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AmeriCorps Residential Life Assistant (House-Sister)

Responsibilities

THE ROLE

The AmeriCorps Residential Life Assistant (House-Sister) will partner with the House Director, Assistant House Director, and other AmeriCorps House Sister to co-lead the HomeWorks house and cultivate a culture around our values of intentionality, empathy and community.


During the Academic Year (Sept - June)

  • From Sunday nights to Friday mornings, stay overnight in the dorm and assist scholars with their transition into dorm life, such as overcoming homesickness or navigating challenges in their personal lives. It is important to holistically assess each participant by considering not only what happens in the dorm, but also at school and home.

  • Assist scholars with homework, academic enrichment (literacy and math), social-emotional learning and life skills (time management, goal setting, etc.).

  • Develop a strong working relationship with the House Director, Assistant House Director and the other Residential Life Assistant (House-Sister). You will serve as the second line of defense and should work as a unit/complement to the House Director and Assistant House Director’s approach for creating the best house environment and culture.

  • Assist the House Director and Volunteer Coordinator with field trips for education enrichment (museums, campus tours, etc.).

  • Checking scholars’ PowerSchool accounts to record their attendance and grades and ensure assignments are completed. Contact scholars’ teachers to check in with scholars’ academics and well-being.  

  • Conducting check-ins for each scholar that cover HomeWorks life, social-emotional well-being, and academics.

  • Serve as a bus aide during weekday mornings and afternoons.

  • Assess the girls’ social-emotional and mental well-being. House Sisters are to engage in healthy conversations with our girls to maintain open communication and should communicate with the House Director and Mental Health Counselor/Group Therapist to report any concerns regarding scholars mental well-being.

  • Assist the House Director and Assistant House Director in enforcing all HomeWorks policies and protocols.

  • Remain adaptable and uphold HomeWorks values for incidents and situations that arise that may not be outlined above.

  • Assist in completing quarterly progress reports for AmeriCorps and HomeWorks incident reports and daily logs as needed.

  • Enforce all disciplinary policies and protocols, including: keeping a record of scholars’ medical requirements and dosages, monitoring scholars' hygiene, and accounting for each scholar at lights out (bedtime).

  • Keep up-to-date on house emails.

  • Co-Lead all planned activities with the HomeWorks scholars.

  • Follow local and federal laws (i.e., drug & alcohol use, mandated reporting).

  • Assist with recruitment responsibilities in tandem with House Director, Assistant House Director, other Residential Life Assistant (House Sister) and Program Director.

  • Remain adaptable and uphold HomeWorks values for incidents and situations that arise in connection with the duties set forth above.

  • Work with the House Director, Assistant House Director, and the other Residential Life Assistant (House-Sister) to run a successful program.

  • Assist in scholar recruitment for the next academic year: conducting school meetings, conducting recruitment calls, reading student applications, conducting interviews, and participating in deliberations, planning a Day in the Life and Welcome Day, and more.  

  • Know and follow local and federal laws (i.e. drug & alcohol use, mandated reporting).


During the Summer (June - Aug)

  • Assist in intern recruitment and management.

  • Assist in research, planning, and coordinating programming for the next academic year.

  • Assist in building program curriculum, such as college access, social justice learning, wellness wednesday, and more.

  • Assist in expanding HomeWorks partnerships for our tutoring program and other programming activities.

 

The Residential Life Assistant (House Sister)’s goal is to help co-create a culture around HomeWorks values and build a healthy and safe learning and living environment for our scholars. During the school year, the House Sister will do this through working closely with the House and Admin team, as well as building relationships with scholars and parents. We will use tools like Asana, Google and Slack to amplify the work.


We hope the person in this role will have a passion for justice, education and community building, and is excited about the opportunity to lead the house, develop house culture that will ultimately equip Black and Brown girls in Trenton, NJ to be academically successful and become community leaders. THE TANGIBLE GOODS

  • Location: Lawrence/Trenton, NJ

  • Typical Working Hours (Schedule Attached Below). Please note that times may be scheduled to change, and may vary if an emergency or unexpected situation occurs. You will be working approximately 30-35 hours per week.

  • School Year - September to June

    • Sunday: 4:30pm-10pm

    • Monday to Thursday: 1:30pm -10pm

    • Monday to Friday: 6:15am-6:45am/8am (occasionally until 8am if on bus route)

    • Monthly Friday Meetings - 3:30pm-5:00pm

  • Summer - July to August

    • Monday to Friday 9am-5pm

    • May work occasional weekends and night events when necessary.

  • Salary range: Expect a compensation package of $41,590.50, with a stipend of $14,000, fully furnished housing valued at $22,000/year during the school year and daily dinners valued at $1,044/year when the program is in session. You will be eligible for an Education Award of $4,546.50 after successful completion of the term of service.

