Children's Advocate

Who We Are

Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) is a community-based, nonprofit organization committed to ending domestic violence by promoting safe and healthy relationships within the Asian Pacific Islander community. We are a leader in eliminating violence in the Asian-Pacific Islander community, and share the expertise of our best practices with others. Using the strengths of the API community, AWUM will uphold an environment free of violence, promote self-sufficiency for women, and foster nurtured and healthy children and families. Our intention is to fill in a gap by providing domestic violence shelter and support to Asian women, including those of Hmong, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipina, Chinese, Lao, South Asian, Korean and Thai descent. While AWUM employs staff who are specially equipped to serve the unique needs of these populations, our domestic violence shelter is open to all women.

Why You'll Love Working Here

Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) relies on compassionate, diverse, and talented individuals to ensure that we provide the best services possible to every woman and child who seeks our help. Whether you're looking for a career, part-time job, or internship, working at AWUM is a deeply rewarding experience. Everyone who is involved with our mission is a part of changing lives, not just for one woman or one child, but for the entire community. We truly are changing the world, one person at a time.

Wages

$22 per hour

Benefits

Generous paid time off (PTO) policies, plus nine paid holidays per year and two floating holidays; competitive health, dental, and vision insurance offerings. There is employer paid basic life insurance with the option for additional coverage paid by the employee. The employer pays for Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) and long-term disability insurance. AWUM sponsors a retirement plan with 4% employer match plus a 2% employer contribution after one year of service and immediate vesting.

A Typical Day in the Life...

A typical day as AWUM's Children's Advocate involves providing trauma-informed advocacy, support, and services to children (and sometimes their mothers) in a 24/7 domestic violence shelter, ensuring safety and confidentiality, coordinating developmental activities, and maintaining documentation for case continuity. Responsibilities will include the following:

Coordination, Facilitation, and Case Advocacy

• Answer crisis calls and ensure the shelter is always locked and safe.
• Maintain accurate daily contact logs and group attendance for participants.
• Keep complete records of each child's current situation and progress, including updates to the house log, changeover notes, and night count.
• Plan and coordinate groups, programs, and activities to help participants build and maintain positive life skills, including holiday events and children-specific programming like art projects.
• Develop case plans for children and, when needed, for women, and monitor progress throughout the process.
• Advocate for each child and woman within the human services system and with other organizations.
• Help children and women access community resources as needed.
• Ensure minor residents are enrolled in school, arrange transportation, maintain medical records, and provide homework or school project assistance.
• Transport clients in an agency or personal vehicle when necessary.
• Keep the Shelter Director informed about progress and any issues that might affect families.
• Meet weekly with the Shelter Director and other team members to discuss progress and challenges.

Administrative Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate daily contact logs, group attendance records, and case plans.
• Keep detailed records of each child's and woman's current situation and progress.
• Prepare and maintain the statistics and participant information required for funding sources and internal reporting.
• Track volunteer involvement in groups and assign volunteer tasks to support residents.

Community Outreach

• Seek out community and social service resources that meet residents' needs.

Facilities Management

• Assist in planning and implementing special events for the unit, shelter, and residents.
• Attend all advocate and committee meetings.
• Provide coverage for facility needs as directed by the Shelter Director.

Who You Are

• Most importantly, you must love children!
• You have a Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Psychology, Sociology, Criminal Justice, or a relevant field, or equivalent knowledge gained through alternative education and life experience.
• Preferably, you can speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, or Karen.
• You have knowledge of the county, state, and federal assistance programs.
• You're able to work effectively in crisis situations and respectfully with people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and languages.
• You possess strong skills in planning and facilitating groups for children and youth.
• You have knowledge of case management practices and trauma-informed advocacy for domestic violence survivors.
• Your communication skills are effective, both verbal and written.
• You hold a valid driver's license, access to reliable transportation, and the ability to meet AWUM's driving record requirements. Please note that if the license was not issued in the state of Minnesota, you have 60 days after becoming a Minnesota resident in which to apply for your Minnesota driver's license or permit.

Diversity and open expression are fundamental to the work of AWUM. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment where everyone can belong. Every member of our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions. We welcome everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in our sector: individuals who identify as BIPOC, Indigenous or people of culture, LGBTQI+ and gender fluid or gender nonconforming, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, people of any age or family status. We encourage you to apply even if you feel like you don't fit 100% of the technical requirements. Equal Opportunity Employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, disability, marital status, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or a protected veteran's status.

Our organization has a partnership with Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities (MACC) to provide administrative services including management of the hiring process. If you apply for this position, you may see references to MACC in some online materials.

AWUM participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. See E-Verify's official poster at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster_ES.pdf. See E-Verify's Right to Work poster at https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf.