Outreach Officer

Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA) is a refugee empowerment center based in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago. FORA provides almost 50,000 hours each year of individually customized High Impact Tutoring (HIT) to refugee SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) children. Our vision is a world where refugees in need are welcomed and empowered, and our mission is to ensure that refugee families are provided access to an education sufficient to prepare them to become economically self-sufficient and robustly engaged in American civic life.

The Outreach Officer will have the following responsibilities:

Volunteer Recruitment:

• Supports the Director of Outreach in the recruitment for volunteers, in line with FORA’s values, our anti-discrimination/pro-inclusion commitment of Equal Employment Opportunities and federal and state and local civil rights and employment legislation.
• Greets any prospective volunteers who come to FORA, provide information regarding tutoring requirements, FORA’s programming and ethos, and any other pertinent information.
• Supports the Outreach department in conducting prospective volunteer interviews.
• Work with the Director of Outreach to cultivate and maintain partnerships with corporations, civic organizations, faith communities, high schools and other groups in order to recruit volunteers and raise awareness.
• Manages ad creation and placement for recruiting volunteers in both physical and digital spaces. These include but are not limited to: university mailouts, faith-based organization newsletters, job forums, social media, and flyering.
• Supports the Director of Outreach in uploading and filing all required documents for staff, work study, and volunteer onboarding.
• External recruitment initiatives to local neighborhoods and suburbs cultivate long standing community relationships to build up FORA’s long term volunteer capacity.

Volunteer Relations:

• Engages with tutors regularly to solicit program feedback, build relationships, inspire investment in FORA with the aim of improving tutor retention.
• Coordinates and hosts volunteer events in order to foster community with the aim of improving tutor retention.
• Works with the HIT department and the Director of Outreach to support tutors in acclimation to FORA and implement systems to increase tutor retention and tutor longevity.
• Greets all tutors daily and ensure that they are signed in. Contact tutors who are continuously missing to maintain their attendance.

Tutor-Donor Stewardship:

• Cultivates relationships with tutors and their families as potential donors.
• Works with the Communications Director, Chief Financial Officer, and/or Managing Director to implement the plans and strategies for communication with tutors and their families who are potential and current donors.
• Establishes and maintains information-tracking processes regarding acknowledgment, recognition, ongoing communications, and continued cultivation for past and current tutor families as potential and current donors.
• Sends regular invitations to tutor families and prospects for tours, meetings, presentations, and events.
• Monitors key tutors and ensures they receive regular feedback, their families receive regular updates, and their experiences with FORA are the best possible. Work to ensure long-standing tutors and interns in the key category.
• Creates and hosts opportunities for potential volunteers and donors to observe and learn about FORA’s impact.

Other Job Duties:

• Assists in donor relations/fundraising as deemed necessary by the Managing Director or Chief Financial Officer. Such as but not limited to attending donor functions which may occur outside of normal working hours.
• Assists Chief Financial Officer and/or Director of Outreach with special projects and programming as deemed necessary.
• Participates and attends staff meetings, professional development meetings, and technical knowledge based learning meetings.

Key Competency Skills:

• Outstanding oral and written presentation skills.
• Possesses strong interpersonal skills, such as persuasion and motivation, to build strong donor relationships.
• Highly organized. Proficient at managing large systems with regular data turnover, promptly responding to a high volume of correspondence, etc.
• Exhibits excellent verbal communication skills for initiating conversations, actively listening to a person’s message, responding appropriately, and using tone of voice to convey respect.

The Outreach Officer must endorse, embrace, and enact FORA’s vision, mission, and values (as described at www.refugeefora.org). Employees are expected to support all other FORA departments as requested by staff supervisors in order to ensure the smooth operation of FORA programming and special events. This job is a management job and additional hours will be expected outside of and in addition to normal working hours as deemed necessary, and no overtime will be paid for those hours.

The position is for eight hours per day, five days per week. During the school year, the hours generally are from 1:00 pm to to 9:00 pm. During the summer, the hours are generally from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The location is in the West Ridge area of Chicago.