Good Shepherd Volunteers – CORA Services in Philadelphia

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Program Timing: Ongoing / Location: Philadelphia, PA

Developing relationships with the marginalized of our world empowers volunteers to grow in knowledge and faith that inspires them to lead a life of seeking justice. Volunteers are provided housing, health insurance, and a small monthly stipend. They live in intentional community, sharing formation, education, support, and daily life with fellow volunteers. Each volunteer works a full-time schedule, of 35-40 hours per week.

Cora Services:: https://www.coraservices.org/
For 50 years CORA Services has been helping children and families in and around the Philadelphia region. Today our staff impact the lives of more than 20,000 children, youth and families every year, guided by the tagline “Children are the Heart of the Matter.”

CORA Services provides school-based academic support, counseling, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language services, psychological services, truancy services, and behavior assessment and case management. In addition, CORA offer individual, group and family counseling, mental health treatment, substance use services, teen/young adult pregnancy services, intensive prevention services, early intervention, after-school and summer programming, as well as high-quality Early Childhood Education.

CORA means Counseling Or Referral Assistance. We aim to serve all families. If CORA Services cannot fill an unmet need, we will assist individuals and families with finding the help they need and provide referrals for appropriate services.

We have the following opportunities available for volunteer opportunities:
• Case Manager—this position works in our Truancy department, engaging clients, their families and other significant persons in a collaborative relationship that will enhance the potential for the client’s completion of service with positive outcomes. Staff work collaboratively with the family and court representative in the implementation of a plan with the goal of returning the child to regular school attendance. This role also helps connect clients to available community resources and facilitate client/family access to appropriate resources and services necessary to support and supplement service goals. This role involves providing services where it is most conducive to achieving desired goals, which includes and is not limited to clients’ homes, schools, court, recreation centers and treatment facilities.

• After School Programming Group Leader/Education Specialist—this position works in our After School Program, providing robust out of school time to children in the School District of Philadelphia enrolled in Grades K – 5th. Part of this role will be spent creating curriculum for the after school programs, especially in support of 21st Century learning goals and objectives. In the afternoon, this role will work to coordinate the age appropriate recreational and developmental programs for the attending students based on an understanding of the planned daily and monthly activities. Time will be spent assisting students in the accurate completion of homework, project-based learning (PBL) and other program activities.

• Social Emotional Coach—this role will work collaboratively with supervisors and Site Coordinators to provide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) instructional programing . Using proven curriculum models, the Social Emotional Coach will deliver SEL and Drug and Alcohol Prevention programing to students in CORA’s after school programs.

• Family Engagement Specialist—this role will collaborate with all YouthCOR after school programs to develop high quality family engagement activities and opportunities for families and children. The Family Engagement Specialist is also charged with developing a wide array of community resources and building connections between these resources and the families and children served in our after school programs. Collaborate with Lifeline Parenting Coordinator and Truancy Supervisors to explore cross collaboration opportunities.