Careers

Friends of the Children is a nonprofit that is breaking the cycle of generational poverty by giving children facing the highest barriers the ability to create a new story. We do this by providing the most vulnerable children with a long-term, salaried, professional mentor, who we call a “Friend,” from kindergarten through high school graduation, 12 ½ years – no matter what. We are currently seeking an extraordinary professional to embark on a new career journey as a Friend at our Central Oregon Chapter.

Basic Function:

A Friend works intensively with eight (8) children as a positive adult role model to develop a caring, trusting and sustained relationship with each child. For each child, a Friend will set positive expectations; nurture and promote their strengths, talents and abilities; help assure physical and emotional well-being; teach life and academic skills; provide enrichment activities; and model responsible behavior. A Friend will fully document activities and participate in an ongoing evaluation process. Friends will work primarily one-on-one with their children. A Friend must also know, understand, honor and support the organization’s mission, vision, values, principles and policies, and be able to clearly articulate the organization’s function.

Core Job Accountabilities

• Develop and sustain a long term, caring, trusting and accepting relationship with each child;
• Spend time with children, one-on-one and in the classroom;
• Develop, maintain and follow a Roadmap or Transition Plan for each child;
• Set realistic expectations and goals based on each child’s strengths, talents, abilities and needs;
• Teach life skills and healthy habits to contribute both to basic development and learning, and to contribute to building positive self-esteem;
• Develop a talent/skill/area of interest with each child to help develop positive self-esteem and experience growing confidence;
• Provide enrichment resources and activities which include opportunities for cultural awareness, diversity and community service;
• Contribute to children acquiring behavioral management skills, tolerance, respect for others, courtesies and compassion;
• Develop positive relationships with families, teachers and others involved in each child’s life;
• Reinforce basic academic skills and learning;
• Model and promote good problem solving and decision making skills;
• Participate in the programming and resources available through the organization, effectively utilizing program resources to meet the needs of each child;
• Maintain spending within budgetary guidelines;
• Complete, distribute and collect time summaries, activity journals, short term plans, expense reports and evaluation materials accurately and in a timely manner;
• Attend and actively participate in team meetings and staff functions;
• Provide information and support to development team and related activities as needed;
• Fulfill other responsibilities as required.

Essential skills and abilities:

• Bilingual in Spanish preferred
• Ability to relate to children and to develop and sustain trusting, supportive relationships with them;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work with children in varied capacities and settings to help them learn and grow;
• Ability to cultivate trusting relationships with children, parents, teachers and community members;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and communicate appropriately within the workplace;
• Ability to use creativity and initiative in planning activities to continually develop children;
• Ability to work independently in diverse environments with limited supervision;
• Ability to work as a team player;
• Ability to manage several concurrent issues and solve problems effectively exercising appropriate discretion and judgment;
• Ability to set goals and develop plans to meet those goals to ensure the development of each child;
• Ability to complete administrative tasks accurately and on time;
• Ability to handle high mobility and driving demands safely and with good judgment;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; organizational and time management skills;
• Basic computer and keyboarding skills, proficiency with e-mail systems, familiarity with MS Outlook and Access (or other database applications);
• Ability to exercise good judgment independently, in various situations and environments, and under varying levels of stress.

Work hours are flexible and will vary depending on the needs of the youth. Friends must provide their own child-safe vehicle and insurance; we reimburse for mileage.

If you are this amazing person, here’s what we have to offer:

Position Details:

Salary: $45,000 ‒ $50,000 Annually

Benefits: Comprehensive

Friends of the Children is committed to our community, to equal employment opportunity, and to diversity in our workplace.