Goodwill NNE AmeriCorps - My Place Teen Center - Youth Public Health - Westbrook & Biddeford, Maine
Public Health AmeriCorps program places members with community organizations in Maine to address CDC determined public health needs for the most underserved populations. Maine communities are home to pockets of refugees and immigrants, in cities and towns like Lewiston, Portland, and Cherryfield, ME. New American youth face significant barriers to success—often influenced by trauma and chaos in their past, learning a new language, and adapting to a new culture—and frequently enter the education system significantly behind their peers. Public Health Youth Development members strive to narrow this gap by increasing social and emotional skills and academic engagement among students, grades 4-12, who have been impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including immigrant and refugee youth (grades 4–12). Members support a portfolio of youth through mentoring, school skills support, social and emotional wellness, and community engagement, while building organizational capacity. My Place Teen Center operates in a renovated church on Main Street in Westbrook, a temporary location secured in Saco, and a soon-to-be new one in a former church in Biddeford, is where we nurture, inspire, and safeguard at-risk teens, many of whom have nowhere else to go. With steely resolve, and a passion for grit and accountability, we keep kids safe, fed, loved, and shown a different path. We are a year-round, free, out of school time program for all youth, from any locale, ages 10-18. We focus on building strong, trusting relationships with our teens. Join us in a creative environment as we change lives.
Member Duties : Members will focus on giving teens the resources and life skills needed to have a successful adult life. As role models, members assist with recruiting youth for activities; mentor youth on-site; help teens use MPTC store/debit & credit checkbooks; and provide homework help. Less "overseeing" and more "involvement" is preferred! Members will also lead programming, including Restaurant Job Training Program (RJTP), Making Proud Choices, Adulting 101, Getting Urban Kids Outside (GUKO), and our Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) which encompasses Social Emotional learning, Health and Wellness, Workforce Readiness, Civic Engagement, and STEAM. Members will be key in coordinating our free field trips to our kids! Join us at My Place Teen Center – a place that welcomes, and embraces, each unique teen in order to help them feel like this is home, because for some, this is where they get their only meal of the day, homework help, and support they need to face the daily challenges of their lives.
Program Benefits: Training, Health Coverage, Education award upon successful completion of service, Living Allowance, Childcare assistance if eligible.
Terms:
Permits working at another job during off hours, Car recommended, Permits attendance at school during off hours.
Service Areas:
Education, Children/Youth, Community Outreach, Public Health AmeriCorps.