Direct Service Manager

About Covenant House New York

Join a Legacy of Hope and Empowerment at Covenant House New York!

For over 50 years, Covenant House New York (CHNY) has been at the forefront of transforming lives by providing comprehensive shelter, housing, and wrap-around support services for vulnerable homeless, runaway, and exploited youth. As the largest provider of these essential services in New York City, CHNY impacts the lives of over 1,500 young people aged 16-24 every year.

At CHNY, our doors are open to all young people in need, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. Our dedicated team offers various services, including shelter, housing, education, employment, health, mental health support, youth development, and anti-human trafficking initiatives. We operate with harm reduction and trauma-informed principles to ensure the best care for our youth.

But our mission goes beyond immediate support. We are passionate advocates for systemic change, influencing public policy, and raising awareness of the critical issues surrounding youth homelessness. Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe refuge and empower young people to build a brighter future founded on compassion, unconditional love, and absolute respect.

Join us in making a difference in the lives of countless young people. Join a team that inspires long-term transformation and hope.

About the role

Reporting to and working closely with the Program Coordinator, the Direct Service Manager is responsible for developing the Resident Advisors and leading their day-to-day tasks at Covenant House New York’s residential programs. The incumbent will have supervisory responsibilities and additional administrative responsibilities at the residential sites in Manhattan and the Bronx. The incumbent will lead in shepherding staff's professional development and ensuring policies and procedures are followed.  The Direct Service Manager must be highly organized, a proactive problem solver, and a demonstrated leader. They will play a key role in working with the Program Coordinator and Senior Director of Shelter to develop an energized culture. They will build and lead a team that will successfully achieve meaningful results for the young people we serve. 

This position requires a workweek of five (5) days, including Saturday or Sunday.

What you'll do

• Demonstrates leadership qualities by modeling the mission, vision, and five principles. 
• Prioritizes values and practices that keep the community motivated and create a strong mission-driven culture. 
• Meets the day-to-day needs of the team, including regular and meaningful supervision, schedules, appraisals, team meetings, and case conferences. 
• Must have an understanding of to day-to-day workings of the program, Case Reviews, Case Planning, and ISP 
• Conducts team meetings monthly to review program operations. 
• Participates in case review with Case Managers. 
• Possesses expert knowledge and experience working directly with young people through approaches emphasizing resiliency, strength-based youth development, and trauma-informed care. 
• Obtain certifications for programs to correlate with funding requirements or program operations.
• Appropriately and clearly express expectations to the team.
• Oversee the monitoring and accountability of the residential programs staff. 
• Respond and assist the team during crises, modeling staff expectations on managing crises.
• Participates in the Shift Transition daily. 
• Collaboratively creates and maintains a safe and healthy sanctuary for all youth in the program. 
• To assess and diffuse volatile situations, utilize and model de-escalation and crisis management skills. 
• Ensures integration and coordination between program efforts to maximize positive results within and between program areas. 
• Develops and maintains positive and strategic relationships with internal and external colleagues, partners, and stakeholders. 
• Implements and tracks ongoing training and professional development for team members. 
• Effectively utilizes data and information systems for informed decision-making and developing performance strategies.
• Assists in managing and monitoring the progress and performance of all program contracts and grants. 
• Overall flexibility in work schedule to be present for youth and staff at key times, including weekends, evenings, and holidays. 
• Must have on-call availability.
• Must be willing to work in an environment where precautions for communicative diseases and health concerns may need to be observed and followed.
• Ensure adequate coverage for all operating shifts. 
• Represent the program at planned events. 
• Coordinate the onboarding of all new Resident Advisors. 
• Openness to grow and learn. 
• Must serve as Shift Leader (at 41st Street) and the Point Person (in the Bronx sites).
• Always reflects CHNY’s values and principles on social media. 
• Always uphold CHNY’s mission, vision, principles, standards of conduct, policies, and procedures. 
• Provides direct care services as needed.
• Perform other site-specific duties as assigned and needed.

SUPERVISORY DUTIES

• Supervises and provides coaching and support to assist Resident Advisors in growing professionally within their roles. Also, assists the Program Coordinators with hiring direct care staff.
• Responsible for the onboarding and development of Resident Advisors
• Conducts weekly supervision with Resident Advisors
• Acts as a resource for direct care staff
• Ensures Resident Advisors receive and complete all training.
• Writes and conducts probation performance reviews of new Resident Advisors and their formal written annual performance reviews.
• Ensures that appropriate follow-up on incident reports is completed and submitted.
• Assist in completing internal audits of staff physicals with the program coordinator and compliance team. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Psychology, or a related field preferred or successful experience in a related field. 
• Experience working with diverse groups is required.
• Experience working with young people is required, particularly those experiencing homelessness, is preferred.
• Experience utilizing evidence-based and other social service models preferred.
• Experience utilizing data dashboards and other metrics to improve staff performance and client outcomes preferred.
• Supervisory experience preferred. 
• Must know about human service delivery systems, residential care, and resources for the youth population. 
• Must possess strong multi-tasking skills with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously. 
• Excellent collaborative and organizational abilities. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 
• Strong leadership/management skills. 
• Flexible work schedule to include evenings, weekends, and holidays.