AmeriCorps - Public Health Youth Engagement Specialist - Maine

Members implement best practices to build relationships with a portfolio of youth impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Utilizing data to inform practice, members: prioritize youth voice in order to increase social and emotional skills; engage youth in cohort-based programming; bring together diverse youth, helping them learn to rely on each other, and inspiring problem-solving and listening skills amongst peers; create safe spaces for youth to take risks, reflect, and share personal experiences in groups; involve youth in experiential learning, allowing them to discover what youth are interested in, encouraging them to explore new things, and providing youth with opportunities to make decisions about what they want to do and how; engage youth in both setting and managing academic and life goals, breaking them down and helping them to reflect on successes and challenges; encourage a growth mindset by reframing challenges and providing youth with feedback.

Goodwill NNE’s Public Health AmeriCorps (PHA) program places members with community organizations in Maine to address CDC determined public health needs for the most underserved populations. Maine communities are home to pockets of refugees and immigrants, in cities and towns like Lewiston, Portland, and Cherryfield, ME. New American youth face significant barriers to success—often influenced by trauma and chaos in their past, learning a new language, and adapting to a new culture—and frequently enter the education system significantly behind their peers. Public Health Youth Development members strive to narrow this gap by increasing social and emotional skills and academic engagement among students, grades 4-12, who have been impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including immigrant and refugee youth and members of the Wabanaki tribe (grades 4–12). PHA members work with community partner agencies to develop and carry out localized, evidence-based interventions, directly serving youth while increasing organizational capacity. Member placements in Greater Portland include Portland Public School; Gateway Community Services; Portland Housing Authority; Baxter Academy for Technology and Science; Center for Grieving Children; Memorial Middle and South Portland High Schools; My Place Teen Centers; and Intercultural Community Center. Coastal sites include Washington Academy and Maine Seacoast Mission in the Downeast region and Brunswick High School and UMaine 4-H in MidCoast, ME. Placements in the Lakes and Mountain region include Lewiston High School; UMaine Extension; Molly Ockett School; RSU 10; RSU 4; and Durham Community School. YMCA River Runners is located in the Maine Highlands region and Kennebec Valley hosts Maine Academy of Natural Sciences.

Already have a MyAmeriCorps account and want to apply for this specific role? You can find that listing on MyAmeriCorps here.