Community Responder - California

Who We Are

Think of Us (TOU) operates as an R+D lab for child welfare. We take on strategic projects with the goal of causing “good trouble” and, ultimately, driving concrete, structural changes in policy, practice, resource flows, power dynamics, relationships and mental models. Our ultimate goal is to integrate Lived Experience at every level, ensuring everyone touched by the system has the conditions they need to Heal, Develop and Thrive.

We work across the ecosystem of current and former foster youth, child welfare workers, philanthropists and policymakers to Spark, Support and Drive to systematically center lived experience touched by the system.

Examples of what this looks like include:

Building a unique digital wraparound model that gives kinship caregivers, adoptive families and young people direct access to traditional and non-traditional resources, creating a clearer pathway to support for those who need it
Providing technical assistance to state Chafee Teams to distribute $400M in emergency pandemic relief
Key advocate providing critical, real-time data on true needs of current + former foster youth
Leading groundbreaking participatory research to center lived experience in the national Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Program’s movement to eliminate unnecessary uses of congregate care

Note: Most of our roles are fully remote. A select few are based in DC or LA, which will be specified in the job description if applicable.

The Role

As part of our Flagship Initiative, we are testing free virtual assistance service for kinship families and current and former foster youth.‍

The Community Responder serves as a personal assistant - helping to research, call and vet resources based on what individuals tell us they need. The Community Responder also researches and builds our directory of resources (traditional AND non-traditional!), including partnerships with virtual solutions beyond the scope of traditional child welfare (e.g. education coaching, telehealth and more).

Centering lived experience is core to everything we do, so experience with the child welfare system – professionally or personally – and living in California is required.

Responsibilities

Understand needs and resources in California
Serve as the primary point of contact for Virtual Services Help Desk including:
Provide real-time virtual support (phone, text, email) to help connect kinship families and current and former foster youth with resources (e.g. completing a housing voucher application, identifying a local organization that offers counseling and making the first appointment)
Participate in team meetings to brainstorm best responses to critical questions
Support marketing and communications to raise awareness of virtual support services (VSS) including reviewing and drafting content
Translate documents to Spanish (for Spanish-speaking Responders)

Requirements

Lived experience and/or proximity to Child Welfare, whether as a former foster youth, kinship family or other is a plus
Experience accessing and navigating youth-serving systems, ideally in child welfare
Ability to self-direct and work individually in a remote work environment, including holding oneself accountable to assigned tasks
Ability to work closely with a team of peers from diverse backgrounds
Adaptability in a start-up environment, where plans rapidly evolve and pivoting priorities with urgency is required
Flexibility in schedule with the ability to work some weekend or evening hours
Fluency in Google Suite + other tech tools like Asana + Slack with basic understanding of social media
Prefer fluency in written & spoken languages other than English
Strong communication (written + verbal) skills
Deep commitment to our mission and nuanced understanding of systemic, structural racism and inequities

Perks / Timings / Salary

The Perks

We provide generous health, dental, & vision coverage for you and your family as well as a 401k plan for your pre-tax retirement contributions
We have a flexible vacation policy
We hold monthly team-wide learning sessions to deepen our understanding of the lived experience of foster youth
We put you at the cutting edge of change in the Child Welfare system
We provide the opportunity for you to interact with leading voices in government, foundations, the nonprofit world, and entertainment working to reform child welfare

In addition to the above, we are structuring this role to provide a learning and growth opportunity for CRs - they will receive extensive support, guidance, coaching, and mentorship from our organization.

Guidance and direction from the Senior CR and the Manager of Community Responders during weekly team meetings, daily working sessions, and weekly conversations
Weekly professional development coaching
Mentoring conversations from senior organizational leaders

Salary

This role is full-time through December 31, 2022 with a possibility of extending as the initiative evolves with a competitive salary of $50,000.

APPLY NOW

