Child and Youth Program Leader

About the role

Incumbent provides appropriate specialized developmental care and instruction for children and youth ranging in age from 6 weeks to 18 years in one or more CY programs. This includes the provision of guidance, assistance, and mentoring for the CY Program Assistants.

Responsibilities

The Child and Youth Program (CYP) Leader provides direct care and instruction to children and youth (6 weeks to 18 years) in addition to guidance, assistance, and mentoring for CY Program Assistants. The duties and responsibilities have been grouped into categories, including:

• Mentor: Mentors assigned CY Program Assistant team, works with senior employees to provide instruction and training to lower-level employees, and assists lower-level employees in completing the Standardized Module Training.
• Curriculum: Plans activities for program participants based on observed needs of individual children and youth, continually reviews activities and plans for appropriateness, and incorporates special instructions provided by parents.
• Indoor and Outdoor Environment: Works with team members to prepare, arrange, and maintain indoor and outdoor activity areas and materials to accommodate daily schedules, makes suggestions about improvements to the activity areas, and inventories equipment on a recurring basis.
• Interactions and Relationships: Encourages participant interest and establishes a program setting that promotes positive interactions with other children, youth, and adults, and interacts with children and youth using approved child guidance and youth development techniques.
• Supervision of Children and Youth: Provides care and supervision, oversight, and accountability for program participants in compliance with the Department of Defense (DoD), NAF Component, and local installation command policies, guidance, and standards.
• Parent and Employee Communication: Interacts professionally with employees, parents, and local installation command personnel, participates in conferences with parents, employees, school representatives, and local installation command personnel, and briefs other employees and parents.
• Assessment: Observes children and youth and documents developmental progression and/or concerns and uses the information in planning, and assists CY Program Assistants with assessment tasks when needed.
• Compliance: Ensures assigned area achieves and maintains standards for DoD certification and national accreditation or equivalent, and ensures compliance with law, policies, and regulations applicable to DoD CY programs.
• Additional Responsibilities: Collects, maintains, and reports program participation data, and performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

Conditions of employment include:

• Must satisfactorily complete all background checks for child care positions, including fingerprint checks, a Tier 1 with Child Care check, and a State Criminal History Repository (SCHR) check.
• Must successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check.
• Must pass a pre-employment physical, provide evidence of immunization, be free of all communicable diseases, and obtain appropriate immunization against communicable diseases.
• Must successfully obtain and maintain appropriate security clearance as needed.

Qualifications

A qualified candidate possesses the following:

• Knowledge of developmentally appropriate programs designed to meet the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive needs of children and youth from 6 weeks to 18 years of age.
• Knowledge of child and youth development principles, practices, and techniques.
• Skills to apply Federal and State laws governing the detection and prevention of child abuse and/or neglect.
• Skill in understanding interests and motivation of individuals and groups in a CYP environment.
• Skill in program planning, organizing, and employee scheduling.
• One (1) year of experience at the CY-02 (GSE-04) level or equivalent displaying knowledge of and competency in developmentally appropriate programming for children and youth.

Education requirements include:

• Completion of DOD Standardized Module Training AND 12 months Experience at the CY-II (GSE-04) Level.
• Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or Military School-Age (MSA) credential AND 12 months Experience at the CY-II (GSE-04) Level.
• A minimum of a 2-year degree in Youth Development, Child Development or a related field, which can include Recreation, Youth Recreation, Physical Education, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Early Childhood Education, Psychology, Social Work, Home Economics with an emphasis in Human Development, or other degrees as appropriate AND 12 months Experience at the CY-II (GSE-04) Level.