Community Outreach Specialist

About the Role

You Matter 2 is seeking a full-time Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist to lead community engagement, recruitment, partnership-building, family engagement, and participant support efforts across South Suburban Cook County.

This role will help strengthen You Matter 2’s presence by building trust with youth, families, schools, community partners, faith-based institutions, libraries, park districts, local agencies, municipalities, and other stakeholders. The Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist will support participant recruitment, enrollment, retention, family communication, partnership development, data tracking, grant reporting, and community visibility.

This position is ideal for someone who is relationship-centered, organized, community-minded, and comfortable balancing people-facing outreach with follow-up, documentation, and data tracking.

Position Responsibilities

Community Engagement & Outreach

• Lead outreach and recruitment efforts to increase awareness of You Matter 2 programs among youth, families, schools, partners, and local stakeholders.
• Represent You Matter 2 at school events, community fairs, resource fairs, open houses, partner meetings, parent nights, and local events.
• Conduct direct outreach to families, youth, schools, faith-based institutions, libraries, park districts, agencies, municipalities, and referral sources.
• Build trust, visibility, and a strong community presence for You Matter 2 across South Suburban Cook County.
• Maintain an outreach calendar that tracks community events, school visits, partner meetings, tabling opportunities, recruitment deadlines, and follow-up tasks.

Recruitment, Enrollment & Retention

• Support participant recruitment from initial interest through completed registration and program participation.
• Help families and youth navigate program information, applications, consent forms, transportation options, and program expectations.
• Follow up with interested families and youth to answer questions and encourage completion of enrollment steps.
• Monitor enrollment numbers and communicate recruitment progress to the Program Director and program team.
• Support retention strategies by checking in with families and participants when attendance becomes inconsistent.
• Identify barriers that may prevent youth from enrolling, attending, or remaining engaged in programs.

Partnership Development & Relationship Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with schools, counselors, social workers, community organizations, faith-based institutions, libraries, municipalities, park districts, youth-serving agencies, funders, and local stakeholders.
• Serve as a key point of contact for community partners, referral sources, and families seeking information about You Matter 2 programs.
• Identify new partnership opportunities that expand access to youth development, wellness, leadership, college and career readiness, workforce readiness, service, and community-based initiatives.
• Maintain a partner contact list or database with updated contact information, communication history, referral activity, meeting notes, and partnership opportunities.
• Support partnership follow-up, including thank-you messages, meeting notes, shared materials, referral updates, and next steps.
• Help identify guest speakers, field trip partners, service partners, volunteers, mentors, community resources, workforce partners, wellness partners, and referral agencies.

Family Engagement & Participant Support

• Serve as a welcoming and supportive contact for families seeking to learn more about You Matter 2 programs.
• Support families through enrollment, program navigation, attendance expectations, communication updates, and access to resources.
• Conduct follow-ups with participants and families to support retention, consistent attendance, and continued engagement.
• Help address barriers to participation, including awareness, access, scheduling, transportation coordination, technology, communication gaps, and resource needs.
• Connect families to appropriate community resources, referral partners, or internal staff when additional support is needed.
• Maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality, and a trauma-informed approach in all family and participant interactions.

Data Tracking, Documentation & Reporting

• Support participant data collection, tracking, and reporting across programs, including enrollment, attendance, demographics, referrals, communication touchpoints, outcomes, surveys, and engagement.
• Maintain accurate and timely records in You Matter 2’s data systems, including Salesforce/CRM, spreadsheets, Google Forms, registration platforms, attendance trackers, and other internal systems.
• Track outreach and partnership activity, including community events, school visits, partner meetings, referrals received, follow-up contacts, recruitment sources, enrollment conversions, and partner engagement.
• Support grant reporting and compliance by ensuring outreach, enrollment, participation, partnership, and demographic data are complete, accurate, and submitted on time.
• Assist with basic data analysis, dashboards, trackers, and reports that inform program planning, recruitment, retention, partnerships, and continuous improvement.
• Maintain confidentiality and follow organizational policies related to participant records and data privacy.

Communications, Marketing & Community Visibility

• Collaborate with communications, development, and program teams to support outreach materials, flyers, email language, text messages, social media content, tabling materials, and partner toolkits.
• Support program promotion through community channels, school networks, partner newsletters, parent groups, local organizations, and on-the-ground outreach.
• Help ensure outreach materials are clear, accurate, accessible, and aligned with You Matter 2’s voice and brand.
• Gather stories, testimonials, participant feedback, community insights, and photos when appropriate to support storytelling and program visibility.
• Support event promotion for organization-wide initiatives, including Back to School Bash, Juneteenth, youth showcases, college and career events, service opportunities, wellness events, and special programs.

Program Collaboration & Internal Coordination

• Work closely with the Program Director and program leads to align outreach and partnership efforts with program goals, enrollment targets, staffing capacity, grant deliverables, and participant needs.
• Participate in program planning meetings, staff meetings, check-ins, and outreach strategy sessions.
• Provide regular updates on recruitment progress, family engagement, partner relationships, outreach events, and data trends.
• Collaborate with program staff to ensure participant information is shared appropriately and follow-up needs are addressed.
• Support cross-program coordination to help youth and families move between programs and stay engaged with You Matter 2 over time.
• Assist with organization-wide initiatives, events, field trips, community engagement activities, volunteer recruitment, and special projects as needed.

