Training-Youth Development Fellow: Youth Health Educator Program

Opportunity: The Young Women's Project (YWP) is a dynamic, brave organization that develops leaders, takes on institutions, and builds youth power in DC. We are looking for a self-starter with a flexible skill set that includes youth development, training and facilitation, and research as well as a demonstrated commitment to youth adult partnership. We are a small, ambitious organization with a big agenda and limited resources. This is a great position for a recent college grad interested in graduate study in social work or public health. The fellowship is one-year in length with opportunities to join our permanent staff.

Organizational Background: The Young Women's Project builds the leadership and power of young people so that they can transform DC institutions to expand rights and opportunities for DC youth. Based in Washington, DC, YWP programs engage under-resourced youth of color, ages 14-24, with a focus on teen women, youth in foster care, and homeless youth. YWP work focuses on three DC youth realities: poverty, unemployment, and poor health outcomes. About 57% of our youth educators and 70% of our young adults live or go to school in Ward 7 and 8, communities that are disproportionately impacted by teen pregnancy, youth unemployment, and poor educational outcomes. Guided by these needs and opportunities, YWP is building a citywide network of youth educators and community problem solvers. Our model engages youth on three levels starting with self-advocacy. Youth staff and members build their skills in communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, goal setting) and guide them to advance their own rights and opportunities and navigate the complex systems of child welfare, education, and health care. Next, YWP employs youth and invests in their development as workers and community change agents. Last year, more than 250 youth worked 3-12 hours a week as educators, advocates, researchers, trainers, and community outreach workers. Youth work on teams and with a manger, apply their skills, develop professional behavior, put together a portfolio of work products, and earn a pay check. Third, youth and adult staff work side by side to create and advocate for policies and programs that increase youth rights, resources, and job opportunities. YWP's work is organized into two program areas, driven by long-term-system-change-focused goals.

The Peer Health and Sexuality Education Project (PHASE) engages DC youth as peer educators and advocates who work to improve health outcomes and reduce unplanned pregnancy by expanding comprehensive sexuality education, ensuring access to community and school based health care, and developing supportive policies. As PHASE’s main program, the Youth Health Educator Program (YHEP) hires 250 youth each year from 24 DC public high schools who work in their schools and communities educating their peers, distributing condoms, and referring youth to clinics. Working in partnership with DC Public Schools and the Department of Health (DOH), YHEP educators earn $8.25 an hour for up to 6 hours a week and receive more than 50 hours of training in sexual health, STI/HIV prevention, peer education, contraception, LARCs, clinic referrals, counseling, facilitation, adult-youth partnership, project development, data collection and other issues. Last year we hired 246 youth who distributed 133,000 condoms and conducted 31,095 educational interventions reaching more than 7,000 youth and made 1,500 referrals to school based clinics. The Youth Poverty Program builds the power and leadership of system-identified and homeless youth -- training them as leaders and advocates, who work to expand educational and employment options, improve placement conditions, and expand youth rights. To address the needs of emancipating youth, YWP launched the Center for Youth Adults (CYA) in February 2017 to build the capacity and networks of 100 young adults each year who are emancipating from DC’s foster care system.

Position Summary: The YHEP Fellow will work as part of our sexual health education team that includes three full-time staff (Manager, Associate) in a 7 person organization. We have 150 part time youth educators who we work with throughout the year. The YHEP-Fellow will be responsible for a broad range of duties including training, youth recruitment & management, social media, and administration support. During the school year, the Fellow must be available to work until 6:45 3 days a week in order to accommodate an after-school training schedule. The fellowship is full time with a 9-12 -month appointment.

Salary: $32,000 with benefits (vacation, sick leave, paid holidays)

Responsibilities:

• Work part of a staff team to prepare, debrief, and build capacity for trainings. Conduct three trainings a week (from 4-6:45) that include youth from school-based sites including 1-2 Core teams and 1-2 Advanced teams


• Manage the recruitment, employment, training, and work of 50-70 youth at 8-12 school sites; ensure youth educator distribution, education, and referral outcomes at those sites


• Contribute to the development and updating of lesson plans (LPs)


• Contribute to and share coordination of quarterly New Educator Trainings


• Contribute to data collection for all teams including session evaluations, assessments, midterm interviews


• Collect and record attendance, contact, demographic, test score and other data for youth educators at youth school; input data weekly into master spread sheet and other data tools


• Provide support and resources to individual youth at your sites, connect them to CYA and community based resources


• Working with Manager, ensure that youth recruitment targets are met. Coordinate trainings; provide recruitment support to staff so that they can meet individual recruitment responsibilities.


• Contribute to youth advocacy and policy work through testimony development, storytelling, and other means, develop testimony, and present testimony at meetings, hearings, and other events

Qualifications:

• BA or comparable experience in education, public health, youth development, social justice, or related fields.


• 2 years’ experience working with youth, women, and with communities of color;


• 1 years’ experience as a facilitator and trainer; can deliver trainings on a range of youth-relevant issues using popular education and experiential learning techniques


• Knowledge of and experience working with youth relevant issues including sexual health, violence, mental and physical health, and youth-serving systems (including education and foster care);


• Strong problem-solving & critical thinking skills, and written and verbal communication skills;


• Experience in communications, social media, and fundraising or related non-profit work preferred


• Experience with evaluation, data collection, and admin systems preferred


• Deep, demonstrated commitment to social justice, youth empowerment, anti-oppression, and holistic comprehensive sexuality education for youth


• Deep, demonstrated commitment to building youth power and working with youth as partners to improve youth serving institutions


• Flexible, organized, resourceful, and able to set priorities and manage a busy workload

To Apply: Please email a cover letter, resume, and four professional references to:

Nadia Gold-Moritz at nadia.gold-(e-mail removed) and Rachel Nichols (e-mail removed) Please write Associate YHEP Fellowin the subject line. See (link removed) for more information. Interviews will be granted on a rolling basis. The position will remain open until filled. The Young Women's Project is committed to affirmative action.