Senior Youth Program Specialist

Position description

The vision of the IRC Washington Youth Program is that youth from refugee and immigrant backgrounds will have the skills and resources necessary to pursue a future of opportunity. The Youth and Education Program works towards this vision by providing educational and enrichment opportunities to help school-aged youth from refugee and immigrant backgrounds catch up on missed education, adjust to a new school, accelerate English language development, and build positive relationships in the school and community. This program supports school-age youth and their families, and also provides support to teachers and school administration to better connect and serve these students.

The Sr. Youth Program Specialist is responsible for teaching and implementation of IRC’s Youth and Education Programs in Spokane, WA.

IRC offers several programs for elementary-aged English Language Learners, including an in-person afterschool reading club in the fall and virtual reading programs in the spring and summer. These programs build students’ love of reading while exploring social-emotional learning themes and topics of diversity and belonging. Sessions often include hands-on enrichment such as STEM activities and crafts.

The Family Engagement program works with schools and community partners to host workshops and events for families to learn about resources available at schools and other topics such as digital literacy skills, online safety, activities for kids, and high school graduation as well as accessing free community spaces such as the library and Mobius Discovery Center.

The Individualized Tutoring Program matches K-12 students and families with an IRC screened, trained, and supervised tutor who supports English language acquisition, literacy and fluency, math skills, general homework and social emotional learning. Tutors meet with students once a week after school for 1-2 hours for 3-6 months. Tutoring occurs at home or online. Tutoring is one of IRC’s long-standing programs and IRC is committed to providing high quality tutoring in alignment with Standford University’s National Student Success Accelerator’s standards. The program serves 60-70 multilingual learners annually. Tutoring occurs on weekdays between the hours of 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm.

Major Responsibilities:

Program Coordination & Teaching (Afterschool and Summer Programs)

• Plan and coordinate logistics for in-person and virtual educational programs, including an in-person elementary afterschool reading club (fall) and online elementary reading programs (spring and summer).
• Conduct outreach to parents/guardians to enroll students; collect, track, and maintain required paperwork, rosters, and program data.
• Coordinate program operations, including volunteers, technology set-up, supply distribution, and ongoing family communication.
• Provide direct instruction and support to multilingual learners.
• Prepare lessons using existing IRC curriculum and program materials.

Family Engagement Events & Workshops

• With support from team plan and coordinate family events and workshops on school resources, digital literacy, online safety, youth activities, graduation pathways, and accessing free community spaces.
• Manage event logistics, including paperwork, scheduling interpreters, and organizing staff and volunteers.
• Conduct outreach and recruitment, including tabling at community events.
• Facilitate workshops or secure guest presenters to deliver content.

Individualized Tutoring Program

• Sr. Specialist is expected to support the in-home tutoring program by providing weekly direct instruction to a small number of families.
• Prepare lesson plans and materials tailored to the students’ needs.
• Collect and maintain appropriate student and family records, documents, and case notes, maintaining confidentiality.
• Support volunteer tutors as needed.
• Assist program coordinator with conducting regular supervision of community tutors to ensure quality instruction and safeguarding accountability, this includes regular tutor observations and feedback, and quarterly feedback calls with families and students.

Other Youth Programs

• Provide functional support and direct instruction in other youth programs and events when needed. These include the elementary summer reading program, the Youth Roots Internship, and events such as Mobius field trips.
• Participate in all program meetings, staff development activities, and fully engage as a member of the IRC team.
• Comply with all policies, procedures, and protocols of the agency.
• Maintain accurate and confidential client records.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Youth Program Coordinator

Position directly supervises: Interns, volunteers

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal**:** Youth Program Specialists, Youth Program Team, other IRC Seattle staff

External**:** Teachers at partner school districts, Contacts at partner organizations

Qualifications

• Degree or certification in Education, Teaching, Child/Youth Development or related field, or 2-4 years relevant experience in teaching, tutoring, or youth development programming. TESOL certificate a plus.
• Experience in training and facilitation.
• Detail oriented, reliable, and capable of managing complex tasks and operating autonomously
• English proficiency, both spoken and written. Bonus if the candidate has professional proficiency in predominant language of local client base desired (Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Somali, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Ukrainian etc.)
• Cross-cultural experience; connection and experience working with people from refugee and/or immigrant communities
• Experience working with multi-lingual students and families
• Demonstrated ability to use a variety of instructional strategies appropriate for individual student needs
• Commitment to creating safe and healing learning spaces for newcomer students and utilizing trauma informed practices with students and families
• Flexible and adaptable – able to quickly problem solve and change plans and activities according to student need or unexpected circumstances
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
• Proficiency in MS Office suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams
• Ability to work well with people of diverse cultural backgrounds
• Committed to anti-racism and continual learning and growth
• Ability to work well independently and as part of a team
• Ability to maintain responsibility for multiple tasks in the context of a diverse, fast-paced work environment
• Willing to be First Aid/CPR certified upon hire

Working Environment***:***

• Hybrid: Staff will work at IRC office, in homes of refugee families, and remote
• Schedule: Full time 37.5 hours/ week:

• Must be available at least 3 weekdays between the hours of 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
• Desired schedule:
  • Ideally, Monday – Thursday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.
  • We are open to discussing alternative schedules as long as the candidate is available to work during time outlined in bullet point 1 above.
  • Occasional weekend activities.

• Limited Term. The position ends on Sept 30, 2026 with the hopes of renewed funding to continue through the following year.
• Access to reliable high-speed internet from home office.
• Access to reliable transportation to travel regularly throughout the Spokane Public School district area.
• Must feel comfortable working in homes of refugee families.

Compensation: (Pay Range: $25.00 – $27.00) Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $163 per month, dental starting at $6.50 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

Application instructions

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