  • Benefits:

    • Time Off

      • During the school year - Following our partner school holiday schedules, which is approximately 22 days.

      • During the summer - 10 days

    • Work laptop available upon request

    • Professional development and leadership growth opportunities

    • A rewarding career that positively impacts our amazing scholars

  • Start date: October 2024

Requirements

THE PERSON

The person we would be over-the-moon to work with is excited to add to our culture based on a deep belief in our mission and a deep commitment to intentionally build our organization alongside a team with differing personalities, cultures, experiences, backgrounds. The House Sister will see themselves in the examples below:


  • Culture Builder - You are an educator and community builder at heart, and thrive being in community with other folks. You are excited and knowledgeable on how to curate experiences, guidelines and activities that build our culture of intentionality, empathy and community. You go above and beyond to build a safe, healthy and fun community for our scholars.



  • Efficiency and Organization - You organize your time in an efficient and productive manner. You have and can further develop your own systems and tools and know how to leverage those tools to hold yourself accountable, and help lead others. You are efficient and effective in your work.



  • Follow through on commitments. You live up to your professional and personal commitments and do not miss deadlines. You are reliable - in showing up in the work space and in following through what you commit to leading and creating.



  • Initiator. You take initiative to solve a problem on your own. You understand how you best absorb information and will take proactive steps to do what you need to do to learn something new even if your manager or boss is not presenting the information in a way that is most helpful.



  • Detail oriented. You do not let important details fall through the cracks and use tools (e.g. pen and paper, video notes, google docs, etc.) to keep yourself and others on track.



  • Team Player. You are community-oriented. You are flexible and are willing to jump in and do things that may not have been outlined in your job description. You have a growth mindset and welcome feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual and as a team.



  • Honest Communicator. You communicate honestly and with transparency. You are willing to engage in courageous conversations.


NON-NEGOTIABLES

  • Strong commitment to HomeWorks’ mission, values and scholars.

  • College degree required (in progress or completed).

  • Extensive experience with youth (experience with youth in Trenton preferred).

  • Trustworthy, professional, and reliable.  

  • Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills.

  • Strong attention to detail with very good organizational and follow-through skills.

  • Ability to be flexible and juggle multiple tasks.

  • Ability to take initiative, ownership and accountability.

  • Ability to work independently as well as collaborate as part of a team.

  • [Preferred] Proficiency in Spanish.

Physical Demands: Walking up and down stairs, moving furniture and boxes during Move In and Move Out Day.

About the Company

THE COMPANY

HomeWorks Trenton, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs a free, community-based, after school residential program for Black and Brown high school girls in Trenton, New Jersey. We provide a space where Black and Brown girls can authentically express themselves while developing academic and social-emotional tools to thrive despite living in a systemically unjust society.


Our scholars live in the HomeWorks house from Sunday evenings to Friday mornings and are transported to and from their Trenton Public Schools every day to ensure timeliness. After school, scholars engage in daily activities focused on academics and identity-driven leadership, eat a family-style meal, and stay overnight in our dorm with two full-time staff members. Our HomeWorks model decreases chronic absenteeism and improves scholars’ academic performance and social-emotional skills while celebrating the power of Black and Brown sisterhood. By providing a space to explore and define their experiences, cultures, and identities, HomeWorks offers our scholars a chance to see that their ideas, visions, and presence are valid and relevant in this world.


Founded in 2016, HomeWorks has built a diverse team of full-time and part-time staff, board members, and volunteers. Together, we have run seven programs and built a HomeWorks community. The HomeWorks team has been recognized by the State of New Jersey, Princeton University, McKinsey & Company, Echoing Green, Comcast, Hollister, TRESemmé, Camelback Ventures, Barclays, Vital Voices, The Rachael Ray Show and more.


THE CULTURE

Every organization has its particular brand of crazy. We just try to be up-front about ours:

  • Our team is driven and determined, as we feel this is what is best for our scholars and our mission, and we do it because we care so much. We work efficiently, are ruthless in getting things done, and will even roll up our sleeves and get down to sweep the floors. We are passionate and detail-oriented Type A folks.

  • We are obsessive about documenting everything so that we can replicate and scale what we are doing to expand our impact. Everything– from lesson plans to field trip procedures– will be added to manuals, put in the shared drive, documented on Asana and more.

  • We believe that our biggest strength comes from having a team with a rainbow of personalities, working styles, backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. We respect and value everyone's voices, and challenge each other to grow as professionals, individuals, and as an entire organization.

  • We are intentional in living our values of intentionality, empathy and community in all we do. We all show up fully in the work. Every day.

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