Outreach and Engagement Specialist

HOURS: Full-Time (40 hours/week)

REPORTS TO: Senior Director of Career and Education Pathways

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: No

LOCATION: Brooklyn and Queens, with presence in ACS facilities (Crossroads, NSD, LSP), YJN Program Hubs, and community-based sites

Position Overview

The Outreach and Engagement Coordinator is a frontline position designed to ensure that justice involved

youth are authentically engaged in Youth Justice Network’s (YJN) ACS-funded Career and Education

Pathways initiative. Serving as a trusted credible messenger, the Coordinator leverages lived experience,

community connections, and restorative approaches to build authentic relationships with young people.

This role is critical to reducing barriers to participation and ensuring that youth not only enroll in

programming but sustain their involvement over time. Outreach and Engagement Coordinators are often

long-time or former YJN Youth Leaders, or individuals with lived experience in child welfare or juvenile

justice custody, who bring deep understanding of the challenges faced by participants. Their credibility

and mentorship serve as powerful tools for motivating young people to pursue academic, career, and

personal growth.

Key Responsibilities

Youth Outreach and Relationship Building

• Serve as a credible messenger, developing authentic and trusting relationships with justice impacted youth.
• Conduct outreach in ACS secure and non-secure facilities and in community settings to engage and recruit young people into tutoring, workforce, and mentoring programs.
• Support individualized engagement strategies that respond to each young person’s circumstances, strengths, and goals.
• Co-develop Career Readiness Portfolios with Coaches to ensure youth progress is documented and portable across settings.

Program Engagement and Support

• Encourage and support youth participation in tutoring, career readiness training, workforce development, and enrichment activities.
• Facilitate group discussions and workshops that promote healing, accountability, and leadership.
• Collaborate with Coaches, Tutors, and ACS/DOE staff to address barriers to participation, including housing, school re-enrollment, and mental health needs.
• Provide ongoing mentorship and encouragement, sustaining relationships beyond release from ACS custody.

Collaboration and Case Coordination

• Actively partner with Coaches, Tutors, and case managers to ensure that youth receive wraparound support services.
• Represent YJN in facility-based meetings, community engagement activities, and collaborative sessions with ACS and DOE partners.
• Provide feedback from youth to inform program improvement and elevate youth voice in organizational decision-making.

Tracking and Accountability

• Document outreach, engagement, and youth progress in YJN’s Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) database in alignment with ACS reporting standards.
• Track participation levels, barriers identified, and successful strategies used to sustain engagement.
• Support quality assurance efforts by providing on -the-ground insights into youth
• engagement and program accessibility.

Qualifications

• Required: Long-time or former YJN Youth Leader and/or lived experience in child welfare or juvenile justice custody.
• 2–4 years of experience in youth development, mentoring, community engagement, or outreach (professional or volunteer).
• Knowledge of ACS systems, NYC youth justice landscape, and community -based resources strongly preferred.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to navigate in-custody and community-based environments with empathy, flexibility, and respect.
• Commitment to equity, restorative justice, trauma-informed care, and ACS’s LGBTQAI+ best practices.
• Reliable and adaptable, with a deep belief in the capacity of young people to thrive and lead.

Youth Justice Network is privileged to have a profoundly committed and caring staff – one which believes unconditionally in our members’ ability to do right and do well. We take our work very seriously, but we strive to make time for self -care and joy. We look for staff from all walks of life who have integrity, humor, a strong work ethic, are passionate about our mission and work, and who are committed to address the harms caused by mass incarceration. Depending on full or part-time status, benefits include a competitive vacation/sick leave policy including three days off between Christmas and New Year's Day, four -day summer weeks through July and August, generous health insurance, 403b match.

Salary Range: $50,000-55,000k

Target start date: September 1, 2026

For purposes of internal equity, we are unable to go outside of the salary posted.