Newcomer Youth Summer Academy Peer Mentor (Unpaid)

Position Overview: 

The Newcomer Youth Summer Academy is a six-week program focusing on preparing newly arrived immigrant youth to succeed at their grade level in the New York City public school system. Up to 130 students ages 5 – 21 from over 20 countries will participate in academic, creative arts, physical education, and social emotional learning classes. Field Trips are held on Fridays. 

Peer Mentors support the students' academic and social emotional growth during the Academy. Peer Mentors will be placed with a single class of students for the six-week duration of the Academy, supporting all Classroom Teachers to ensure productive and enriching lessons and to serve as positive role models for students.  

From Monday to Thursday, Peer Mentors work either the morning shift (8:00am to 12:00pm) or the afternoon shift (12:00pm to 4:00pm). On Fridays, all Peer Mentors work the full day (8:00am to 4:00pm) to support students and staff on field trips. All Peer Mentors must be available for all training days and for the entire duration of the program. No exceptions. 

Major Responsibilities: 

• Complete all staff training prior to the start of the program, as well as all program meetings and staff development activities thereafter 

• Act as a positive role model for students; model appropriate student behavior and academic engagement with the Academy students at all times 

• Uphold and promote policies and practices necessary to create a linguistically supportive, culturally responsive, trauma-informed learning environment. 

• Complete and submit a weekly timesheet on Salesforce platform to track and codify IRC volunteer hours. 

• Assist teachers and staff with classroom management, including various classroom activities, tutor students individually or in small groups at the direction of the teacher 

• Assist in supervision of daily student meals and student arrival/dismissal 

• Attend all field trips on Fridays and assist teachers and staff in student supervision 

• Assist with Arts Integration Activities 

• Support students in navigating cultural differences during the school day to ensure they feel included and confident. 

• Complete post-NYSA all staff evaluation 

• Other tasks as assigned by Classroom Teachers and IRC staff 

Qualifications: 

• Minimum age: 17 and must be at least a rising high school senior 

• Undergraduate students, Graduate students, or recent graduates, preferred 

• Residing in or near New York City with ability to travel to and from the site every day 

• Experience or strong interest in working with refugee and immigrant communities 

• Experience working with children and/or peers, preference for those with education experience 

• Punctuality, excellent time management skills, and a flexible schedule 

• Outstanding intercultural and interpersonal communication skills with demonstrated ability to work effectively with people from other cultural backgrounds 

• Ability to maintain confidentiality regarding client information 

• Excellent organizational and leadership skills 

• Strong attention to detail and ability to work with minimal supervision 

• Knowledge of classroom procedures; health and safety precautions a plus. 

• Fluency in written and spoken English required. Second language proficiency in relevant language highly desirable (including Arabic, Dari, Farsi, French, Fulani, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Pashto, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Wolof) 

• All offers are contingent on successfully passing background and criminal history checks as required by federal and state law or by IRC policy. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Implement effective teaching strategies for multilingual classrooms to support English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Social Studies, and other academic subjects, helping students strengthen the skills needed for the NYC school system. 

• Understand trauma-informed education and programming 

• Engage with refugee families and communities 

• Develop the ability to facilitate SEL activities that emphasize themes of NYSA 

• Understand and practice methods to help students resolve conflicts and build peaceful, inclusive relationships within the classroom and beyond. 

• Adapt to the needs of a diverse, multilingual student population and apply flexible problem-solving in fast-paced, interdisciplinary settings. 

• Develop skills in and practice translation and interpretation 

This is an unpaid opportunity. Applicants are encouraged to seek out scholarships or additional funding opportunities. 

Timeline: 

Interviews and hiring occur on a rolling basis. Outreach to candidates will be within two weeks of application submission. All applications are due at 11:59pm on April 13th, 2025.