What Will You Do?
As an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow with Minnesota Alliance With Youth, you will join a statewide cohort of Promise Fellows supporting 6th - 12th-grade students. You will train alongside other individuals that have answered the call to serve, providing direct support for up to 30 students during the school year (September 1st - May 31st, with the option of extending through the summer). Promise Fellows support students in the areas of:
Attendance: Provide attendance coaching, call home if students miss class, and increase student attendance by creating a caring adult relationship.
Engagement: Provide avenues for increased youth engagement in school and the broader community by coordinating programs like lunchtime mentoring, book clubs, promoting youth leadership development, and connecting youth with civic opportunities.
Course Performance: Help students set academic goals and provide before, in, and after school educational support for individuals and small groups as students work towards their goals.
AmeriCorps Promise Fellows spend a school year helping a small group of Minnesota students in grades 6 to 12 get the education they need to start off strong in life. Much more than a tutor, AmeriCorps Promise Fellows use the proven Promise Fellow Model for youth support to provide one-on-one support for students who are struggling in school. As a Promise Fellow, you will foster your student’s unique talents, honor their voices, and help them prepare for graduation and beyond.
What Benefits Will You Receive?
AmeriCorps Living Stipend: $773.33 twice per month for 35hrs/week, $580 twice per month for 25hrs/week, and $435 twice per month for 18hrs/week
AmeriCorps Education Award: $4,826.50 Education Award upon successful completion of service. This award can be used toward federally qualifying student loans (federal student financial aid loans, not including ParentPlus loans) or future qualified post-secondary education. ($3,447.50 ed award for 25hrs/week, $2,626.27 for 18hrs/week)
Benefits: 5-20 Flex days (must be approved by Alliance and Host Site), Health and dental insurance, qualified student loan forbearance, qualified child care assistance, AmeriCoach life coach, TAP transportation card (metro area), support applying for SNAP benefits.
Service Activities
Essential Functions: Promise Fellows will support and deliver a variety of activities to support students. These activities include:
• Build and foster strong relationships with their selected students
• Coordinate and deliver in and out of school time academic enrichment activities with the goal that at least 30 youth in grades 6 – 10 will experience academic gains.
• Meet regularly with Youth Success Team to review data and identify youth to serve; track student progress; and determine which interventions to connect to individual students or groups of students.
• Develop and organize projects that engage youth participants in service and leadership activities .
• Recruit and/or support community volunteers, including family members, to work with youth participants in areas such as mentoring, tutoring, civic engagement, and college/career exploration.
• Provide attendance and behavior coaching for students targeted for needing assistance as determined through the multi-tiered system of support approach; promote positive behavior expectations.
• Maintain program records, complete ongoing youth assessments and submit weekly and monthly reports using an online database system with support from site supervisor and site coordinator.
• Participate in all required Alliance, AmeriCorps, and Host Site meetings and assignments.
Marginal Functions:
• Support teachers and other school and community members to determine the best local dropout prevention strategies, including how community volunteers will help address the needs of the targeted youth.
• Organize field trips and other special events to make learning and being at school more engaging and relevant to youth who are disengaged and at risk of dropping out.
Community Need Addressed
Since 1997, Minnesota Alliance With Youth has been working with young people, their schools, and communities to ensure that innovative approaches inspire academic and civic engagement. In 1999, the Alliance launched the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow program which has become a statewide initiative to support students to get on track or stay on track to graduate from high school.
The Alliance is Minnesota’s leading youth development capacity-builder, convener, and collaborator. The Alliance catalyzes communities, to help all Minnesota youth graduate from high school with plans for ongoing success in school, work, and life.
Position Outcomes
The goal of a Fellow's service is to build relationships with youth and support them to engage in school, ultimately increasing graduation rates and decreasing the achievement gap.
Benefits
Childcare assistance if eligible, Education award upon successful completion of service, Health coverage, Living allowance, Student loan forbearance, Training
What Benefits Will You Receive?
AmeriCorps Living Stipend: $773.33 twice per month for 35hrs/week, $580 twice per month for 25hrs/week, and $435 twice per month for 18hrs/week
AmeriCorps Education Award: $4,826.50 Education Award upon successful completion of service. This award can be used toward federally qualifying student loans (federal student financial aid loans, not including ParentPlus loans) or future qualified post-secondary education. ($3,447.50 ed award for 25hrs/week, $2,626.27 for 18hrs/week)
Benefits: 5-20 Flex days (must be approved by Alliance and Host Site), Health and dental insurance, qualified student loan forbearance, qualified child care assistance, AmeriCoach life coach, TAP transportation card (metro area), support applying for SNAP benefits.
Skills you will gain
Conflict resolution, project management, volunteer coordination, monitoring & evaluation, coaching/mentoring
Competencies You Will Develop
Communication
Demonstrate sensitivity and empathy, Listen to and consider others' viewpoints, Maintain open lines of communication with others
Creativity & Problem Solving
Able to identify and define the problem, Capable of generating possible solutions, Communicate the problem to appropriate personnel, Improvise, Select and implement well-considered solution
Teamwork
Develop constructive working relationships and maintain them over time, Establish a high degree of trust and credibility with others, Interact professionally and respectfully with supervisors and co-workers, Use appropriate strategies and solutions for dealing with conflicts and differences to maintain a smooth workflow
Decisions
Accepts responsibility, Anticipate the consequences of decisions, Identify and prioritize the key issues involved to facilitate the decision making process, Involve people appropriately in decisions that may impact them, Quickly respond with a back-up plan if a decision goes amiss
Tools
Operate tools and equipment in accordance with established operating procedures, safety standards, and ethical guidelines
Planning
Able to prioritize various competing tasks, Create plan of action, schedule tasks so that work is completed on time, Demonstrate the effective allocation of time and resources efficiently, Facilitate group planning, Set goals
Service
Be pleasant, courteous, professional and respectful when dealing with internal and external customers or clients, Honor the privilege of being able to work with and for those being served, Recognize the importance of maintaining privacy and confidentiality of those being served, Understand and anticipate the needs of others, Understand the importance of one's role in the functioning of the organization, Understand the significance of maintaining a healthful and safe environment