Children's Advocate

Who We Are

Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) is a community-based, nonprofit organization committed to ending domestic violence by promoting safe and healthy relationships within the Asian Pacific Islander community. We are a leader in eliminating violence in the Asian-Pacific Islander community and share the expertise of our best practices with others. Using the strengths of the API community, AWUM will uphold an environment free of violence, promote self-sufficiency for women, and foster nurtured and healthy children and families. Our intention is to fill in a gap by providing domestic violence shelter and support to Asian women, including those of Hmong, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipina, Chinese, Lao, South Asian, Korean and Thai descent. While AWUM employs staff who are specially equipped to serve the unique needs of these populations, our domestic violence shelter is open to all women.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) relies on compassionate, diverse, and talented individuals to ensure that we provide the best services possible to every woman and child who seeks our help. Whether you’re looking for a career, part-time job, or internship, working at AWUM is a deeply rewarding experience. Everyone who is involved with our mission is a part of changing lives, not just for one woman or one child, but for the entire community. We truly are changing the world, one person at a time.

Wages & Benefits

$22.00 per hour; paid employee volunteer time; generous PTO policy; 9 paid holidays; competitive health, dental, vision insurance and life and disability benefits available to staff who work at least 20 hours per week; employer-sponsored retirement account with 4% match and immediate vesting, plus an additional 2% employer contribution after one year of service.

Schedule

This position is in-person and based in the House of Peace shelter. The shift for this role will be Monday-Friday from 3pm-11pm, however, depending on shelter needs, the Children's Advocate may need to work an occasional overnight, weekend, or holiday shift.

A Typical Day in the Life…

A typical day as AWUM’s Children’s Advocate provides an opportunity to deliver trauma-informed advocacy, support, and opportunities to children served at a 24/7/365 domestic violence shelter. The Children’s Advocate assists the residents with navigating systems and obtaining services that are appropriate to their unique situations and needs. Job responsibilities will include the following:

Coordination, Facilitation, and Case Advocacy

• Answering crisis calls and keeping the shelter locked and safe at all times.
• Maintaining records of participant progress including updating house log, change over, and night count.
• Contributing as an active team member to ensure effective delivery of services.
• Coordinating groups, programming, and individual activities to assist participants in establishing and maintaining positive life skills. This includes coordinating special events for holidays and children-specific programming such as art projects.
• Developing children (and possibly women) case plans and monitoring intervention strategies.
• Advocating on behalf of each child and woman along with the human services system and others.
• Assisting participants in finding assistance with community resources.
• For minor residents: ensuring they are enrolled in school, setting up transportation, maintaining medical records, and assisting with homework/school projects.
• Transporting clients in agency or personal vehicle as needed.
• Keeping Shelter Director informed of all progress and situations that may negatively affect the progress of the families.
• Meeting weekly with the Shelter Director and other team members for consultation.

Administrative Responsibilities

• Maintaining accurate daily contact, group attendance, and case plans.
• Maintaining records of participants’ current situation and progress.
• Maintaining required statistics and participant information for funding sources and internal accountability.
• Tracking volunteers assigned to groups and directing volunteer tasks to support residents.
• Entering required data into Client Track in a timely manner.

Community Outreach

• Pursuing community and social services resources appropriate to residents’ needs.

Facilities Management

• Assisting in the planning and implementation of unit, shelter, and resident special events.
• Attending all advocate and committee meetings.
• Providing facilities coverage as needed or directed by the Shelter Director.

Who You Are

• You hold a bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, sociology, criminal justice, or a relevant field, or you have demonstrably equivalent knowledge gained through alternative courses of study and life experience.
• You have the ability to speak Hmong, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, or Karen; highly preferred.
• You have previous knowledge and understanding of county, state, and federal assistance programs.
• You have the ability to work in crisis situations and work respectfully with different cultures, groups, and languages.
• You are skilled in planning and facilitating children/youth groups.
• You have prior knowledge of case management practices and trauma-informed advocacy for domestic violence survivors.
• You have demonstrated communication skills both verbally and in writing.
• You have a valid driver’s license, access to reliable transportation, and the ability to meet AWUM’s driving record requirements. Please note that if the license was not issued in the state of Minnesota, you have 60 days after becoming a Minnesota resident in which to apply for your Minnesota driver's license or permit (not applicable for new hires living out of state).

Please go to the AWUM Job Board to apply through our online applicant tracking system.

Diversity and open expression are fundamental to the work of AWUM. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment where everyone can belong. Every member of our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions. We welcome everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in our sector: individuals who identify as BIPOC, Indigenous or people of culture, LGBTQI and gender fluid or gender nonconforming, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, people of any age or family status. We encourage you to apply even if you feel like you don't fit 100% of the technical requirements. Equal Opportunity Employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, disability, marital status, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or a protected veteran’s status.

Our organization has a partnership with Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities (MACC) to provide administrative services including management of the recruiting process. If you apply for this position, you may see references to MACC in some online materials.

AWUM participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. See E-Verify’s official poster at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster_ES.pdf. See E-Verify’s Right to Work poster at https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster Eng_Es.pdf.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $22.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Day shift

Work Location: In person