Description

Job Overview

The Virtual Parent and Home Educator is responsible for providing pregnant parents and parents with children from 0 to 3 years of age with parenting support and is responsible for teaching the AVANCE parent education curriculum, teaching parents how to make educational toys, and working with the child and parent to facilitate an early childhood class.  The Virtual Parent/Home Educator will conduct home-in-person and Virtual visits to ensure participants’ needs are being met and assist with outreach, family recruitment, and retention.

Job Responsibilities

• Assists with the identification and recruitment of families who are interested in pursuing parenting and early childhood education, with recruitment efforts including collaboration with schools and community agencies.
• Assists with the identification and recruitment of families who are interested in virtual parenting and early childhood education, with recruitment efforts including collaboration with Program Coordinator, schools, and community agencies.
• Implements designated PCEP Curriculum within a virtual class environment in a professional manner and carries a caseload of 30 – 50 families throughout the year. to facilitate interactive activities with program participants.  Duty involves preparing, reviewing, and modifying, if necessary, weekly lessons, and other support material for each visit/class.
• Encourages participant attendance and retention by contacting parents before class and following up on absences.
• Conducts home visits with participants, scheduling them in advance.  Home visits involve reviewing lesson concepts learned in class, conducting needs assessments, providing community referrals and following up, as needed, and assessing accurate notetaking, and videoing the use of toys and other AVANCE educational tools within the home environment.  
• Meet with Program Coordinator on a regular basis to discuss parenting classes, Toy Making projects, Early Childhood Education activities, and support of parents' needs and progress.
• Assists Program Coordinator in developing a participant database and maintains accurate reports, including attendance, participants’ progress, and other programmatic reporting, as needed. Cooperates with in-house monitoring and independent evaluation of program effectiveness.
• Responsible for conducting all intake paperwork with participants within the timeframe set by the Program Coordinator, such as the intake, pre-survey, post-survey, and other questionnaires as assigned to identify program outcomes.
• Provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences for young children in a virtual environment as required.
• Screens children with evaluation tools such as the ASQ and shares the results with the parents.
• Follows the Toy Making sequence and calendar.
• Conducts toy-making lessons, shows parents how to make each toy, reviews and explains possibilities sheet, and explains the association each toy has on brain development.
• Conducts virtual home visits with participants, scheduling them in advance.  Home visits involve reviewing lesson concepts learned in class, conducting needs assessments, providing community referrals and following up, as needed, accurate notetaking, and videoing the use of toys and other AVANCE educational tools within the home environment.
• Assist in procurement and management of materials and supplies for virtual programming.
• Collaborates with the Program Coordinator in the planning and execution of the distribution of the materials kit for the families participating in the virtual program as needed.
• Drives AVANCE as need it to support the site.
• Makes purchase orders for class and any other required supplies and keep proper documentation of receipts.
• Maintains knowledge of current parent-child education practices.
• Attends scheduled meetings, training, and/or conferences to enhance professional growth and ensure well-coordinated and effective delivery of project services.
• Assist with organizing and planning for special events, ex. family social events, holiday parties, Dia de los niños, graduation etc.
• Establishes and maintains an environment conducive to positive morale and directed towards achievement of the project mission.
• Ensures high standards of ethics by maintaining high standards for participant confidentiality.
• Responsible for creating a safe and positive classroom environment where parents feel respected and represented.
• Maintains a positive attitude.
• Works well with a team and independently.
• Provides special services /projects as authorized and trained by the Program Coordinator, Program Manager or Director of Programs.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

• AVANCE Core Competencies

• Accountability
• The AVANCE Way
• Demonstrates Ability to Learn
• Fosters Innovation
• Takes Initiative
• Recovers from Setbacks

Qualifications

Education

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree.

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Education, Psychology or related human services field in lieu of teaching degree.

Work Experience

Required:

• Previously worked in educational, social services, or family literacy setting. 
• Previously worked with parents and young children.

• Previously worked with families with diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.

Preferred:

• 2 years’ experience as case manager, family advocate, or support specialist in a social services or nonprofit setting.
• 2 years’ experience working with adult learners.

License/Certification

Required:

• N/A

Additional Skills

• Must be bilingual in English and Spanish.
• Must be familiar with the community and community support agencies.
• Knowledge of child development and effective parenting techniques.
• Must exhibit a willingness to assist in the personnel development of low- income families.
• Must be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of the families and the program.
• Must be able to work in the evening and on weekends.
• Ability to maintain emotional control under stress.

Travel 

• Ability to travel to various sites: Dependable transportation is required daily with a valid driver’s license, a clean driving record (subject to annual MVR (Motor Vehicle Report) check and policy), current auto liability insurance and be bondable by AVANCE, Inc.
• Travel required up to 15% of the time for work-related site visits. 

Equipment 

• Work is generally performed in a virtual/hybrid work environment (home, on site, off site).
• The noise level in the work environments can be moderate to occasionally loud (examples: business office with computers and printers, light to moderate traffic, human voices).
• Standard office equipment generally used includes:
  • Telephone
  • Personal Computer (monitor, keyboard, and mouse) or Tablet
  • Printer/Photocopy Machine
  • Calculator
  • Fax Machine
• May be required to operate a motor vehicle during the course of duties. 

Working Conditions  

Mental and Physical Demands  

Maintain emotional control under stress; work with interruptions and deadlines; walking, standing, stooping, bending, pulling and pushing, use hands to finger, handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; occasional: lifting/carrying, pulling/pushing 10-30 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Environmental Factors