Violence Prevention Instructor
Job Title: Violence Prevention Instructor
Department: Youth, HIV, and Court Support Services
Reports to: Director of Youth, HIV, and Court Support Programs
Weekly Hours: Monday- Friday; 37.5 hours per week; with flexibility to meet programmatic needs; Grant timeline (2 years)
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Starting Rate: $23.00
The YWCA of Western MA is dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. The YW provides a safe place for survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Our programs and services include crisis shelter and transitional housing for survivors and their families, counseling, SAFEPLAN court advocacy, community education, supervised visitation, and vocational training for youth. The YWCA provides services at several sites, including Holyoke, Northampton, Westfield, and our primary Springfield campus.
Summary
The Violence Prevention Instructor will deliver evidence-based violence prevention curricula to youth ages 12-18, who live in the City of Springfield. The Prevention Instructor will leverage existing YWCA partnerships with area colleges and local high schools while forging new partnerships to deliver the evidence-based curriculum, while exploring evidence-based human trafficking prevention curricula. The Prevention Instructor will forge new partnerships through networking and relationship building with public schools, private schools, and charter schools in Springfield. The Violence Prevention Instructor will also seek to partner with agencies that serve high-risk populations, such as the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Youth Services' detention program, and the Center for Human Development. These programs all serve youth that are especially vulnerable to human trafficking. By partnering with these agencies, the Violence Prevention Instructor will be able to engage youth in critical prevention services, equipping them with the skills and knowledge necessary to prevent exploitation in their lives.
The Violence Prevention Instructor will also organize trainings for the YWCA agency and staff in its various programs, including its emergency shelter, supportive housing program, young parent living programs, rape crisis center, community based domestic violence counseling, HIV/IPV patient navigation, hotline, and human trafficking programs. These staff trainings will cover how these programs, especially those that interact with youth, can embed violence prevention into their policies and procedures and their day-to-day interactions with clients.
Expectations of all Employees
In the performance of essential and general job responsibilities, all YWCA employees are expected to:
- Demonstrate commitment to the YWCA’s social justice mission and principles of trauma-informed work.
- Represent the YWCA in a professional and competent manner to participants, community members, organizational partners, and others.
- Perform quality work within program guidelines and deadlines.
- Work effectively as a team contributor and foster a positive working environment.
- Work independently while understanding the need for communication and coordinating work efforts with other employees and organizations.
- Maintain professional boundaries, ethics, and strict confidentiality.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Deliver at least 15 groups per year (each with 10-15 participants), reaching around 150-225 youth at various youth-serving agencies and schools.
- Plan, design, facilitate, and evaluate learning, youth development, and outreach activities.
- Assess youth participants’ healthy relationships knowledge and behaviors at the start and end of the group experience.
- Adopt, adapt, facilitate, and deliver the One Love, violence prevention curriculum that educates young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering them to identify and avoid abuse and to practice healthy love.
- Adopt, adapt, facilitate, and deliver “Bout That Life” a bystander intervention workshop designed for students of color. The program’s objective is to bring an anti-oppression perspective into sexual violence work.
- During workshops, help participants identify key terms: victim/survivor, sexual violence, IPV, stalking, consent, bystander, oppression, privilege, intersectionality, barriers in communities of color for intervention.
- Plan and facilitate a large-scale annual event for youth in the community to interactively engage in violence prevention work, involving the YWCA’s Youth Advisory Board.
- Initiate, strengthen, and sustain collaborative working relationships with public school, community, and grant partners.
- Work with the YWCA's existing Youth Advisory Board, a group of college-age students who engage in peer education, to design, plan and execute the event. The Prevention Instructor will lead the Youth Advisory Board in creating a youth-driven event, such as a leadership summit, where the college-age peer educators can educate younger youth in the community on violence prevention.
- Initiate, strengthen, and sustain collaborative working relationships with public school, community, and grant partners.
- Connect with the Springfield Police Department's Gang Task Force to leverage its expert knowledge in gang activities in Springfield and Hampden County, organizing an annual agency-wide training.
- Recruit youth for regular groups by developing and maintain relationships with youth serving agencies in the community.
- Gather effective data with project evaluators that highlights the project’s success.
- Attend and participate in required external meetings as well as relevant school and community events.
- Participate in regular supervision and project meetings with the Director of Youth, HIV, and Court Support Programs and evaluators, as well as required agency meetings and trainings.
- Perform other duties as necessary.
Qualifications:
- Must be committed to the YWCA agency mission and be able to support its vision actively and responsibly in a positive manner within the agency as well as the community.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education with 2 years of experience in a human service and/or public health; or another related field.
- Experience in collaborating with nonprofit organizations, public schools, and colleges.
- Experience in working with survivors of teen dating violence, IPV, sexual assault, and/or trafficking.
- Experience in working with at risk youth that include gang involvement.
- Understanding of both interpersonal and structural racism and bias.
- Experience in public speaking and/or group facilitation.
- English / Spanish language proficiency preferred.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Access to reliable transportation and valid driver’s license required. Must be able to be covered by the agency's insurance policy.
EEO STATEMENT
It is the policy of YWCA of Western Massachusetts to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy or maternity, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the YWCA will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
DISCLAIMER
The above statements are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position.
AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT
The YWCA is an “at-will” equal opportunity employer. While the YWCA will continue to operate with care regarding employment decisions, the YWCA and its employees may terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, with or without cause, and without advance notice. Exceptions include select; non-exempt positions covered under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS
The YWCA, in our effort to provide safety to those we serve, and to protect our agency, performs criminal offender record information (CORI) checks on all prospective employees. Final offers of employment are contingent upon receipt of an acceptable CORI report as solely determined by the YWCA.
INTRODUCTORY PERIOD
All employment at the YWCA begins with a 120-day introductory period.