Americorp Youth Education Specialist

New Americans Opportunity Project of Maryland

AmeriCorps Position Description

Program Year: 2022-2023

Position Name: “Youth Education Specialist AmeriCorps member”

Number of individual AmeriCorps members serving in this position: The Program aims to recruit 6 (six) full-time AmeriCorps members to serve in Baltimore. Half-time and quarter-time positions may be available, based on the interest of candidates and grantor’s approval. 

Member Immediate Supervisor Name:

The Site Supervisor will provide day-to-day supervision and evaluate the AmeriCorps member’s performance according to the Program policies and procedures.

CASA’s Baltimore Regional Director, Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, is covering for the Baltimore Manager of Education. Lydia can be reached at lwalther@wearecasa.org  

Position Start date: 

The Program launch will be on Tuesday, September 6, 2022. If there are any position available after that day, members may start as agreed with the Program Supervisor. The actual start date for each individual will be identified on the Service Agreement. 

Position End Date: August 11, 2023

Days/ Hours of Service 

Full-time AmeriCorps members’ schedules are flexible but will serve approximately 40 hours per week. 

If based on program needs part-time AmeriCorps members are accepted after consent from the GOSV/CNCS, half-time member’ schedules are flexible but will serve approximately 20 hours per week. 

Regular service time will occur Monday through Friday, 10:30am to 6:30pm. Some evening and weekend service is required.

Individual schedule is agreed by the AC member and the Program Supervisor at the beginning of the program. The schedule may be changed upon agreement, based on program- or member’s need.

Host Sites. Locations:

Members will serve at one of the following locations:

CASA Baltimore: 2706 Pulaski Hwy, Baltimore MD 21224

Members may be asked to run activities at local schools. 

If due to COVID-19 CASA should close its offices, members will be allowed to continue service on virtual mode for the time of the closure. 

CASA’s Mission and goals.

To create a more just society by building power and improving the quality of life in working class and immigrant communities.

Project Mission and Goals:  The Mi Espacio/Escalera program(s) seeks to improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates among Immigrant and ELL students, while supporting middle school students in enrichment programing. The program includes a comprehensive after school curriculum combined with leadership activities, service learning, and summer internship and career exploration activities. The core competencies covered in the program are career exploration, educational attainment, technology, college and educational field trips, personal and leadership development, summer volunteer experiences, and job readiness training. 

Community Need:

The Mi Espacio afterschool program(s) (which also incorporates ESCALERA and Parents as Teachers) is situated in the heart of Langley Park, Baltimore City, and Baltimore County Maryland. Langley Park, located in Prince George’s County just miles from the nation’s capital, is one of the most diverse and disadvantaged communities in the nation. In their 2014 report “From Cradle to Career: The Multiple Challenges Facing Immigrant Families in Langley Park Promise Neighborhood,” The Urban Institute, University of Maryland, and CASA determined that of the 17,000 Langley Park residents, over 70% are foreign-born, principally from Central America. In addition, the median income of Langley Park families with children is less than a third of the median for all Maryland families with children; about 18% of households live in poverty in the neighborhood, three times the rate in Maryland and nearly twice that of the nation. Most Langley Park children (75%) enter school with limited English. These students face particularly acute challenges in PGCPS, and need intensive academic supports as well as wraparound case management services and family supports in order to succeed. Baltimore Region possesses a unique set of opportunities and challenges. Its position as a port city has fostered a great deal of diversity in Baltimore’s economy and population, which includes immigrants from countries across the globe. It is a minority-majority city, with African Americans comprising the largest majority population (more than 60%, including the growing African immigrant population), and Latinos as the next largest majority group in the city. Baltimore has a long history of major civil rights legacies and victories as well as complicated history of racial segregation and tension, and as Baltimore’s Latino community expands to new areas of the city, longtime residents face new challenges and opportunities in welcoming new neighbors. Furthermore, systemic poverty plagues many neighborhoods – with nearly 24% of Baltimoreans living below the poverty level and an unemployment rate of approximately 8% – as does a lack of support systems in the areas of employment, education, transportation and housing. These conditions have helped to inflame historical divisions between racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups.

Over the past four years, the number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) has doubled in every grade from Pre-K to 12, and schools have been scrambling to provide adequate academic support to this growing student population. Part of this growth has included an influx of “newcomer” students – high school aged students

Member Position Summary:

Escalera project members will work primarily with high and middle school aged immigrant youth and their parents in target schools and at CASA’s centers “Mi Espacio” after school program, and standalone college and career exploration after school program sites (Escalera) in Owings Mills High school, and Benjamin Franklin High school.  They will implement the Escalera college prep curriculum during weekly after school classes with a cohort of 15-30 students, and will also participate in home visits and follow up meetings with students and their parents where necessary. Members will also provide workshops to high school and college middle school students who fall outside of the target schools regarding the college application process, financial aid, career exploration, and enrichment lessons. 

