Success Coach - Family Success Center Program

Job title  

Success Coach  

Program 

Family Success Center

Reports to  

Assistant Director

General Description  

The vision of the United Way of Greater Greensboro Family Success Centers is an end to the intergenerational cycle of poverty in our community. To achieve this vision, Family Success Centers (FSCs) collaborate with different partners to provide services under one roof. Furthermore, different services (education and career, financial capability, access to benefits, and health & wellness) are deliberately integrated and sequenced for each individual family. Additional strategies utilized are a two-generation approach (serving entire families), removing barriers to access and participation (such as providing free child care onsite), locating services in a neighborhood that needs them most, and not setting a time limit on families trying to reach their goals. Coaching is the core of this work.

Coaching entails building strong, trusting relationships with FSC “members” (participants) over long periods of time. The entire FSC team is responsible for modeling and co-creating a culture that demonstrates firm belief in members’ ability to manage their lives and thrive, once they have sufficient support, opportunity, and access to the resources they need.

The UWGG Family Success Centers practice “Family-Centered Coaching” defined as “working one-on-one with a person in a collaborative process to help identify and achieve their individual and family goals”. Success Coaching has a broad scope and may encompass working with someone on their education, career, health & wellness, financial capability, and/or relationships. The Success Coach need not be an expert in all areas but rather should be conversant with them, familiar with common scenarios, and good at identifying resources, collaborating, and learning from experience. Family Success Centers collaborate with partners who are experts in all these areas.

Success Coaches also do case management and are expected to switch between coaching and case management approaches as needed. Case management addresses a specific problem or need for services or resources which can be resolved within a specific period of time. It may take the form of crisis intervention, referrals, sharing information, or advising a prescribed course of action to address a concern. A case management conversation is usually more directive/prescriptive than a coaching conversation, which focuses on goals and actions and is driven by the member. There is also a stage between crisis and goal-setting that we call “readiness assessment”, where the member may not be sure what they need or want or is contemplating making a change but not ready to take action yet. In this stage the Coach does a lot of listening and asking good questions.

Success Coaches are assigned to support families from when they join until they complete their self-directed journey. Success Coach responsibilities include the following:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Participate in member recruitment and community education about the work
• Conduct intake interviews with new members and exit interviews with leaving members
• Identify the needs and strengths of the families on a regular basis, using a Self-Sufficiency Matrix assessment tool
• Guide the member families in setting their own goals
• Design a “bundle” of FSC classes and services, organized in a logical sequence, to meet each family’s needs and goals
• Monitor members’ progress, maintain records, and assist with reporting and learning from member data
• Build relationships with member families to keep them motivated, engaged, and feeling supported
• Regularly conduct individual coaching and case management sessions with members to identify and remove barriers, share resources and information, work on goals and plans, help with job search, assist with benefits applications, solve problems, gather data, and discuss career and education options. (This is not an exhaustive list.)
• Work within the staff and partner team to organize special events and projects
• Develop collaborative relationships with FSC and other agency staff, partners, volunteers, and United Way staff
• Share successes and challenges with team members; participate in case coordination, team-building, and training

.    Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Absolute ability to maintain member and agency confidentiality
• Absolute adherence to UWGG and agency anti-discrimination policy
• Demonstrated ability to build rapport and maintain professionalism with different groups of people, including children, seniors, immigrants and non-English-speakers, people with disabilities, and others of different backgrounds/cultures/mindsets than one’s own
• Respect and understanding of how our lived experiences have shaped each of us
• Willingness both to lead and to let others (including the members) lead, as the situation warrants
• Demonstrated ability to practice reflective listening and empathy while maintaining professional boundaries
• Considerable ability to effectively produce and understand written and oral communication
• Reliable ability to maintain accurate case management and other documentation
• Considerable ability to problem-solve, exercise discretion and judgment, and make decisions alone when appropriate
• Considerable ability to effectively collaborate, take initiative, and utilize creative and critical thinking
• Considerable ability to engage in work both independently and within a team, set priorities, meet deadlines, and manage a variety of concurrent tasks and projects
• Reliable ability to use email, telephone, text, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, as well as to do Internet research and learn various online platforms
• Working knowledge of the challenges and strengths of families living on low or no income, as well as the system barriers they face
• Familiarity with basic budgeting and banking
• Familiarity with job search strategies, workplace etiquette, and professional communication
• Willingness to learn, adapt to changing plans, admit mistakes or lack of experience, participate in difficult conversations, and support the development of others

Essential Qualifications  

• Minimum of Associates degree from an accredited college required. Bachelors preferred:  major or focus in social work, human services, psychology, human development, or sociology preferred
• 2+ years of one-on-one coaching, case management, counseling, or advising experience required
• Background check approval required
• Experience specific to working with families experiencing poverty preferred
• Bilingual (especially but not necessarily Spanish) is helpful

Any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities will be considered.

Americans with Disability and Workers’ Compensation Specifications 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, walk sit, use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools or controls, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, talk hear, taste or smell.  The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close, distance, color, peripheral depth, and the ability to adjust focus 

·        While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to weather conditions prevalent at the time. 

·        The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. 

·        Employees will be assigned scheduled work hours and locations based on agency need.