Family Advocate presso Urban Strategies

What You’ll Be Doing 

• Engage in comprehensive, integrated planning with the management team:
  • to create ERSEA goals/outcomes and a system of services that support the eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment, and attendance of infants, toddlers and that is responsive to the results of the community assessment.
  • to create family and community engagement goals/outcomes and a system of services that aligns with the Head Start Parent Family Community Engagement Framework.
  • to create a system of services that limits child suspension from the program and prohibits child expulsions from the program.
  • to ensure the implementation of ERSEA and Family/Community Engagement throughout the program.
  • to support ERSEA/Family Engagement Manager develop policies and procedures for the ERSEA and Family/Community Engagement system      of services.
• Assist in the assessment of community, program, child and family needs, strengths, and resources in quality-of-life issues; compile and analyze data; produce reports; assure the integration of dual language learners, homeless children, children in foster care, and children with disabilities.
• Under the direction of the ERSEA/Family Engagement Manager, assist in tracking, reporting, each child’s attendance and follows through with individual intervention in situations of chronic absenteeism.
• Assist with the development of the Community Assessment. Assist with the annual program self-assessment and federal onsite review process, focused on compliance with ERSEA and progress on family/community engagement; report on strengths, recommendations, required improvements; implement improvements and recommendations; incorporate into the program planning process.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:  

ERSEA: 

• Implement the system to track the eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment, and attendance of children to comply with federal and state program regulations.
• Assist in creating the criteria for the selection and enrollment of children assuring responsiveness to community assessment and reflecting data on dual language learners, homeless children, children in foster care, and children with disabilities.
• Perform intake/registration procedures for all families and ensures income verification and eligibility qualifications of children and families are met, and ensure applications are complete and data is accurately entered in the Child Plus database.

• Assure and maintain record keeping and reporting policies for waitlists, enrollment, attendance, timelines, schedules, and procedures in accordance with following designated state and federal program requirements.
• Conduct ongoing monitoring, tracking, follow-up, and analysis of enrollment and attendance data, and produce regular reports for management meetings.
• Assist in addressing any possible child suspensions and in the prohibition of expulsion and collaboration with Mental Health Services.
• Maintain enrollment forms, ensuring information is current, correct, and disseminated to all necessary staff to meet program requirements.
• Perform recruitment activities in response to enrollment data and waitlist data.
• Ensure full program enrollment and maintenance of a sufficient waitlist.
• Compile and submit Program Information Report (PIR) data periodically.

Family Service/Community Partnerships 

• Implement the system for Family and Community Engagement Services.
• Implement a system of services, record keeping, and reporting of the Family Partnership Agreement and assure its alignment to the Parent Family Community Engagement Framework.
• Assist in being the program resource for consultation, information, and referral regarding community resources to staff and client families 
• Completes family service home visits and Needs Assessments

Health and Disabilities 

• Support families obtain their infant/toddler’s health requirements, such as vaccines, annual health checkups, dental/oral health exams, etc. 
• Follow up with parents and doctors on infants’ and toddlers’ health requirements, and ongoing health care, including access to a medical and dental home. 
• Responsible for tracking and documenting health events in the program’s data management system.
• Conducts Health home visits, screenings, and assessments with families and pregnant women. 
• Monitor children’s health reports and work collaboratively with the Health Services Team.
• Support the referral process for children with possible special needs and works collaboratively with the Education/Disabilities Team, teachers, and parents.

• Attending all Professional Development training required by the program. 
• Completes other related activities and duties as assigned.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 

• Ability to see at normal distance, hear normal conversations and sounds and use hands and fingers to fill out required forms. Ability to lift infants and toddlers weighing up to forty (40) pounds, twenty (20) pounds overhead and forty (40) pounds from waist to shoulder; occasional lifting of fifty (50) pounds is required and must be able to push/pull up to fifty pounds horizontally. 
• Ability to sit on the floor, bend at the waist, kneel and/or stoop 75% of the time.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions as long as the staff disability does not create an undue risk of injury to any enrolled children in the classroom. 

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