Job Description

The Peace Advocate has the primary responsibility to work with the street outreach team to foster a community that addresses potentially violence situations with nonviolent solutions by extensive networking and collaborating within the community and reaching out to identified and at-risk gang members and working directly with them to mediate potentially violent situations. He/she will model and teach nonviolence in the street while also seeking to link gang involved and at-risk youth to services and resources in the community; and will work to reduce attachment of project youth to gangs and gang activities, and assisting in community mobilization in the target area. The Peace Advocate will be a member of and participate in all intervention Team meetings and violence prevention initiatives within the city. He/she will reflect and display the values of Character Development which are caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.

JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Identify appropriate youth to participate in the project based on target characteristics
• Work extensively in the communicate to develop networks and collaborative efforts to both identify at-risk youth and offer services, especially with schools, police, grant providers, and other providers
• Organize the street outreach efforts with the overall efforts of the Gun Violence Prevention initiative in the city
• Mediate potential street violence and gang violence situations
• Recruit and retain project youth by providing access to job skills training, information, resources, pro-social role modeling, and encouragement
• Serve as an advocate for project youth in securing social services, education, and job-related opportunities; provide information about services; and assess needs.

• Assess the needs of family members as related to the target youths’ gang involvement, identify gang-affected siblings of target participants, and make referrals to appropriate services
• Provide information on available services for participants’ family members
• Provide appropriate referral and follow-up to ensure that target youth are aware and able to access services
• Plan and attend social and recreational activities for the target youth
• Maintain records of contacts with youth, enter data in real time and write reports on status of clients
• Identify community resources to assist in implementation of the project
• Work with victims of gang related crime within the community
• Attend all internal/external meetings and trainings as required by supervisor
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED required
• Valid driver’s license and car insurance by date of hire is preferred
• Familiarity with the community
• Familiarity with the ethnic culture of the target population
• Knowledge of local agencies’ programs and services (school, social services, law enforcement, courts/corrections), local units of government, and grassroots organizations
• Possess strong communication and interpersonal skills and work effectively with agency staff and service providers and with gang members and their family members
• Work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends
• Clearly communicate ideas in both written and verbal form
• Understand and relate to the needs of project participants of diverse ethnic, cultural, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Work effectively with high-risk, gang-involved populations
• Operate a computer to enter data, maintain records, and generate reports
• Network effectively with various types of organizations, including government agencies, law enforcement agencies, schools, social service agencies, courts/probation/corrections, and grassroots organizations
• Work effectively with community residents, diverse population groups, and youth
• Prioritize tasks and work independently in the absence of supervision