Bilingual Family Engagement Specialist

About the Platform of Hope

The Platform of Hope is a pilot program that began in September 2018 to combat the displacement of low-income families of color from Adams Morgan/ Ward 1 by supporting families in accessing resources and connecting to their community. Our program works to change the paradigm of traditional social services delivery to center the voices of families in making holistic decisions about their life, as well as uphold social capital between families as a key factor for long term success. POH’s model looks at the integration of housing, education, employment, family stability, physical health, mental health, etc. to partner with families to identify their goals and then self-direct plans to accomplish those goals. POH was formed and continues to have active participation from our founding partners, four anchor institutions in Ward 1: Jubilee Housing, Jubilee JumpStart, Mary’s Center/ Briya Public Charter School and Sitar Arts Center. We work with founding partners collaboratively to assist families in pursuing goals (particularly through referrals), as well as develop additional programming based on families’ needs. We intentionally facilitate the building of strong social networks among participating families to highlight families’ innate resourcefulness and knowledge. POH believes in systems change that centers the lived experience of families and we hope to further our advocacy work as the program continues.

The Platform of Hope is seeking applicants for the position of full-time Family Engagement Specialist  . The is an important part of our team and is responsible for driving the Platform of Hope’s work forward including aspects of our operations, supporting family care, communications, coaching, and administrative responsibilities.  All staff are expected to support team initiatives such as our  annual fundraiser (s), Family Saturdays, orientation, graduation, and onboarding as well as evening programming . As this role will support a population of Spanish and English speaking families, all candidates need to be bilingual.

Responsibilities:

1. Program Responsibilities:45%

  • Establishing supportive, professional relationships with all participant families;

  • Recruit  families in concordance with strategic plan and maintain waitlist of families for program capacity

  • Conduct family intake/onboarding in person for interested applicants being admitted into the program 

  • Facilitate,coordinate and/or host planning for community events, workshops/initiatives   including interpretation of Spanish speakers, as needed in collaboration with ED and team

  • May provide one-on-one monthly coaching to portfolio of families or provide interpretation as needed

  • Ensure appropriate documentation and coordination of one-on-one monthly meetings

  • Document program elements such as curricula, individual stories and group outcomes

  • Identifies , and connects families to potential resources for a variety of needs

  • Support in identifying/ cultivating families for leadership opportunities on Advisory Board and Planning Committee, and program initiatives as well as support coordination of their participation, as needed

  • Support facilitation of annual program benchmarks (orientation, graduation, etc)

  • Support family planning committee meetings and family Saturday coordination with Program Administrator and team

Communications/Operations: 20%

  • Designs and coordinates weekly family messages/emails/newsletter

  • Oversee and create all family-centered bilingual communications as well as disseminating communications for participants and partner organizations  

  • Supporting with fundraising (campaigns etc), Advisory Board and institutional marketing efforts, including assisting with translation, as needed;

  • Attend staff and program manager meetings and assist with note-taking, documentation and organization;

  • Documents program benchmarks and tracks for families 

  • Conducts participant calls as needed for recruitment, family support, data collection, RSVP’s etc

  • Other duties as assigned


2.  External: Lead the development of new partnerships for, family recruitment, referrals and additional services ; represent POH in advocacy work centered on families (15% of time)

  • Identify and  partner with organizations,community organizing groups/campaigns that participate in systems change work 

  • Seek and recruit family participants from other partners 

  • Participate in forums and coalitions to help raise POH profile and find opportunities to share family voices

  • Other duties as assigned

3. Data Collection, Analysis, and Reporting: (15%)

  • Analyze and present on quarterly family surveys

  • Evaluate family engagement in events and facilitate feedback sharing with team

  • Assist team in tracking internal collection of benchmarks for the program (attendance at events, attendance for one-on-one meetings, referrals to outside partners, etc);

  • Document program elements such as curricula, individual stories and group outcomes

  • Work with POH team to administer assessments to families and track program outputs

  • Other duties as assigned

Candidate Qualifications

The Platform of Hope is seeking a team member with the following required characteristics:

  • Effective communication skills in both English and Spanish.  Amharic a plus

  • Bachelor’s degree in  Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, Education, or related field with an emphasis on supporting and addressing needs of families and community a plus

  • Experience in a start-up environment; comfortable with ambiguity and flexibility as needed for program changes

  • Experience within the nonprofit sector and working with families of color-- particularly Black and brown communities, including first generation immigrants

  • A “family first” approach to providing services that centers communities in decision making and values families’ innate knowledge and abilities, upholding families’ dignity and self-determination as core pillars

  • An emphasis on trust and authentic relationship-building with families, with compassionate and non-judgmental approach

  • Experience developing and facilitating training opportunities for adult learners.

  • Experience in systems change, community organizing, communications or development in a nonprofit, government, or business setting.

  • Experience working with community based or family supporting organizations.

  • Experience developing and maintaining relationships with volunteer and community partners.

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to make effective public presentations.

  • Excellent organization skills and follow-through

  • Ability to analyze data and systems that can affect parents.

  • Interpersonal skills that emphasize team building.

  • Ability to organize networks of support for programs or initiatives.

  • Openness and approachability, with ability to connect to people of diverse backgrounds

  • Experience and comfort collecting, analyzing and presenting data for social impact work

 

An ideal candidate will be:

  • Comfortable with creating digital media

  • Interested in social impact analytics and data visualization

  • Interested in being a part of a small team and in developing new shared processes

  • Interested in collaboration , coalition building and innovation with other organizations

  • Committed to base building among communities to decide on goals and advocate together with the vision of larger systems change

  • Someone who already has a network in place or is aware of the existing networks for social services in DC and has lived or professional experience in accessing social services


Reporting Relationship and Schedule 

The Family Engagement Specialist will report to the Platform of Hope Executive Director but work closely with all staff.


Please note that some evening and weekend work is required as part of this position in order to best accommodate families’ schedules. Platform of Hope uses a hybrid schedule with staff working 1 day in office per week with the option to work remotely the rest of the week unless in person work is needed.Please note that, as per the policy of our fiscal sponsor Social Good Fund, this person must be fully vaccinated from COVID-19.


Position Status, Salary, and Benefits

This is a full-time, salaried position. Benefits include health, vision, and dental insurance; short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurances; paid vacation, sick leave and holidays. 


Starting Salary:   $50-55,000   commensurate with experience


To apply:

Interested candidates should send their resume and a cover letter to info@platformofhopedc.org Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Ideally, this person would begin on March 31, 2025 though we can be flexible. 


Statement on Non-Discrimination

The Platform of Hope strives to be an anti-racist organization and uphold our founding goals to confront systems of inequity, accessibility and inclusion. All interested and qualified applicants should feel welcome to apply regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, or other status protected by applicable law. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.