Grant Compliance & Impact Support

• Support grant-funded program goals by helping ensure recruitment, enrollment, attendance, partnership, and outreach targets are met.
• Track outreach and partner engagement activities connected to grant deliverables.
• Help prepare documentation for funder reports, site visits, community impact summaries, and internal updates.
• Identify outreach, partnership, or participation challenges that may affect grant performance and communicate them to the Program Director in a timely manner.
• Assist in collecting participant stories, feedback, photos, and examples of impact that support grant reporting and funder communication.

Community Resource Navigation

• Maintain awareness of local resources that may support youth and families, including mental health resources, food assistance, transportation supports, workforce programs, school supports, housing resources, mentoring programs, and community services.
• Help connect families and participants to appropriate community resources when needs arise.
• Build relationships with referral partners that can support youth and family well-being.
• Share relevant resource information with staff, families, and participants as appropriate.
• Help identify gaps in available resources or services that may inform future programming, partnerships, or outreach strategies.

Professionalism, Safety & Youth-Centered Practice

• Uphold You Matter 2’s mission, values, policies, and youth-centered approach in all community interactions.
• Maintain professional boundaries with youth, families, volunteers, partners, and staff.
• Use a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and strengths-based approach when engaging youth and families.
• Follow organizational procedures related to confidentiality, mandated reporting, youth safety, documentation, and communication.
• Represent You Matter 2 with professionalism, warmth, reliability, and integrity.

Qualifications

• Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Community Development, Social Work, Public Health, Communications, Education, Human Services, Nonprofit Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
• 2–4+ years of experience in community outreach, recruitment, partnership development, case management, family engagement, community organizing, youth development, public health outreach, school-based engagement, or community-based program support.
• Strong relationship-building skills and ability to engage diverse youth, families, schools, partners, and community stakeholders.
• Experience working in or with South Suburban Cook County communities preferred.
• Experience supporting youth programs, family engagement, school partnerships, nonprofit services, or community-based initiatives preferred.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, especially related to follow-up, documentation, data tracking, and reporting.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfort with basic data systems, including CRM platforms, spreadsheets, Google Forms, Google Workspace, registration systems, and/or attendance tracking tools.
• Ability to collect, organize, and communicate data accurately and clearly.
• Ability to work independently while also collaborating closely with a team.
• Ability to manage multiple outreach activities, partner relationships, deadlines, follow-ups, and communication channels.
• Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings and some weekends for programs, community events, outreach, and special initiatives.
• Alignment with You Matter 2’s mission and commitment to equity, access, youth voice, and community-centered work.
• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation preferred for community-based outreach.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience conducting outreach in schools, community centers, faith-based institutions, libraries, park districts, or local events.
• Experience building or managing partnerships with schools, community organizations, public agencies, churches, businesses, or youth-serving organizations.
• Experience with participant recruitment, enrollment, retention, or referral systems.
• Experience using Salesforce, Asana, Google Sheets, or similar CRM/data systems.
• Experience supporting grant-funded programs or tracking grant-related outputs.
• Experience working with middle school and/or high school youth and their families.
• Familiarity with South Suburban Cook County communities, school districts, youth-serving organizations, and local resources.
• Bilingual abilities are a plus but not required.
• Experience creating outreach materials, flyers, email language, text reminders, partner communication, or community-facing content.
• Experience with resource navigation, case management, or family support.

Core Competencies

• Community engagement
• Partnership development
• Relationship management
• Family engagement
• Youth-centered communication
• Recruitment and retention
• Cultural responsiveness
• Trauma-informed practice
• Organization and follow-through
• Data tracking and documentation
• Communication and storytelling
• Resource navigation
• Problem-solving and adaptability
• Confidentiality and professionalism
• Commitment to equity and access
• Collaboration and teamwork

Work Environment

This position requires a combination of office-based work, community-based outreach, school and partner visits, evening programs, occasional weekend events, and organization-wide initiatives. The Community Outreach & Partnerships Specialist should be comfortable engaging with families, youth, school staff, community partners, volunteers, and local stakeholders in a variety of settings.

The role requires regular movement between program sites, community events, partner locations, and You Matter 2’s primary program space. Some local travel throughout South Suburban Cook County may be required.

Benefits

Eligible employees receive a benefits package that includes:

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off (PTO)
• Paid holidays
• Professional development opportunities
• Sick time
• Mileage reimbursement

You Matter 2 is a growing youth development nonprofit committed to closing opportunity gaps and empowering South Suburban youth to become confident leaders, engaged citizens, and future changemakers. We serve students in grades 6–12 through year-round programs that provide leadership development, college and career readiness, STEM education, academic support, workforce development, mentoring, service-learning, and enrichment experiences. At You Matter 2, we believe every young person deserves access to opportunities that inspire them to dream bigger, discover their strengths, and build the skills needed for lifelong success. Our programs are designed to help youth develop confidence, leadership, critical thinking, healthy relationships, and a strong sense of purpose while exposing them to experiences they may not otherwise have. Beyond direct programming, we are deeply committed to strengthening the communities we serve. Through signature initiatives such as the Juneteenth Parade & Block Party, Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, community outreach events, and family engagement opportunities, we work alongside partners, volunteers, schools, and local organizations to create lasting impact. As our organization continues to grow, we are building a high-performing, mission-driven team that values collaboration, innovation, accountability, continuous learning, and a passion for serving youth. If you're looking for an opportunity to make a meaningful difference while helping shape the future of a dynamic and growing nonprofit, we'd love to have you join our team.