Position Description: Youth Development Officer

Position Description

Role:Youth Development Officer

Department/Section:Community Development/Community Services

Reports to: Manager Community Services

Responsible for:Youth Program Officer x2

Casual staff

WORKING AT MOSMAN COUNCIL

Members of the Mosman Council staff team are expected to be:

  • Ethical
  • Excellent communicators
  • Committed to customer service
  • Technically and professionally competent, with a pride in keeping their knowledge current
  • Innovative and resourceful
  • Focussed on solutions
  • Team players

MAIN PURPOSE

This role’s main purpose is the positive development of young people in the Mosman community. The Youth Development Officer is responsible for driving strategic youth engagement, community development and social impact objectives. This requires leading the Youth Services team to undertake meaningful consultation with young people and stakeholders, and to plan, develop, manage and evaluate Council’s Youth services, programs and facilities to ensure they are high quality, well promoted and meet the needs of young people in Mosman.

The role has a strong regional presence working with external partners, including other Councils, in the provision of high profile initiatives for young people. The ability to communicate effectively, foster collaboration and build capacity with partners such as schools, agencies and community groups is a key component of the role. A sound understanding of community development principles, social impact measurement and marketing will assist the Youth Development Officer in building on the established infrastructure of this service.

Mosman Council’s Youth Services team runs a Youth Centre and provides programs for local young people during term time as well as activities during holidays. A focus is on increasing volume and diversity of participation across the service as well as consolidating initiatives such as Moscard and youth volunteering. Highly developed strategic thinking, project management and people management skills are required to consolidate and build on the existing Service.

The Youth team works alongside other Community Services teams as well as the Library, Cultural Services and Communications divisions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Lead and manage the staff and programs of the Youth Services team ensuring they are pro-active in meeting the needs of young people, are well promoted, effective and efficient
  • Supervise, inspire and support Youth Services staff to develop and implement strategies that facilitate robust youth development outcomes for young people, including thosewho may be marginalised or considered ‘at risk’, and ensure the service can respond to emerging needs
  • Ensure young people and other stakeholders are broadly and meaningfully consulted regularly. Utiliserecognised principles of community engagement to ensure consultation is integrated into planning and outcomes are reported back to the community
  • Encourage and foster the organised involvement of young people in the planning, promotion, provision and evaluation of programs and activities for young people both in the community and at the Youth Centre
  • Utilise the internal social impact measurement framework and key indicators as a point of reference to regularly monitor, evaluate and report on programs and services delivered. Apply findings tomaintain and enhance existing services, programs, policies and procedures, ensuring best practice service delivery
  • Facilitate partnerships with internal departments of Council as well as external stakeholders to meet emerging needs, increase awareness of services available to young people and enhance impact
  • Manage and supervise the operations of the Youth Centre, ensuring that it is well maintained and presented, accessible, safeand appropriately meetsthe needs of young people
  • Maximise access and outcomes for young people through managing relationships with community stakeholders, expanding promotion and delivering a range of centre based activities that proactively target diverse groups of young people
  • Participate in and contribute to the development and delivery of programs, strategy and advocacy work with schools, community groups and organisations as well asall levels of Government to address youth issuesand achieve collective impact at a local and regional level
  • Identify opportunities to support parents, care givers and those that work with young people either through the promotion of existing services, making referrals and connecting stakeholders or developing appropriate programs to be delivered directly
  • Ensure a comprehensive, up-to-date range of information relevant to the needs and interests of young people, is available and accessible. Monitor and measure the extent to which young people from Mosman are aware of information and services available to them and the degree to which they are likely to access it in order to improve access pathways
  • Strategically integrate marketing and communications tools across all programs to maximise community awareness and engagement with the service
  • Increase capacity to deliver services by evaluating and improving operational efficiency, optimising resources available (including internal software and online tools) and by pursuing revenue streams such as centre hire and grant funding
  • Provide support to other sections of Community Services and Council as directed by the Manager
  • Represent Council positively in all external forums. The position holder will be required to be aware of and support Council's rolein the community
  • Promptly and accurately register and record all IT and corporate related correspondence and documentation including emails into Council's electronic Corporate Information Management System (ECM) as required
  • Ensure all work is carried out in accordance with legislative, industrial and Council policy requirements and standards in the area of Equal Employment Opportunity

OTHER DUTIES

Other duties may be allocated by the Manager. These will be in accordance with the employee’s range of skills, competence, training and /or experience or be part of a training/development plan.

