Inclusion Specialist
CVS Summer Internship Program
10-15 hours per week
Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) empowers youth with disabilities to reach their full potential by providing transformative mentoring programs, youth development opportunities, and inclusion expertise. We motivate youth to reach their personal, educational, and career goals and guide organizations in becoming more inclusive.
PYD was incorporated in 1985 and has grown to serve hundreds of youth with disabilities and their families in Massachusetts. In 2005, PYD founded the National Center for Mentoring Youth with Disabilities, which provides inclusion training and technical assistance to other agencies throughout the country. PYD has a staff of eleven and an operating budget of just over one million dollars.
PYD is collaborating in summer 2015 with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) on a Summer Internship program with CVS stores. The target population is MRC consumers who have completed their junior or senior year of high school. The objective of the MRC Summer Internship Program is to further develop interns’ employment and career development skills through internship placements at Boston area CVS stores. Inclusion Specialists will serve as classroom support staff during the student internship training, and then will serve as Job Coaches for interns throughout the summer internship.
Key duties of the Inclusion Specialist include, but are not limited to:
Week of June 22,, 2015 or June 29, 2015 (3 hours-Evening times will be available)
• Attend 3 hour staff training at the PYD offices which will include program overview, expectations, and classroom/site assignments.
July 6, 2015 and July 17, 2015 (15 hours per week)
• Provide daily classroom support to students during training at MRC offices (training will be led by CompuWorks), which will include helping students stay on task and encouraging participation in training.
• Provide one to one instruction during training for students needing additional supports to access the curriculum.
• Differentiate curriculum during trainings as need for individual participants.
• Provide emotional and behavioral supports to students needed during training.
• Meet with each intern (10) on their Job Coaching caseload for initial introductions and goal setting.
• Consult with CompuWorks trainers on recommendations for classroom/curriculum accommodations and modifications as needed.
Week of July 20, 2015 (15 hours)
• Visit each intern (10) in person at mutually agreed upon location for a 30-45 minute meeting.
• Call each intern daily (15-20 minutes) during their first week of work (call on days they are working during that week).
• Review interns’ goals and discuss internship expectations and responsibilities.
• Provide additional coaching on promptness, follow through, professional behavior, and soft skills.
• Develop a plan with intern for weekly in person check in.
July 27, 2015- August 21, 2015 (Average 10 hours per week)
• Check in weekly (30-45 minutes) in person at a mutually agreed upon locations. Check-ins will include coaching on promptness, follow through, professional behavior and soft skills (guidelines for check in meetings will be provided).
• Provide additional individualized supports as needed for interns. For example, this could include the development of performance or behavioral improvement plan for an intern.
• Complete a weekly communication report that details communication with each intern. This will be submitted to the Summer Deputy Director each week.
Week of August 24, 2015 (15 hours)
• Check in with each intern in person at mutual agreed upon locations (30-45 minutes).
• Review interns’ goals and debrief the internship experience.
• Develop a set of next steps and job goals for the future.
• Complete end of summer report for PYD staff and participate in PYD summer program evaluation.
Qualifications:
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience with and passion for working with youth with disabilities.
• BA/BS and 2-3 years work experience in the education and/or disability field.
• Detail-oriented.
• Ability to effectively manage time and meet competing demands.
• Ability to think outside of the box.
• Flexibility and a good sense of humor.
• Must be able to independently navigate to MRC offices in the Greater Boston area for intern training sessions.
• Must be able to independently navigate to multiple locations for in person meetings with interns throughout the Greater Boston area for site visits.
• Must be able to attend staff training at PYD offices during the week of June 22nd or 29th (Evening times will be available).
• Must be able to attend a mid-summer staff meeting at PYD offices in the South End.
Compensation:
This is a temporary non-benefits eligible position paying up to $35 per hour.
To apply:
Please send a resume and cover letter to Marissa Drossos at mdrossos@pyd.org by May 31st.
At Partners for Youth with Disabilities, we welcome and include people of all abilities, identities, and backgrounds. We believe that a diverse and fully inclusive organization empowers individuals, heals communities, and creates a better world for us all. As such, we are committed to equal opportunity and the diversity of our workforce and do not exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against any person on account of that individual’s gender, race, color, religion, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status or any other protected category under applicable law.