Refugee Youth Success Coach - Unpaid Intern

BACKGROUND:  
The staff of the IRC Dallas office works as a team to provide comprehensive resettlement services- including case management, employment, immigration, and mental health services to newly arrived refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking as they begin to rebuild their lives in the Dallas area.   

SCOPE OF WORK: 
The goal of the Refugee Youth Mentorship Program (RYMP) is to help recently arrived refugee youth between the ages of 15-21 by providing the tools and opportunities they need to grow in their academics, regulate emotions, maintain positive cultural identity and expand their social circles. Each client is paired with a Success Coach who meets the client in their home regularly. The Success Coach guides and empowers clients to thrive in their new setting by overcoming barriers and assisting them to reach their short-term goals. The Success Coach works directly with the client, their families, school personnel and community partners as an advocate, liaison, and mentor/coach. Each Success Coach supports between 8-10 clients consistently throughout the duration of the internship.  

The intern will serve as the central point of contact, providing support services to students through weekly home visits, advocacy, and case management. The intern will receive reimbursement for travel expenses and other approved program expenses. The intern position is for the duration of January 2025 to August 2025 and includes evening hours when school is in session. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: 
Conduct client and caregiver assessments in order to set a baseline for growth and a starting point for service provision.  
Establish a service plan with newly arrived refugee youth; provide mentoring, guidance, and psychosocial support to aid clients in reaching goals in their service plans.
Facilitate caregiver involvement in clients’ education through phone calls, home visits, and other mechanisms, including teaching caregivers how to access their parent portals, attending Parent/Teacher conferences and IRC Caregiver Workshops. 
Screen clients for emotional distress and mental health; make referrals to the Mental Health Department.
Facilitate activities to teach positive coping mechanisms. 
Track grades and attendance, advocate for and connect clients to relevant resources such as counselors, coaches, tutoring programs and extra-curricular activities. 
Invite and encourage clients to attend group activities.
Collaborate with external organizations and internal departments to connect families to necessary resources through referrals.
Provide guidance on study practices and homework completion to help clients succeed academically.
Arrange interpretation to provide services and information in the student’s language.
Maintain comprehensive case notes, update case files, and regularly update service plans to respond to clients’ academic, material, and case management needs. 
Participate in staff development and team meetings.   
Minimum Qualifications:

 REQUIREMENTS: 
Interns must work at least 15 hours each week, 3-4 evenings a week in students’ homes from 5:00 PM –7:30 PM in addition to office hours. Interns will work a majority of hours in-person. RYMP requires one Saturday a month spent attending field trips in locations around Texas.
The ability to travel regularly throughout the service delivery area (mainly Dallas but extends to surrounding areas). 
Covid vaccination is not required, but highly encouraged.
Understanding of the need to approach and apply case management methods with the goal of client self-sufficiency and sustainability.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: 
Experience working with youth, specifically in the context of educational and social programs.
Experience working with refugee and/or immigrant populations. 
Fluency in a second language such as Pashto, Dari, Farsi, Urdu, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, French, Spanish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Burmese, Rohingya is highly desirable. 

DEMONSTRATED SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES:   
Detail-oriented with the proven ability to meet deadlines, communicate effectively across departments, and demonstrate a positive attitude. 
Works well independently.
Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook) and navigating platforms such as Teams.
Reliable self- starter with excellent problem-solving skills combined with the proven ability to multitask, prioritize duties, and manage time effectively. 
Patience and resourcefulness.

Standard of Professional Conduct:The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.