Position Summary: Family and Community Outreach Specialists will work with schools, including Parent Coordinators, Community School Directors, parent and caregiver leaders, Community School Teams, as well as school administrators, teachers and staff on effective family and community outreach and engagement strategies. Specialists will help elicit meaningful family and community participation in the school and school decision making, and will assist in the development and implementation of the community school approach. Outreach Specialists will coordinate their work, site visits and outreach in schools closely with Community School Program Managers.

Outreach Specialists will be assigned to work intensively with approximately 15- 20 schools to help each school identify and develop potential parent and caregiver leaders. Specialists will organize small and large scale school events and Community School meetings and forums to foster broad family and community participation in Community School planning and work at the school, help schools develop Family Engagement Plans, Parent Ambassadors, and Ladders of Engagement, and help schools explore and carry out model family engagement programming and practices such as Academic Parent Teacher Teams or Home School Visits. Outreach Specialists may be assigned to schools that are not Community Schools or to a mix of Community Schools and non-Community Schools.

In addition to working intensively with a designated set of schools, Outreach Specialists may also be responsible for working with a broader set and/or cluster of schools, sharing information with and coaching Parent Coordinators and others responsible for family engagement at the school or district level on building strong parent engagement in schools, developing and implementing effective outreach methods, or on some other pre-determined family engagement objective. This work may include regional (district, cluster or borough level) parent and caregiver meetings and/or trainings organized and run by the Outreach Specialist, in coordination with the Field Manager and Outreach Director as well as emerging parent leaders. Performs related work.

Reports to: Field Manager and Family and Community Outreach Team Director

Key Relationships: Parent Coordinator, Community School Director, PTA/PA and other parent leadership and volunteers, Community School Team, School Leadership Teams, Community School Program Managers, community leaders, community partners and members, school administration and staff as appropriate by school.

Responsibilities

• Work with Community School Director where applicable, Parent Coordinator, parent leaders and key members of the school staff to identify potential parent and caregiver leaders for one-on-one relational conversations and other recruitment efforts to build involvement in the Community School planning process and in the school
• Work with schools and clusters of schools to hold school and district level family information and training sessions
• Work with schools to develop and systematize comprehensive, effective direct outreach methods for Community School and/or other important family and school events including maintaining and building effective family and community outreach lists, conducting parent-to-parent and staff phone-banking, flyering before and after school and at high parent trafficked areas, conducting door-knocking to families, working with teachers and staff on effective parent and caregiver outreach etc
• Help schools develop Parent Ambassador programs or other parent leadership development programs where parents and caregivers take responsibility for mentoring a small number of parents each, conducting parent to parent outreach as a group, and taking leadership or volunteer roles in Community School and/or family engagement related work at the school or beyond.
• Work with schools to develop and implement comprehensive family engagement plans that include multiple on-ramps for families to become involved in the school, parents and caregivers taking responsibility for carrying out various components of the plan and moving parents and caregivers up Ladders of Engagement through leadership development and training.
• Advise and recruit parents and caregivers for on-going training and development opportunities.
• Help schools structure all events with families and communities to elicit full and meaningful parent and community participation
• Work with a broader set of schools and district level staff to build capacity for more effective family outreach and for building stronger parent participation in schools and in school decision making processes.
• Organize and convene regional (district, cluster and/or borough level) meetings and trainings of families to impart information, train parents and caregivers and plug families and communities into any and all appropriate family and community engagement work happening at the school, regional or central level.