Resource Specialist

About PYN:

The Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) is a nationally-recognized intermediary organization dedicated to improving the economic and education outcomes of Philadelphia's youth. PYN organizes its work around four core functions: leveraging, coordinating and managing public and private investment directed at youth education and workforce development in the Philadelphia region; convening and leading cross-sector partnerships and initiatives that enhance opportunities available to Philadelphia youth; designing, managing and replicating effective program models that prepare Philadelphia youth for the future workforce, focusing particularly on youth that live in poverty, have dropped out, or are at risk of dropping out of school and/or are involved with public care systems; and organizing these program models into coordinated service and delivery systems.

PYN is funded by the William Penn Foundation to support the coordination and management of Youth Development Initiative (YDI), including system-wide and organizational capacity-building. For over 8 years, the YDI has provided services to organizations in Chester, PA and Southeastern and Eastern North Philadelphia YDI seeks to create a strong collaborative system in which youth ages 12 to18 in targeted communities become connected to quality programming in their neighborhoods.

About the Southeast Philadelphia Youth Collaborative:

The Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative (SEPC) is an initiative that informs, educates and organizes a broad and diverse network of community partners, policymakers and stakeholders to leverage greater access to resources and opportunities that address the needs of youth in Southeast Philadelphia. SEPC facilitates several taskforces that address quality of life issues impacting youth, supports neighborhood school partnerships and provides performance management support to its youth-serving partners. See SEPC's website for more information: sephillyyouth.com

General Description:

The Resource Specialist (RS) functions as part of the Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative (SEPC) team based at the United Communities Houston Center in South Philadelphia. The RS is a temporary position and will begin in July 2013 and extend through December 2013.The RS is responsible for supporting the work of the External Relationships Director. Under the guidance of the External Relationships Director the RS will research and document resources and challenges related to the youth focused quality of life taskforces facilitated by SEPC. This work will primarily focus on neighborhood safety, behavioral health and substance abuse. Additionally, the RS is responsible for documenting efforts of SEPC taskforces in the Social Solutions Efforts to Outcomes database. The RS work responsibilities span the following areas:

• Community asset assessment through online, phone and in person information gathering.
• Development of online resource guides catering to the needs of neighborhood school partners.
• Information entry into SEPC's GIS system.
• Data Entry into Social Solutions Efforts to Outcomes tracking system
• Supporting SEPC administrative needs i.e., meeting planning and logistics.

Education, Experience & Skills Required:

• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to gather data, to summarize information, and prepare reports.
• Ability to troubleshoot and evaluate issues.
• Ability to understand and follow specific instructions and procedures.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects in a high paced environment which includes being highly self-motivated and disciplined; able to take ownership and drive projects through to completion.
• Experience with youth development organizations and/or community based organizations.
• Experience working directly with youth between the ages of 12 and 18.
• Must be flexible and relationship oriented.
• Must have verifiable knowledge of Microsoft Office and Excel, or comparable software applications.
• Successful completion of a criminal and child abuse clearance.