Youth Advocacy Program Manager – Bilingual Spanish

Overview

Since 1972, Covenant House has served and advocated for youth and young families experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. Our overarching goal is to end homelessness among youth and young families by helping them achieve housing stability, heal from trauma, tap into their innate resilience, and hone their interests and skills to forge new pathways to independence. This work is carried out across Covenant House sites in 34 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

About the Role

The Youth Advocacy Program Manager will play a central role in supporting the successful implementation and growth of CHI's flagship youth engagement initiative: the International Youth Congress (IYC). This position is ideal for an early to mid-career professional who brings a combination of strong program coordination skills with experience working directly with young people.

The Youth Advocacy Program Manager will oversee day-to-day operations of the IYC, coordinate virtual and in-person programming, support youth participation and retention, facilitate communication across CHI's international federation, and ensure that youth members receive the support necessary to thrive in the program.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, relationship-driven, and deeply committed to authentic youth engagement. They are equally comfortable managing travel logistics, tracking action items, facilitating communications, supporting youth leaders, and coordinating with staff, partners, and external stakeholders. This position works across our international federation of sites and requires fluency in both Spanish and English.

In this role, you will report directly to the Vice President of Youth Advocacy, Planning, and Strategic Partnerships, and supervise members of the IYC. If you're passionate about youth leadership and social change, this role offers a rare opportunity to help launch and grow an international youth advisory body that is influencing policy, research, and program design across five countries. You'll work directly with inspiring young leaders, build meaningful partnerships, and play a pivotal role in turning big ideas into action through exceptional coordination, relationship-building, and execution.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Program Coordination & Operations (35%)

• Coordinate the day-to-day administration and implementation of the IYC

• Maintain project plans, calendars, meeting schedules, participation records, and program documentation

• Coordinate budget for timely reporting, payments, and expenditures for program needs

• Support Development and Brand and Communications teams for IYC related initiatives and projects

• Track deliverables, follow-up items, deadlines, and reporting requirements

• Support the onboarding and ongoing engagement of IYC members

• Coordinate communication with youth participants, CHI staff, site staff, advisory board members, consultants, and partner organizations

• Manage program databases, contact lists, resource libraries, and participant records

• Develop and maintain operational systems that promote efficiency, accountability, and strong participant experiences

Youth Engagement & Participant Support (25%)

• Serve as a primary point of contact for IYC members

• Provide light case coordination and youth development support through regular check-ins and relationship building to ensure IYC members have their needs met through their sites

• Connect participants to resources and support systems available through their local Covenant House sites

• Identify barriers to participation and collaborate with site staff to support youth success

• Promote a trauma-informed, strengths-based, and culturally responsive environment

• Support youth leaders in navigating travel, training participation, public speaking opportunities, and leadership development activities

Events, Trainings & Convenings (25%)

• Coordinate virtual trainings, workshops, leadership development sessions, partner meetings, and community-building events

• Lead logistical planning for domestic and international convenings, retreats, and conferences

• Manage travel arrangements, participant communications, accommodations, stipends, accessibility needs, and event materials

• Coordinate vendors, consultants, facilitators, and guest speakers

• Support facilitation of meetings and trainings as appropriate

• Ensure events are youth-centered, accessible, and aligned with CHI values

Partnerships, Advocacy & Special Projects (15%)

• Support the SVP of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships with administrative tasks related to CHI’s legislative and regulatory advocacy work.

• Support engagement of VP of Youth Advocacy, Planning, and Strategic Partnerships with external partners, coalitions, researchers, youth-serving organizations, and advocacy stakeholders

• Assist with coordinating CHI staff, sites, and key partners in authentic youth engagement and participation in advocacy opportunities, research projects, conferences, and public events

• Support information gathering, meeting preparation, and follow-up related to partnerships and collaborative initiatives

• Contribute to special projects that strengthen youth leadership and systems-change efforts across the federation as assigned by strategy office leadership

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional organizational discipline and attention to detail

• Strong execution and follow-through

• Sound judgment and professionalism

• Cross-cultural communication and cultural humility

• Relationship-building and consensus-building skills

• Flexibility and adaptability in a fast-paced environment

• A commitment to youth partnership and shared decision-making

• The ability to balance administrative precision with warmth and empathy

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of professional experience in youth development, social services, advocacy, program coordination, nonprofit management, or related fields

• Experience working directly with young people who have experienced housing instability, homelessness, trafficking, foster care involvement, or other significant life challenges

• Fluency in both English and Spanish, including verbal and written communication and bicultural competency

• Experience coordinating complex projects, events, or programs involving multiple stakeholders

• Strong organizational and project management skills with exceptional attention to detail

• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and follow through on commitments

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Teams, Zoom, and project management tools

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in social work, education, and/ or equivalent lived and professional experience in systems that impact our young people

• Experience coordinating advisory boards, youth councils, leadership programs, or community engagement initiatives

• Experience participating in coalitions, cross-sector partnerships, or community-based collaborations

• Familiarity with homelessness, housing policy, anti-trafficking efforts, youth development, or related social justice issues

• Experience supporting virtual learning communities, trainings, fellowship models or leadership development programs

• Experience as an educator and / or building learning curriculum

• Experience as a social worker supporting vulnerable populations

• Knowledge of trauma-informed, positive youth development, and participatory leadership practices

• Applied knowledge of safeguarding and child and youth protection approaches and best practices

Travel Requirements

• Ability to travel once per year to New York City in early October for our annual in-person traditions

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25%

• Outside of our above-mentioned travel requirements, this position is 100% remote

Our Community

Our critical mission demands that we have all voices at the table. A team of diverse people, perspectives, and experiences is smarter, stronger, and more effective for our young people. At Covenant House, every team member is valued, respected, heard, and supported, and we welcome honest and courageous self-reflection on any aspects of our work that are based on biased or outdated viewpoints. We deliberately create opportunities for our staff to grow and thrive.

Covenant House International is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind: CHI is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at CHI are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, family or parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. CHI will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics and encourages all qualified applicants to apply.

If you have a disability or medical condition and need a reasonable accommodation, such as an ASL interpreter or a different interview format, or if you have physical accessibility needs, let us know. Contact us at 1-929-502-2521, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time or email us at [email protected].