Family Lifeline Volunteers

                         serving at

                       Project Hope

               Dorchester, Boston, MA

                           Service Descriptions

Service Description: TTW Mentor/Tutor Coordinator

Supervisor: Workforce Career Specialist

Project Hope's Transition to Work (TTW) Collaborative is a collaborative of seven family shelters, including Project Hope, helping homeless families gain access to jobs and education. The Mentor/Tutor Coordinator will be responsible for connecting potential tutors and or mentors for TTW clients who are studying or interested in exploring particular careers. Mentoring could be either long or short term. Clients who are studying may want to meet regularly with a volunteer from their field of choice. Others may be interested in a short-term job shadowing opportunity.

This service does not currently exist at TTW. The Family Lifeline Volunteer for this position will be responsible for starting, maintaining and building the program. He/she will work with the Workforce Career Specialist. He/She will also work with an experienced volunteer who will provide mentoring for the development of the program.

Since this is a start-up program, the Family Lifeline Volunteer applying for this position should be prepared to make a 1 ½ - 2 year commitment.

The Family Lifeline Volunteer should possess the following qualities:

• Flexibility, patience and a good sense of humor
• Openness to diversity and working with a multi-cultural population
  
• Willingness to learn
  
• Initiative
  
• An interest in the issues of family homelessness.
  
• Strong work ethic
  
• Exemplary dedication and commitment

Responsibilities:

• Find volunteers willing to tutor or provide job related mentoring or job shadowing opportunities.
  
• Match TTW clients with volunteer mentors or tutors for specific needs.
  
• Develop an orientation curriculum and session for volunteers to provide appropriate training.
  
• Develop outreach materials for mentor/tutor identification.
  
• Work with Educational and Workforce Career Specialist to identify placement needs.
  

Work with Educational Specialist to provide job-shadowing opportunities for participants in the Career Choices Program.

Skills/Qualifications:
- Excellent verbal and writing capacity.
- Excellent people skills, with an ability to motivate individuals.
- Independent self-starter.
- Good networking skills.
- Good organizational skills.
- Good follow-through and consistent contact with volunteers.
- Good Computer skills

Service Description: Children's Center Teacher's Assistant
Site Supervisor: Director of the Children's Center

FLV volunteers can serve as a Teacher's Assistant in our on-site Children's Center. The Children's Center provides childcare for children living in our Shelter as well as in the surrounding community. An FLV volunteer can work in either the infant/toddler classroom (8 children) or the pre-school classroom (18 children) 3 days a week while combining his/her service with the Housing Support Service Department or providing Agency-wide Support, or work in both classrooms 5 days a week.

Volunteers should possess the following qualities:

• Flexibility, organization, patience and a good sense of humor
  
• Strong desire to work with children
  
• Openness to working with a multi-cultural population
  
• A love of learning through play
  
• Willingness to learn
  
• Initiative
  
• Sensitivity to children with special needs
  
• Strong work ethic, dedication and commitment
  
• Ability to work in an environment that can be loud at times

Responsibilities:
The volunteer will assist the Center teaching staff and the Director in performing the following:

• Planning and implementing the program for the class in accordance with the policies and philosophy of the Center
  
• Planning and implementing developmentally appropriate curriculum units based on the interests and needs of the families
  
• Gearing the program to the needs of the individual child with concerns for his/her interests, special talents, challenges, and individual style and pace of learning
  
• Treating each child and parent with dignity and respect
  
• Assisting with classroom arrangement, cleanliness, appearance, décor and learning environment
  
• Attending all program staff meetings

Qualifications/skills:
- Ability to work as a member of a team
- Excellent Organizational skills
- Good follow-through
- Excellent Computer skills
- Good record-keeping skills

Service Description: Housing Advocate
Supervisor: Director of Housing Support Services

Project Hope's Housing Support Services Department assists the women in the shelter, as well as families in the wider community, in gaining access to affordable housing. A volunteer's responsibilities include developing relationships with the families in the shelter and working with them one-on-one to perform their housing search activities. The commitment for this position is a minimum of 12 months. This position can be combined with either working in the Children's Center or providing Agency-wide Support.