Required training prior to Member Placement:

CASA will provide a two-week orientation program at the beginning of the Service Year. Some trainings will include the Escalera curriculum, college access and financial aid workshops, racial equity, classroom management, and program facilitation. as well as best practices on outreach, record keeping, and other relevant issues. The training includes an overview of National Service, the role of CNCS and the Maryland’s GOSV, as well as training on prohibited activities as described by CNCS.

Member Impact:

Members will assist program participants in advancing to high school, graduating from high school, completing an internship, applying to college, choosing a career pathway, and seeking financial aid, where relevant. Members will also help participants to build their leadership skills, develop their self-confidence, problem solving abilities, and engage parents into the students’ academic and higher education experience. 

Members will be evaluated about outcomes such as number of students who participate in the Mi Espacio, ESCALERA or Parents as Teachers program and in college access workshops and outputs such as how many of those participants graduate from high school, apply for financial aid, apply to multiple colleges, and are accepted into college, or successfully complete a summer internship and increase in parent engagement. Members will also be evaluated on their soft multiple-skills required in every job environment, such as public speaking, learning will, teamwork, communication, and professionalism. 

Essential Functions of Position:

•        Recruiting students to participate in the program;

• Facilitating the Escalera curriculum in target schools

•        Conducting individual home visits and goal-setting sessions with families at the beginning of the school year;

•        Delivering educational workshops and activities related to college- and career-readiness, leadership development and civic engagement, and health and financial literacy, as well as other life skills training and academic enrichment;

•        Developing and leading community service activities and field trips for participants;

•        Providing individual mentorship and support to program participants;

•        Develop internship opportunities and connecting program participants to these opportunities;

•        Facilitating multiracial safe-space conversations and other activities intended to improve school climate;

•        Providing referral to other services as appropriate; and

•        Administering pre- and post-tests and tracking all program participation.

Note: The AmeriCorps member will not be allowed to perform duties that violate the AmeriCorps Prohibited Activities or fall outside of the program goals. 

Required Knowledge, Skills, and abilities:

• Experience performing duties in multicultural environments.
• Excellent English writing and language skills (bilingual in Spanish, French, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, or Hindi preferred).
• Highly organized and efficient, “can-do” attitude, flexibility, teamwork, and attention to detail; high degree of initiative.
• Access to personal transportation.
• Fast learner. 
• Some knowledge of popular education preferred.

Required Academic and Experience Qualifications:

• A high school diploma or GED or agree to obtain one during the service year.
• Associates degree or higher preferred. 

Other requirements:

• Ability to perform all of the duties outlined above. 
• U.S. Citizen or U.S. Legal Permanent Resident (recently naturalized citizens are encouraged to apply).
• At least 17 years old.
• Pass a national service criminal history check of the national sex-offender registry, state repository check (Maryland and state of residence), and FBI fingerprint check, before starting national service.
• Express commitment to complete one full year of National Service.
• COVID-19 vaccination: CASA has implemented a mandatory vaccination policy effective July 1, 2021 requiring COVID-19 vaccination(s) for all employees and prospective employees, AmeriCorps members, and paid or non-paid internships. In accordance with CASA's duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards, we are adopting this policy to safeguard the health of our employees, AmeriCorps members and interns, and their families, CASA members and visitors, and the community at large from infectious diseases that may be reduced by vaccinations. In making this decision, the executive leadership team reviewed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and local health officials. All prospective employees will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or appropriate medical/religious accommodation documentation prior to the first day of employment with CASA. AmeriCorps member candidates will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or appropriate medical/religious accommodation documentation at the time of presenting proof of citizenship and SSN eligibility. 

Placement Type:

The position is not a reassignment from a previous Host Site/Agency.

Prohibited Activities: 

Citations: 

• 45CFR § 2520.65 - http://www.americorps.gov/help/ac_sn_all_2012/WebHelp/index.htm 

• 2012 AmeriCorps Provisions IV.D.3 - https://egrants.cns.gov/provisions/ACProvisions2012.pdf 

 While charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or CNCS, staff and members may not engage in the following activities: 

a. Attempting to influence legislation; 

b. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; 

c. Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; 

d. Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; 

e. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; 

f. Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials; 

g. Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization; 

h. Providing a direct benefit to— 

i. A business organized for profit; 

ii. A labor union; 

iii. A partisan political organization; 

iv. A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial amount of lobbying except that nothing in these 9 provisions shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and 

v. An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph 3.g. above, unless CNCS assistance is not used to support those religious activities; 

i. Conducting a voter registration drive or using CNCS funds to conduct a voter registration drive; 

j. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and 

k. Such other activities as CNCS may prohibit. 

AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non- CNCS funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.