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY RESPONSIBILITIES

As a Youth Development Officer, this position shall be responsible for the day to day supervision of its workers, contractors and volunteers and for ensuring that all tasks are performed safely.

In particular, the Youth Development Officer shall, as far as is reasonably practicable:

  • Ensure as far as is reasonably practicable all tasks are performed in accordance with legislative requirements
  • Ensure as far as is reasonably practicable all tasks are performed in accordance with the safe work method statements and safe operating procedures
  • Verify the effectiveness of control measures at appropriate intervals – including monitoring compliance with safe work procedures, site induction requirements and permits to work
  • Respond to issues raised through the consultative process and ensure appropriate actions are taken when it relates to their area of influence and responsibility
  • Review all Council activities within their area of responsibility and undertake steps to improve safety
  • Conduct regular WHS inspections of immediate work area and take necessary corrective action
  • Promote WHS with workers, contractors, volunteers and the public
  • Ensure as far as is reasonably practicable reported hazards and other WHS issues are dealt with immediately or discussed with Managers without delay
  • Facilitate and support workers, contractors and volunteers participation in relevant WHS training
  • Support all injured persons and ensure they are adequately cared for immediately following an accident
  • Investigate incidents and near misses, take action and/or make recommendations to ensure they are mitigated and do not re-occur
  • Keep the managers informed on all aspects of implementation of the WHS Corporate Practice within their area of responsibility
  • Fulfil ‘worker’ WHS responsibilities as listed in Mosman Council’s Work Health and Safety Corporate Practice

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES (Selection Criteria)

Essential:

  • Tertiary qualifications in Community Development, Social Sciences or related discipline anddemonstrated experience in related field
  • A significant level of experience and expertise in community development for young people and the delivery of youth services with a focus on social impact, including consultation, participation, ownership, evaluation, measurement and reporting. The ability to integratestrategic planning, marketing, budget preparation and management into this process is required
  • Outstanding staff leadership and community mobilisation skills. Demonstrated ability to lead teams, drive strategy,oversee multiple projects and empower individuals to deliver tangible and meaningful results
  • Excellent communication and inter-personal skills with track record of using these to consult, advise, influence and engage a diverse range of stakeholders using a variety of tools. Evidence of the ability to prepare and edit a variety of written content to a high standard is desirable
  • Exemplary stakeholder management skills with ability to successfully identify appropriate partners, build relationships, facilitate collaboration and drive collective impact
  • Strong understanding of marketing and the ability to strategically utilise appropriate tools, including traditional and new media, to engage stakeholders and get results
  • Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills which can be applied to identify potential gaps or barriers, manage risk and mitigate issues effectively
  • Strong time, change, organisational, planning and people management skills including competence in leading meetings, monitoring WHS, utilising technology and staff performance management
  • Current Class C driver’s licence
  • First aid qualification
  • Satisfactory Working with Children Check

Desirable:

  • Knowledge of youth services in a local government context
  • Current LR driver’s licence

Conditions of Employment

Mosman Council operates under the Local Government (State) Award 2017

Hours: / 140hours over a 4 week period across a 7 day spread of hours
Status: / Permanent, full-time
Qualifications: / Tertiary qualifications in Community Development, Social Sciences or related discipline
Experience: / Significant level of experience and expertise at the team leader level in community development for young people and the delivery of youth services
Commencing
Salary / Range: / Group GCouncil Salary System plus Superannuation
Band 3, Level 3
Position Approved By: / Director Community Development
Approved Date: / November 2017

Employee only:

I have read and understand the contents of this position description and undertake to meet the responsibilities in an appropriate manner.

Employee’s name (printed) ………………………………………………………………………………

Employee’s signature ………………………………………….. Date ………………………………...

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