Volunteers should possess the following characteristics:

• Extreme Flexibility, patience and a good sense of humor
  
• Openness to working with a multicultural population
  
• Strong Initiative
  
• Strong work ethic, dedication and commitment
• A willingness to perform paperwork

Responsibilities:

• Providing one-on-one support to women in shelter, helping them fill out housing applications and following up on their housing search activities
  
• Accompany women on visiting potential apartments and city housing authority offices
  
• Computer Data entry
  
• Manage Department database
  
• Contacting former Project Hope residents to update their records and assist with homelessness prevention needs

Qualifications/Skills:
- A valid driver's license
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Excellent Organizational skills
- Good follow-through
- Excellent Computer skills and comfort working with databases
- Good record-keeping skills
- Good telephone skills
- bi-lingual preferred

Service Description: Teacher, Adult Learner Program (ALP)
Site Supervisor: ALP Director

FLV volunteers can serve as teachers in the Adult Learner Program (ALP). The ALP provides Adult Basic Education to homeless, formerly homeless and low-income women, with approximately 25 students in the program at any given time. In addition to building the women's education in the 5 subject areas covered by the GED examination, the program also provides classes in self-esteem, health education, career development and learning strategies. A volunteer's responsibilities include developing relationships with the staff and students to promote collaboration and collective achievement; creating a safe, welcoming learning environment, teaching ABE, Pre-GED and GED classes and encouraging the journey of life long learning. Preferably, the volunteer will make a one- year commitment beginning in early September, but other commitments will be considered.

Volunteers should possess the following qualities:

• Flexibility, organization, patience and a good sense of humor
  
• Openness to diversity
  
• Willingness to learn
  
• Initiative
• Strong sense of self
  
• Sensitivity to women's issues, homelessness, poverty and the impact of trauma on learning.
  
• Strong work ethic
  
• Exemplary dedication and commitment

Responsibilities:

• Learn, understand and apply the principles of popular education to reinforce the learner-centered ideal of the ALP
  
• Gain knowledge of the whole person approach and incorporate in all aspects of work
  
• Prepare creative, interactive lesson plans
  
• Teach ABE, Pre-GED and/or GED classes in Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Computer Literacy
  
• Provide individual or small group tutoring before and/or after classes
  
• In collaboration with the other members of the ALP staff, create and maintain a learning environment which fulfills the principles of the ALP mission statement
  
• Build and maintain relationships with students by understanding their barriers to learning
  
• Organize student work in personal records and portfolios
  
• Support the program director, core teaching staff and education counselor in program planning and administration
• Participate in curriculum, program and professional development activities
  
• Participate in weekly teacher Strategy Sessions
  
• Attend monthly ALP staff meetings
  
• Attend monthly Project HOPE staff meetings
• Develop and implement 4-week Summer Enrichment Program

Qualifications:
- A Bachelor's degree in education, social sciences, humanities or a related field
- Teaching experience and/or interest in adult education
- Knowledge and /or willingness to learn about women's issues, homelessness, poverty, the impact of trauma on learning, Popular Education Theory, and the holistic approach to education.
- Ability to work well under pressure
- Ability to claim one's power as a teacher and use it wisely to the benefit and empowerment of the students
- Willingness to work as an active member of a Team
- Ability to accept and relate to people of different income levels, ethnicities, cultures, religions and lifestyles
- Computer skills

Service Description: Agency-wide Support
Supervisor: Director of Operations

Project Hope's greatest need is for an FLV volunteer willing to help out with the wide variety of miscellaneous jobs throughout the agency. These jobs are critical to helping us complete our mission, but each one does not require a full-time person, making it difficult to find someone to support us in these areas. The commitment for this position is a minimum of 4 months, particularly throughout the holiday season of October through January. Work during non-traditional work hours is periodically required. This position could be combined with working in the Children's Center or the Housing Services Department 3 days a week.

Volunteers should possess the following characteristics:

• Extreme Flexibility, patience and a good sense of humor
  
• A willingness to help out in whatever capacity is needed
  
• Openness to diversity and working with a multi-cultural population
  
• Strong Initiative
  
• Strong work ethic
• Exemplary dedication and commitment
  
• A willingness to do manual labor and get dirty

Responsibilities:

• Ordering food from the food bank at least once a week, sometimes twice
  
• Picking-up food from the food bank at least once a week, sometimes twice. Immediately stock the food pantry.
  
• Monitoring the food pantry and restock as needed.
  
• Preparing bags for distribution in the food pantry.
  
• Keeping Project Hope's external appearance clean. This requires sweeping every morning, and removing snow and leaves as needed.
  
• Moving furniture, boxes, and equipment as requested.
  
• Picking up donations as requested by the Development Office.
  
• Performing maintenance tasks commensurate with the volunteer's abilities
  
• Assisting with managing large one-time volunteer groups on-site
  
• Providing basic computer technical support to staff (very basic!)

Qualifications/Skills:
- A valid driver's license
- Excellent Organizational skills
- Good follow-through
- Excellent Computer skills
- Being in good physical shape