Senior Youth Program Specialist

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

This position has an end date of August 31, 2027. 

IRC Background: IRC opened an office in Spokane in 2022 and provides a continuum of services including intensive case management, employment and economic empowerment services, immigration assistance, health and wellness programming, and education support to refugee and immigrant families in Washington State. IRC Spokane is committed to providing trauma-informed, equitable, and accessible services and maintaining and evolving a diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplace. 

Job Overview: The vision of the IRC Washington Youth Program is that youth from refugee and immigrant backgrounds will have the skills and resources necessary to pursue a future of opportunity. The Youth and Education Program works towards this vision by providing educational and enrichment opportunities to help school-aged youth from refugee and immigrant backgrounds catch up on missed education, adjust to a new school, accelerate English language development, and build positive relationships in the school and community. This program supports school-age youth and their families, and also provides support to teachers and school administration to better connect and serve these students.

The Sr. Youth Program Specialist is responsible for teaching and implementation of IRC’s Youth and Education Programs in Spokane, WA.

The Virtual Ready to Read (VR2R) program promotes enjoyment of reading, literacy skills, language acquisition, social and emotional asset development, and positive cultural identity for students in grades 3–8. Upon enrollment, students receive a device, a learning kit with craft materials and art supplies, a workbook, and a set of books. Parents and students attend an orientation to ensure they know how to use their device and the video call platform. Each student attends one-hour online classes twice a week from January through May. Students read a book as a group and engage in themed lessons with vocabulary and grammar content, discussion questions, and activities. Students also take part in virtual field trips to institutions such as the Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, and Seattle Aquarium. Two consecutive 1-hour classes are led by an IRC teacher on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm (a slightly later start at 4:15 pm can be accommodated if your schedule does not allow an earlier start). The program runs from January to May. Classes are small with typically under 15 students in attendance for each class.

The Individualized Tutoring Program matches K-12 students and families with an IRC-screened, trained, and supervised tutor who supports English language acquisition, literacy and fluency, math skills, general homework, and social-emotional learning. Tutors meet with students in their homes once a week after school for 1–2 hours over a period of 3–6 months. Tutoring is one of IRC’s long-standing programs, and IRC is committed to providing high-quality tutoring in alignment with the standards of Stanford University’s National Student Success Accelerator. Tutoring appointments are typically scheduled on weekdays between 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm or weekends.

Major Responsibilities:

Virtual Reading Program

• Schedule: 6–10 hours per week, including Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm (a 4:15 pm start can be accommodated if needed). The program runs from January to May.
• Teach and manage the online classes in the Virtual Reading Program, which is the primary responsibility of this position.
• Prepare lesson plans and materials tailored to students’ needs.
• Send reminder texts and make reminder calls to families to keep attendance high.
• Provide support to students who are having issues with their devices.
• Support the Youth and Education team in collecting and maintaining student and family records, documents, and case notes, while maintaining confidentiality.
• Conduct outreach phone calls to invite families to participate in programs.
• Conduct enrollment sessions with new families to ensure they understand the program and to collect all necessary documentation.
• Provide ongoing support to volunteers, including problem-solving, answering questions, coaching, and sharing teaching and learning resources and best practices.

In-home Tutoring Program

• Provide direct, in-person instruction to students in their homes through the Individualized Tutoring Program.
• Prepare lesson plans and slides tailored to students’ needs using the Virtual Ready to Read curriculum. The materials have already been selected, and a scope and sequence has been created for Virtual Ready to Read, however, the Sr. Specialist will need to create slides for each session based on a template.
• Provide ongoing support to volunteer tutors, including problem-solving, answering questions, coaching, and sharing teaching and learning resources and best practices.
• Assist the program coordinator with regular supervision of community tutors to ensure quality instruction, safeguarding, and accountability, including support with tutor observations and feedback and quarterly feedback calls with families and students.

Other Youth Programs and Duties

• Provide in-person support to other youth programs and events, including Summer Camp, the Youth Roots teen summer program, and field trips.
• Assist the Tutoring and Elementary Education Program Coordinator, as needed, with the following:

• Collecting and maintaining student and family records, documents, and case notes while maintaining confidentiality.
• Conducting outreach phone calls to invite families to participate in programs.
• Conducting enrollment sessions with new families to ensure they understand the program and to collect all necessary documentation.
• Program planning.
• Documenting attendance records and entering students into the database.
• Conducting feedback calls with families.

• Comply with all policies, procedures, and protocols of the agency.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Key Working Relationships:  

Position Reports to: Youth Program Coordinator

Position directly supervises: Interns, volunteers  

Other Internal and/or external contacts:  

Internal: Youth Program Specialists, Youth Program Team, other IRC Seattle staff 

External: Teachers at partner school districts, Contacts at partner organizations 

Job Requirements:

• Relevant degree in Education, Teaching, Child/Youth Development or related field, or 2-4 years relevant experience in teaching, tutoring, or youth development programming. TESOL certificate a plus.
• Cross-cultural experience; connection and experience working with people from refugee and/or immigrant communities
• Experience working with multi-lingual students and families
• Committed to anti-racism and continual learning and growth
• Demonstrated ability to use a variety of instructional strategies appropriate for individual student needs
• Commitment to creating safe and healing learning spaces for newcomer students and utilizing trauma informed practices with students and families
• Flexible and adaptable – able to quickly problem solve and change plans and activities according to student need or unexpected circumstances
• English proficiency, both spoken and written. Bonus if the candidate has professional proficiency in predominant language of local client base desired (Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Somali, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Ukrainian etc.)
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
• Proficiency in MS Office suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams
• Ability to work well with people of diverse cultural backgrounds
• Ability to work well independently and as part of a team
• Ability to maintain responsibility for multiple tasks in the context of a diverse, fast-paced work environment
• Willing to be First Aid/CPR certified upon hire

Working Environment:

• Hybrid: Staff will work at the IRC office, in the homes of refugee families, and remotely. The Virtual Reading Program can be taught remotely from home as long as there is a reliable Wi-Fi connection. Staff are expected to travel to students’ homes for in-person tutoring.
  
• Schedule:

1.      Part-time: 20 hours / week: 

• Must be available on Tuesday and Thursday between 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm PST (If schedule does not allow, 4:15 pm start could be accommodated)
• AND Must be available 2 other weekdays between the hours of 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm OR on weekends 
  

2. Monday – Thursday, 1:30 pm – 6:30 pm is the ideal schedule. However, we are open to discussing alternative schedules as long as the candidate is available to work during the days and times outlined in bullet point 1 above.  

• Limited Term. The position ends on August 31, 2027.  
• Access to reliable high-speed internet from home office.
• Access to reliable transportation to travel regularly throughout the Spokane Public School district area.

Compensation: ($25.50- $27.50 / hour). Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget.  Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

Cookies: https://careers.rescue.org/us/en/cookiesettings

Benefits: IRC offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package. Highlights include 10 paid sick leave, 10 U.S. holidays, 20-25 generous paid time off based on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $163/month, dental starting at $6.50/month, and vision starting at $5/month, flexible spending accounts (healthcare, dependent care, and commuter), a 403(b) retirement savings plan with employer match (immediate vesting) along with a non-elective employer contribution based on age and years of service (3-year vesting), disability and life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering confidential counseling and support services for employees and their families.

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.