Senior Specialist, Youth Programs

The Senior Specialist, Youth Programs will work with the Virtual Ready to Read (VR2R) program and the Individualized Tutoring Program. The VR2R program promotes enjoyment of reading, literacy skills, language acquisition, social and emotional asset development, and positive cultural identity for students in grades 3–8. The Individualized Tutoring Program matches K-12 students and families with an IRC-screened, trained, and supervised tutor who supports English language acquisition, literacy and fluency, math skills, general homework, and social-emotional learning.

Major Responsibilities:

Virtual Reading Program

• Schedule: 6–10 hours per week, including Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm (a 4:15 pm start can be accommodated if needed). The program runs from January to May.
• Teach and manage the online classes in the Virtual Reading Program, which is the primary responsibility of this position.
• Prepare lesson plans and materials tailored to students’ needs.
• Send reminder texts and make reminder calls to families to keep attendance high.
• Provide support to students who are having issues with their devices.
• Support the Youth and Education team in collecting and maintaining student and family records, documents, and case notes, while maintaining confidentiality.
• Conduct outreach phone calls to invite families to participate in programs.
• Conduct enrollment sessions with new families to ensure they understand the program and to collect all necessary documentation.
• Provide ongoing support to volunteers, including problem-solving, answering questions, coaching, and sharing teaching and learning resources and best practices.

In-home Tutoring Program

• Provide direct, in-person instruction to students in their homes through the Individualized Tutoring Program.
• Prepare lesson plans and slides tailored to students’ needs using the Virtual Ready to Read curriculum.
• Provide ongoing support to volunteer tutors, including problem-solving, answering questions, coaching, and sharing teaching and learning resources and best practices.
• Assist the program coordinator with regular supervision of community tutors to ensure quality instruction, safeguarding, and accountability, including support with tutor observations and feedback and quarterly feedback calls with families and students.

Other Youth Programs and Duties

• Provide in-person support to other youth programs and events, including Summer Camp, the Youth Roots teen summer program, and field trips.
• Assist the Tutoring and Elementary Education Program Coordinator, as needed, with collecting and maintaining student and family records, documents, and case notes while maintaining confidentiality.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Youth Program Coordinator
• Position directly supervises: Interns, volunteers
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: Youth Program Specialists, Youth Program Team, other IRC Seattle staff, Teachers at partner school districts, Contacts at partner organizations

Job Requirements:

• Relevant degree in Education, Teaching, Child/Youth Development or related field, or 2-4 years relevant experience in teaching, tutoring, or youth development programming. TESOL certificate a plus.
• Cross-cultural experience; connection and experience working with people from refugee and/or immigrant communities
• Experience working with multi-lingual students and families
• Committed to anti-racism and continual learning and growth
• Demonstrated ability to use a variety of instructional strategies appropriate for individual student needs
• Commitment to creating safe and healing learning spaces for newcomer students and utilizing trauma informed practices with students and families
• Flexible and adaptable – able to quickly problem solve and change plans and activities according to student need or unexpected circumstances
• English proficiency, both spoken and written. Bonus if the candidate has professional proficiency in predominant language of local client base desired (Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Somali, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Ukrainian etc.)
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
• Proficiency in MS Office suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams
• Ability to work well with people of diverse cultural backgrounds
• Ability to work well independently and as part of a team
• Ability to maintain responsibility for multiple tasks in the context of a diverse, fast-paced work environment
• Willing to be First Aid/CPR certified upon hire

Working Environment:

• Hybrid: Staff will work at the IRC office, in the homes of refugee families, and remotely. The Virtual Reading Program can be taught remotely from home as long as there is a reliable Wi-Fi connection. Staff are expected to travel to students’ homes for in-person tutoring.
• Schedule: Part-time: 20 hours / week: Must be available on Tuesday and Thursday between 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm PST (If schedule does not allow, 4:15 pm start could be accommodated) AND Must be available 2 other weekdays between the hours of 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm OR on weekends
• Limited Term. The position ends on August 31, 2027.
• Access to reliable high-speed internet from home office.
• Access to reliable transportation to travel regularly throughout the Spokane Public School district area.

Compensation: ($25.50- $27.50 / hour).

Benefits: IRC offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package. Highlights include 10 paid sick leave, 10 U.S. holidays, 20-25 generous paid time off based on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $163/month, dental starting at $6.50/month, and vision starting at $5/month, flexible spending accounts (healthcare, dependent care, and commuter), a 403(b) retirement savings plan with employer match (immediate vesting) along with a non-elective employer contribution based on age and years of service (3-year vesting), disability and life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering confidential counseling and support services for employees and their families.