Overview
Peer Navigator
Los Angeles, Ca
The Opportunity
Our Los Angles team is hiring a passionate, resilient, and social justice-minded Peer Navigator to support participants in achieving success during their time in the Center for Employment Opportunities’ (CEO) program and as they assume full-time employment.
The Peer Navigator will motivate, coach, and support participants through their time in the program and will provide deeper-level intervention as needed. The Peer Navigator will offer life skills and employment readiness support through one-on-one meetings, group conversations, and targeted outreach with participants. The Peer Navigator will connect participants to supportive services (SNAP, housing, legal, mental health, etc.). The Peer Navigator will share learnings and practices that improve participant engagement and retention with the larger CEO team.
The ideal Peer Navigator candidate has lived experience of incarceration or involvement in the justice system.
CEO has implemented an org-wide vaccination requirement that requires all new staff to be fully vaccinated before their first day of work. We have made this decision for the safety of our participants and employees and to enhance our ability to continue to provide the vital services we offer to our participants. As part of the onboarding process, new hires will be asked to submit proof of vaccination status prior to their first day of employment.
If you are unable to get vaccinated against COVID19 for medical or religious reasons, you can request a reasonable accommodation. An interactive meeting will be scheduled to discuss your request.
CEO does not discriminate against individuals with actual or perceived infection with COVID19 or based on an actual or perceived history of such infection nor based on any protected status.
Who We Are
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides employment services to people with recent criminal convictions. Across the United States, over 6,000 people participate in CEO each year, transitioning to employment that supports themselves, their families, and their communities.
What began as a demonstration project of the Vera Institute of Justice in the 1970s to address employment barriers facing the formerly incarcerated following release in New York City has grown into the leading reentry employment organization in the country, where over 25,000 formerly incarcerated individuals have secured full-time employment since 1996. Since 2009, CEO has gained support to expand its programs through government, nonprofit, and private organizations including the GreenLight Fund, the Pew Charitable Trust, and the Nonprofit Finance Fund. In 2016, CEO embarked on a 5-year strategic plan to grow to serve 9,000 participants annually.
Who You Are
- You accept ownership for outcomes and consequences of one’s behavior
- You adhere to CEO structures and processes and ensures work product is consistent, accurate, and thoroughly documented
- You demonstrate respect, fairness, patience, and efficiency to participants, employees and others to problem-solve and satisfy their needs with the resources available
- You demonstrate the ability to identify and/or anticipate a problem, analyze the situation, offer and/or seek assistance in order to identify solutions, and when appropriate, decided on and implement a course of action
- You possess the ability to build rapport and cooperation with persons inside and outside of CEO through interpersonal understanding while maintaining a network of contacts that can provide information and assistance
- You work effectively under pressure and at a sustained pace, managing emotional highs and lows, while maintaining focus on objectives despite setbacks or opposition
- You are dedicated to achieving personal, team and organizational goals through time management, data analysis, focused communications and teamwork, and continuous learning
Responsibilities
Key responsibilities of the Peer Navigator include but are not limited to:
Career Pathways Support
- Provides information and support to participants regarding access to GED programs, vocational training, certification classes, and other opportunities to strengthen resumes and further careers
- Collaborates with additional members of CEO’s program team, including job coaches, job developers, and retention specialists, to support job searches and educational activities for participants
- In collaboration with internal staff, ensures participants are progressing toward individualized career goals after participant has been placed into full-time employment
Outreach
- Establishes relationships with community building organizations serving justice involved individuals, presenting CEO’s programs and services to groups and individuals
- Develops and enhances relationships with organizations who provide services and resources that meet the needs of the participants; provides information and support to participants regarding access to these resources
- Maintains a circle of communication with participants, CEO staff, and partners
Engagement
- Acts as a single point of contact for a caseload of participants in CEO’s program
- Meets with participants to address specific challenges and provides guidance on life skills/employment readiness
- Coaches participants on how to navigate through CEO’s programs and services, empowers participants to self-navigate through CEO, and follows up with participants who miss meetings or work to resolve barriers to employment
- Build confidence of participants in CEO’s programs and services and in their own career progress
- Uses Motivational Interviewing (MI) to elicit change talk and to strengthen participants’ internal motivation to change
- Maintain accurate and thorough files for participants
Supportive Services
- Connect program participants to supportive services
- Develop an organizational system to manage distribution of supportive services; track and report updates as needed
- Distribute and manage supportive services for participants who are dealing with transportation and other barriers to employment
- Attend local events and meetings in the reentry community within the area, building relationships with organizations offering participant support
Compensation and Benefits
The salary for this position is $50,521.50 annually. We also offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical and dental coverage, paid parental leave, participation in a retirement plan, sick and vacation leave, paid holidays and more. We’re a workplace that promotes continual learning and teamwork, offering lunch and learns, team outings, holiday gatherings and more for our staff. CEO is also dedicated to ongoing staff development and training, including regular training opportunities in Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is one evidence-based skill that reentry and human service professionals can utilize when supporting participants to achieve their goals.
More About Us
The Center for Employment Opportunities believes that everyone deserves the chance to shape a stronger future for themselves, their families, and their communities. Our commitment to being an anti-racism organization that is inclusive across all identities and experiences drives us forward every day. We exist to create greater opportunities for people who face multiple barriers to personal and professional success, and we’re passionate about being agents of change who promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to opportunities for all.
People who are justice involved, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ+ , and people with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels. We are an equal employment opportunity for all regardless of race, color, citizenship, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran or reservist status, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.
Please note that due to the volume of resumes received, we are unable to contact each applicant regarding the status of each position or reply to candidates’ inquiries via phone or email.
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