Street Outreach Specialist II

The Street Outreach Specialist conducts face-to-face, street-based engagement with youth and young adults under age 22 across Essex, Hudson, Union, Morris, and Passaic Counties who have left home due to family conflict or other crisis, are experiencing homelessness or housing instability, or are living on the street. The Street Outreach Specialist builds trusting relationships with youth where they gather, provides gateway services and safety information, screens for sexual abuse and sexual and labor exploitation and trafficking, and connects youth to emergency shelter, safe and stable housing, and community-based services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The position operates within a Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework and a trauma-informed model of care, helping young people leave the streets, work toward permanency including family reunification where appropriate, and prepare for independence.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct scheduled, recurring face-to-face street outreach at identified locations across the five-county service area where youth gather, including transit hubs, commercial corridors, encampments, and parks, on a consistent published schedule adjusted for seasonal patterns and youth-reported information.
• Apply youth-focused engagement strategies tailored to each young person's needs, readiness, and circumstances rather than a single standardized approach.
• Facilitate youth access to emergency shelter or safe, stable housing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through immediate placement at Covenant House New Jersey facilities and referral to partner shelters.
• Provide immediate basic needs during street engagement - food, drink, clothing, seasonal gear, hygiene products, and transportation and distribute basic need packs with hygiene supplies, snacks, socks, and branded materials carrying program contact information.
• Operate agency vehicles to reach outreach sites, transport youth to shelter and appointments, and carry supplies
• Administer a standardized assessment during street engagement or intake, evaluating each youth's strengths, goals, and immediate needs physical and behavioral health, substance use, trauma, safety, victimization, family connection and conflict, neglect or abuse, and access to resources - and assess the distinct needs of subpopulations, including pregnant and parenting, system-involved, and trafficked or exploited youth.
• Use the Quick Youth Indicators for Trafficking (QYIT) tool to identify labor and sex trafficking concerns
• Assess for foster care history and reunification potential, prioritizing reunification with an adult who has the youth's best interests in mind and can provide safe, stable housing.
• Comply with all mandated reporting requirements, including reporting suspected child labor and sex trafficking as child abuse and neglect under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
• Develop individualized street-based safety plans with each youth engaged and educate youth on reducing risk of violence, sexual exploitation, trafficking, sexual assault, unplanned pregnancy, substance use, and other risks of street life.
• Provide case management to youth needing assistance with physical, emotional, and behavioral health, access to resources, and engagement with service providers, and develop plans for permanent housing.
• Provide follow-up services to youth engaged through street outreach and assess youth progress after safety and resource referrals are made.
• Coordinate services and referrals with entities serving the same or similar populations, including DCP&P, juvenile justice, schools and McKinney-Vento liaisons, and the Continuums of Care serving the five-county area; refer youth to social services, health care and insurance enrollment, behavioral health and substance use treatment, education and employment training, legal services, public benefits including SNAP and TANF, and child care.
• Take steps to return youth missing from the jurisdiction or placement of the juvenile justice or child welfare systems and assist youth exiting foster care in accessing eligible benefits, including medical assistance, Foster Youth to Independence and Family Unification vouchers, Chafee grants, and Title IV-E re-entry.
• Deliver universal education on human trafficking to all clients' information, safety messaging, and resource connections regardless of disclosure or identified risk and coordinate with the National Runaway Safeline to share resources and respond to referrals.
• Adhere to staff safety protocols, including team-based outreach, check-in and check-out procedures, route planning, and incident reporting.
• Coordinate with local law enforcement partners across the five counties including joint outreach in high-concentration areas.
• Conduct community education and awareness activities, including distribution of materials in public spaces, school and community events, and social media content; build relationships with youth-serving, sexual violence response, and anti-trafficking organizations, law enforcement, health care, legal, and public benefits agencies.
• Integrate human trafficking information into all outreach activities, including how to recognize trafficking schemes, seek help, and access services through the CHNJ Human Trafficking Victim Services Call Center.
• Partner with youth and young adults with lived experience of homelessness to connect with other youth and shape outreach, engagement, and awareness approaches grounded in youth voice.
• Enter accurate, timely contact, assessment, service, and outcome data into RHY-HMIS; safeguard protected personally identifiable information
• Participate in required training as assigned, including the annual in-person RHY National Grantee Training, regional trainings through RHYTTAC, learning collaboratives, and peer engagement activities.
• Enter accurate and timely information in ETO (Efforts to Outcome) data system
• Respond to work emails and phone calls daily
• Must work flexible days, including weekends and evenings when necessary
• Any other tasks as assigned by the supervisor

Applicant Must be available to work the following schedule: Monday thru Friday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (with occasional flexibility)

* This Position is a 3 Year Grant Funded Position which May or May not be renewed.

Salary $57,500

Keyword: Public speaking, outreach, community
Required Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in social work, human services, psychology, counseling, criminal justice, or a related field; or an associate degree plus two years of relevant experience; or four years of experience with runaway and homeless youth or youth who have experienced trafficking.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and build trust with young people who are disconnected from services, and working knowledge of trauma-informed care and Positive Youth Development principles.
• Work is performed primarily in the field and requires extended walking and standing, outdoor work in varied weather, driving throughout the five-county service area, lifting and carrying outreach supplies, and entering locations where youth congregate, including transit facilities, encampments, and other unsheltered settings. Working conditions require exposure to youth in acute crisis and to accounts of abuse, exploitation, and trauma.
• Valid New Jersey driver's license, satisfactory driving record, and willingness to drive agency vehicles throughout the service area on a variable schedule including evenings, overnights, weekends, and holidays.
• Proficiency with electronic case management or client data systems and Microsoft Office.
• Successful completion of pre-employment background checks, including criminal history and child abuse record information clearances, and a pre-employment physical.
• Bilingual English/Spanish or another language spoken in the service area preferred.
• Lived experience of homelessness, housing instability, or the child welfare or juvenile justice system preferred.
• Experience with HMIS or RHY-HMIS data entry; familiarity with the Continuums of Care, shelter systems, and youth-serving networks in the service area.

From: Covenant House of NJ