework successfully completed.
• 2-5 years of experience in youth development or related fields.
• Ability to quickly build positive relationships with middle school students and their families.
• Passion for equity, social justice and working with diverse youth.
• Ability to maintain focus on long-range goals while simultaneously carrying out the intermediate action steps.
• Ability to work collaboratively with TORCH team members, school district staff and other groups and organizations.
• Ability to plan, implement and evaluate programs.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Highly organized with superior attention to detail.
• Familiarity with evaluation processes – data collection, analysis and continuous improvement.
• Capable of completing work on time in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a positive attitude – excellent ability to manage simultaneous projects and troubleshoot issues in a calm manner.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and as a member of a team.
• Ability to work after school hours, with occasional evening and weekend hours
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) and Google Suite.
• Must possess and maintain a valid Minnesota driver’s license and auto insurance and be able to travel throughout the community.
• Willingness to maintain the standards, carry out the purpose, and adhere to the policies of HCI.
• Maintenance of a cell phone is an expectation of employment.

Preferred qualities

• Bilingual in English and Spanish 
• Familiarity with Northfield and Rice County organizations and resources.

Please use the ‘Apply here’ button below to submit your application. Please include a cover letter describing your interest in and readiness for working with the TORCH program. Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Apply here

Location: Northfield
Industry: Education
Standard weekly hours: 30 hours per week
Experience Level: Some Experience
Job salary: $20.00 – $23.00 per hour
Supervisor: Tessa Kiesow, TORCH Director