Success Mentor
About this role
JOB DESCRIPTION
TITLE: Success Mentor
DEPARTMENT: Youth and Community Development Services
LOCATION: Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
PROGRAM: Community Schools Initiative
REPORTS TO: Community School Director
SALARY: Part-Time, $20/HR, Up To 25 hours a week.
This position is performance-based and is also contingent on funding availability
DATE: Sept 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027
Schedule: Mon-Fri, 7 a.m.–12 noon. Some Saturdays- scheduling may vary due to the needs of the program.
JOB SUMMARY: Success Mentors are caring adults who mentor chronically absent students to identify the barriers preventing them from attending school each day. The Success Mentor will work closely with families and Community School staff to support Community School Attendance Initiatives. The Success Mentor will help support parent-school communication to increase student attendance. The Success Mentor will support students' optimal academic, social, and emotional development. The Success Mentor will work closely with the Community School Team (director, social worker, outreach worker, and tutors) to provide resources that will enhance the Community School. Success mentors are the most successful strategy for combating chronic absence. The idea is not for a Success Mentor to have the answers, but for the mentee to talk about and explore ideas. Staff members need a working, reliable computer.
EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILL REQUIREMENT:
- High school diploma required; Bachelor's degree preferred
- Two years or more experience in the field of youth development
- Family outreach and home visit experience
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent documentation skills
- Ability to motivate others toward achieving goals
- Ability to develop alliances with high-risk and difficult-to-engage youth and families
- Knowledge of community resources and counseling practices with high-risk populations
- Outstanding collaborative skills
- Bilingual Spanish/ English is a plus.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Maintain a caseload of 25 to 30 chronically absent students for the full school year.
- Provide Walking School Bus service daily from 7:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
- Meet and greet mentees each morning.
- Make positive morning phone calls home to families of absent students.
- Monitor mentees' attendance data and maintain a folder to include notes and other information to track mentee attendance. If your school is a Community School, utilize the Student Profile from the New Visions Attendance Heat Map or Portal.
- Meet with mentees regularly—one-on-one and in small groups—to check in, listen, and talk about how school is going.
- Work with school staff and teachers to identify appropriate interventions to support and engage mentee(s). In a Community School, you can also partner with your Community School Director (CSD).
- Celebrate improvements, no matter how small.
- Create and maintain a thorough written record of assessments, attendance outreach efforts, and all required documentation
- Work collaboratively with community resources to establish timely and effective referral processes.s
- Maintain ongoing open communication with school principal, parents, and school-based staff.
- Assist school Family Worker with home visits to engage families and develop relationships between school and families of students identified as the targeted population (At-risk and chronically absent students).
- Assist thee school Family Worker with recruiting additional mentors, assigning mentees, monitoring mentor and mentee relationships, and tracking mentee attendance.
- Partner with families to create family goal plans that increase student attendance and enhance parent and child well-being.
- Maintain written records of home visits, family goals, and all required documentation.n
- Implement attendance incentive programs.
- Work collaboratively with community resources and advocate for families when necessary.
- Refer participants to a social worker for counseling to support with crisis intervention and safety planning.g
- Participate in ongoing efforts to advocate for program needs via community coalition building.ng
- Seek partnership opportunities and bring in at least 3 new partners a year to leverage resources to support programs.
- Work closely with social worker, tutor, and Family worker to support targeted student needs.s
- Organize and distribute community pantry items bi-weekly
- Attend all required department/ agency meetings and/or trainings
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Community School Director
HOW TO APPLY:
Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications for the position you are applying for. If selected, we ask that you also provide us with three (3) professional references that we can contact (at least one (1) professional reference should be from a former supervisor). Please click the link below, or paste it into a search bar, and apply online through our career center.
https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=bfb233f9-2e2d-4a56-b58a-c4bfa4857b9e&ccId=19000101_000001&lang=en_US
Please note that we can only make job offers once your clearances come through! *
Company at a glance
Grand St. Settlement connects New Yorkers with opportunities that inspire, services that keep families strong and programs that bring communities closer. We've been inviting New Yorkers to join us in building the communities we need for a century; when we opened our doors in 1916 we served the Lower East Side, but today we connect more than 17,500 New Yorkers throughout the Lower East Side, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
Our Community Centers, partner schools and Child & Family Centers are vibrant and safe, creating a home away from home that reflects the cultures and wisdom of the communities' experiences.
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