Position: Advocate Counselor

Program/Department: Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service

Reports to: Program Director

Work Location: 300 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn

Hours: Full Time - 35 hours per week Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm

This position is fully in-person and does not offer any remote work.

Salary Range: $42,000 - $51,000

Position Summary

Brooklyn Community Services is one of Brooklyn’s first and largest non-sectarian social services agencies. BCS, which presently serves more than 10,000 individuals annually, is committed to a broad and diverse range of services including education and child care; services to strengthen families; and services to foster self-sufficiency for adults.

Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service is a small, academically rigorous, full-time New York City Department of Education Transfer School designed to re-engage high school students who are over-age and under-credited or have dropped out of high school. BCS is directly responsible for the administration of the school’s Learning-to-Work Program, which enhances the school’s academic component by offering additional academic support, career and education exploration, work preparation, skills development, and internships.

The Advocate Counselor works in support of Brooklyn High School's goals to re-engage high school students. The advocate counselor provides individual and group counseling, case management, advocacy, referrals, and crisis intervention to over-aged, under-credited adolescents.

Responsibilities:

• Provide academic planning and case management services for a caseload of 40 + students.

• Provide weekly individual and daily group counseling, including facilitating an Advisory Group five days per week.

• Assist youth in attending school regularly by identifying obstacles, connecting students with resources and conducting attendance outreach including home visits.

• Assist youth with the development of actionable post-secondary plans.

• Provide immediate crisis intervention support as needed, including mediation support.

• Provide family outreach and conduct parent/guardian meetings as appropriate.

• Provide counseling and support services to families with the intent of improving communication between family members and students to ensure they have support they need to function at optimal levels.

• Document all work and keep case records on all students on caseload as required.

• Attend DOE Parent-Teacher conferences, School Leadership meetings, Parent Teacher Association meetings. and Out of town College Trips in accordance with DOE school calendar.

• Provide assistance with the College application process.

• Willingness to perform all duties remotely as well as in person as assigned.
  Other duties as assigned by the Program Coordinator.

Qualifications:

• Bachelors Degree required; MSW Preferred

• Experience and demonstrated case management support in working with youth and families.

• College preparatory experience required.

• Committed to upholding an inclusive environment in program that fosters a sense of community, belonging and connectedness.

• Must have excellent time management, organizational, verbal and written communication skills.

• Must have a commitment to work from a strength based and/or youth and family development perspective.

• Knowledge in Trauma Informed Practice a plus.

• Willingness to be creative and work as an integral part of a team.

• Fingerprinting and background check.

• Must have a commitment to work from a strength-based and/or youth development perspective

• Prior experience in a school setting.

BCS and Turning Point require that all employees entering the workplace be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless an exemption is granted as a medical or religious accommodation.

BCS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.