Family Stability Coach

Family Stability Coach
 
Organization Overview:
Community Services League (CSL), founded in 1916, is one of the Kansas City region’s largest social service providers. Through its mission and vision of collaborating on strategies that foster community stability and individual wellbeing, CSL maintains and delivers a variety of innovative anti-poverty programs that help move our community forward. CSL’s programming offers a full suite of case management, supportive coaching, and direct wrap-around services to assist our neighbors in creating stability in their lives and households. We assist individuals and families throughout the metro area, and, largely, our programming is in the areas of basic needs, family stability, workforce development, financial coaching, housing services, and community development.
 
Position Overview
Our communities are full of families at varying degrees of stability. Stability (like poverty) is not a one issue situation. Usually, it is multi-issue (including housing, trauma, employment, transportation, and health). The issues influencing adult and family stability affect the children/students in a myriad of ways – including behaviors, attendance, and emotional wellness.  A community and wrap-around approach is needed to truly help families.
 
The Family Stability Coach is responsible for assisting families with school-age children who are at risk of housing disruption, to remain stably housed and the children stably enrolled in their neighborhood school. The Coach will also work with the Independence School District’s Family School Liaisons, Fort Osage School District and Blue Springs School District Social Workers, and other community partners to strengthen community and family engagement for family stability. The Coach will work with neighbors to identify strengths and barriers, outline action steps and milestones, provide layered services along the way to help neighbors learn and practice new skills … all the while allowing the neighbor to remain in charge of their own progress.  The Coach will also partner with the CSL team to ensure a wrap-around, integrated approach to family stability and financial upward mobility.
 
The Family Stability Coach will report to CSL’s Vice President of Family Stability.  Families on your caseload will reside in Eastern Jackson County – largely ranging from all over Independence, to Buckner, Oak Grove, and Blue Springs.
 
The coach will be expected to understand cultural competencies as it relates to people, poverty, varying backgrounds and experiences.
 
*This position has multiple CSL locations, available for hire.
 
 
 
 
Responsibilities
In the Family Stability Coach role, you will provide the following services and oversight, plus any other duties as assigned by your supervisor. Main areas of responsibility include Client Assistance, Administration, and Community Outreach.
 
Client Coaching:

• Using a strengths’ based and trauma-informed coaching model, the Family Stability Coach will partner with neighbors (clients) in identifying short and long-term goals. Most coaching occurs 1-on-1, with the occasional group coaching model.
• Work with neighbors with unstable housing factors and/or at risk of losing their housing to stabilize their household situation.
• Use and assess a variety of mental wellness tools, including resiliency and self-care with families.
• Meet people where they are and understanding that stability may be a long-term, multi-tiered process and not a one-time event. An ongoing relationship with neighbors is an expectation.
• Be prepared to share all that CSL offers, explaining the coaching and integrated models we operate from to others.
• Be able to identify eligible candidates for the Family Stability Program and be able to establish good and quick rapport with referrals.
• Attend required meetings with CSL staff and relevant industry meetings.
• Attend required FSP (Family Stability Program) staff meetings each month.
• Attend relevant integrated service and site-specific team meetings.

• Maintain organized files, multiple databases and timely data input in compliance with grants and required guidelines.

• Organize your calendar and manage contacting your own referrals and caseloads in a timely manner so that enrollments occur and so that monthly appointments are held with each enrolled family on your caseload.

• Have a total of at least 25-30 families in a calendar year on your caseload.

• Develop and maintain client files with all documents, verifying program requirements have been met.
• Develop, create and provide accurate reports in a timely manner, as needed, to evaluate and/or support proposed projects or programs.
• Communicate with Financial Coaches, and when necessary, the Career Development, WorkForce Development, Housing, or Vocational Rehabilitation departments, when your family needs or requests multiple services.
• Work with neighbors to create goals, action plans and celebrations. Using a strengths-based, trauma-informed coaching model, neighbors take the lead in these conversations.
• Assist the team in a front coverage rotation at an assigned-site location.

• Liaison with school staff and community partners to identify families with school-age children who are at risk of housing disruption.
• Coordinate continuity of services with partner agencies and coordinate services in the community in a culturally competent manner. The coach may also need to seek out new community partners and resources, and maintain current community or school partnerships already established.
• Build and maintain strong community partnerships with organizations that will work with vulnerable populations.
• Outreach at/and Help with special events (trainings, outreach, and individualized efforts) geared toward our community building approach for family stability. 
• School partnerships. There may also be times where you will be asked to represent CSL at various school locations and/or on School committees.

• Familiarity with Independence and surrounding communities and their resources.
• Must have experience and the capacity to work with neighbors in a wide variety of life circumstances, from a variety of backgrounds, and with a resiliency-minded lens.
• Working knowledge and understanding of trauma informed, mental wellness principles and practices.
• Willingness to learn.

• Job Knowledge - Competent in required job skills and knowledge; exhibits ability to learn and apply new skills; keeps abreast of current developments; requires minimal supervision; displays understanding of how job relates to others; uses resources effectively.
• Use of Technology - Demonstrates required skills; adapts to new technologies; troubleshoots technological problems; uses technology to increase productivity; keeps technical skills up to date.
• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.
• Communications - Expresses ideas and thoughts verbally; expresses ideas and thoughts in written form; exhibits good listening and comprehension; keeps others adequately informed; selects and uses appropriate communication methods.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality.

• Teamwork  - A team player with a high energy level, strong interpersonal and multi-tasking skills, enthusiasm, initiative and flexibility who will represent Community Services League in a professional and ethical manner at all times.