Professional Mentor (Friend) — Tacoma

About the role

Friends of the Children – Tacoma is a vibrant, active chapter of a 30-year-old national professional mentoring organization. Our model is proven to break the cycle of generational poverty for children who face the most barriers, by providing paid professional mentors to work with youth for 12+ years, from kindergarten through high school graduation.

Responsibilities

- Set positive expectations - Nurture and promote the child’s individual strengths, talents, and abilities - Help assure physical and emotional well-being - Teach life and academic skills - Provide enrichment activities - Model responsible behavior - Simultaneously manage multiple priorities to ensure goals are met in a timely manner

Requirements

- A bachelor's degree or associate degree - Significant experience working with youth who face obstacles - Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the child welfare system - Cultural competency and experience with trauma-informed care - Experience with utilizing social and emotional learning curricula - Superior scheduling and time management skills - Data entry and database management skills

Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree preferred. Associates degree required, plus two to three years of professional experience working with children. Mentoring experience with children and understanding of the child welfare system preferred.

Skills

- 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 Teams (or other database applications) - Ability to exercise good judgment independently, in various situations and environments, and under varying levels of stress

Benefits

- Comprehensive Benefits Package including healthcare, dental, paid vacation, sick leave, and 401(k)

Pay

$50K

Schedule

Full-time, 40 hours per week, non-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.