Volunteer Coordinator

Kandelia’s mission is to address systemic inequities so immigrant and refugee families and communities can thrive without having to compromise values, heritage or ethnicity. For over 15 years, Kandelia has worked in partnership with Seattle World School (SWS) to provide high quality youth enrichment programs to all students and families enrolled in the school. SWS is the only public school in King County designed as a preliminary entry point for refugee and immigrant children of middle and high school age: 100% of students have immigrant or refugee status and 97% identify as a student of color. Our Youth Enrichment Programs offer a model that bridges in-school and out-of-school learning time across multiple school and community partners.

Our Youth Enrichment Program has a proven track record – to date, more than 80% of students have increased their English and math scores by the equivalent of one or more grade levels each year as measured by standardized tests. Active Kandelia students have consistently increased their school-day attendance rates compared to their peers. In 2014, an independent evaluator found that students who participated in our programs consistently scored higher (an average of half a grade level) on math and English standardized tests compared to their peers.

Position Overview

Annual salary range: $45,000 – $49,500

Full-time employees are eligible for health insurance, PTO, Sick Days, and Holidays.

Location:

Remote until January 2021, with some days required at Seattle World School. After January 2021 (if state laws permit), primarily at Seattle World School once possible under school and district Covid-19 guidelines, with some regular meetings at the Kandelia office in Columbia City.

Hours:

Hours: Full-time Monday through Friday, with some flexibility, occasional Saturdays (with comp time)

Kandelia is seeking a mission-driven, service-oriented, enterprising Volunteer Coordinator who will support this vision by serving as a front-facing ambassador for Kandelia. The primary focus of this position is to support the needs of refugee and immigrant youth and families through high-quality volunteer placements and coordination. The Volunteer Coordinator will be supervised by the Youth Program Manager to ensure smooth and consistent operations of Kandelia’s volunteer program, which includes recruitment, onboarding, supervision, evaluation and appreciation. This position will exercise a high degree of independent decision-making and autonomy in regards to their daily interaction with volunteers.

Core Responsibilities

Management Systems

Coordinate volunteer efforts to support the needs of refugee and immigrant youth through school/community-based programs including School-Day Support for teachers, and afterschool programming.

 

  • Organize and facilitate onboarding and orientation sessions for new volunteers. These sessions should cover: background of Kandelia and Partner Schools (SWS), demographics, volunteer handbook, code of conduct, volunteer expectations, working with English language learners, a tour of the school, signing in and out, how to log hours, signing up for volunteer opportunities, evaluations, important contacts.
  • Conduct and file background checks for volunteers.
  • Manage placement and scheduling to match volunteer skills/experiences to needs and opportunities.
  • Provide supervision and ongoing support to volunteers, including communications (e.g., emails, front desk), troubleshooting (scheduling conflicts, volunteer placement, code of conduct), and identifying appropriate training and opportunities

Partnerships and Deliverables

Provide oversight and management of Kandelia’s volunteer program while cultivating relationships with Kandelia’s Community of supporters, including school, community partners, and University Partner (UW, SU, Bellevue). Work closely with the Community engagement team to build a thriving ecosystem of support

  • Provide ongoing evaluations on the effectiveness of the volunteer program and recommend/implement improvements as necessary
  • Actively Participate in Recruitment of new streams of volunteers from the community.
  • Ensure volunteer program policies and practices are in compliance with Seattle Public Schools, the City of Seattle, and other funders/partners
  • Complete service-learning evaluations, including attendance tracking and performance, for the University of Washington, Seattle University, Bellevue Colleges and other external partners as required
  • Ensure quality and accuracy of Kandelia’s donor and volunteer Frontstream database, which is used to track campaigns, event activity and resources raised
  • Ensure Quality and Accuracy of external databases that are directly tied with Kandelia volunteers (the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Public Schools etc.)
  • Work with the Kandelia team to adapt and align the volunteer program to meet evolving Kandelia and community needs
  • Work alongside Community Engagement Manager to engage volunteers with Personal Campaigns
  • Oversee volunteer appreciation to create an ever-growing sense of community with those that choose to work with us

Qualifications

  • Professional experience in volunteer administration, volunteer recruitment, experience in schools, or experience in youth development programs is expected
  • Demonstrated ability to work with teachers, students, volunteers, and partners
  • Demonstrated ability to generate and deliver engaging training for volunteers
  • Demonstrated ability to work with diverse populations and diverse learners, especially ELL students and immigrant and refugee students
  • Experience with online learning and virtual programming
  • Must have ability to prioritize multiple assignments; work independently and collaboratively; communicate about challenges; plan; and most importantly, follow through
  • Highly proficient computer skills in Zoom, Google Suite (Gmail, calendar, forms and Drive) and Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and their Google Docs equivalents).
  • Experience planning, tracking, and delivering program content and data
  • Experience adapting and designing engaging trainings and presentations for diverse learning styles
  • Bilingual fluency in Spanish, Maya Quiche, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Tigrinya, Russian or Ukrainian is a plus.
  • Experience in urban education is a plus, whether as a professional or as a student
  • Previous experience in Seattle Public Schools preferred

Other Requirements

  • Legal clearance to work with minors and within the school is non-negotiable and you must pass a background check and any other tests required by Seattle Public Schools or government partners.
  • Strong ethics, maturity, and appropriate boundaries for adult interactions with minors, including compliance with all Seattle Public Schools HR and reporting requirements
  • Must be available to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends
  • Physical demands include working at the computer but also loading and transporting supplies (boxes up to 50 pounds, paper, printers, supplies, technology, t-shirts, food, etc.)

Characteristics

  • Strong connection to the Kandelia mission
  • Empathy, humility, flexibility and willingness to serve and lead in a fast-moving and oftenchallenging public school environment
  • Enterprising, outgoing communication style that draws people to our mission
  • Ability to prioritize multiple events and goals at once – highly organized approach to planning time
  • Positive, solution-oriented approach in a team working toward common goals
  • Cultural competency learned from experience with diverse needs, challenges and communication styles
  • Strong interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
  • Fast learner who takes joy in new challenges and in learning and asking the right questions
  • Ability to operationalize and see through ideas; think and work flexibly with new challenges
  • Strong work and financial ethics
  • Kindness, discretion, and patience in helping students and families with problems and life challenges that require sensitivity, care and understanding
  • Must have the utmost integrity and an ability to process, protect and exercise discretion in handling confidential information and materials
  • Professional and ethical commitment to student protection and student privacy.

Hiring Process

To apply, submit a cover letter and resume to hr@kandelia.org.

The position will begin as soon as October 2020, pending candidate’s availability. Qualified candidates must be available for up to 2 interviews, likely in consecutive weeks, through Zoom.

Kandelia is an equal opportunity employer.