Program Coordinator, Early Literacy Specialist

**About us**

St. Mary’s Home is a not-for-profit charitable organization serving the Ottawa area and beyond. SMH has continuously and responsively served pregnant youth in Ottawa since 1933. Specialized residential and community support services are provided to marginalized young pregnant women (ages 12-25), young parents and their children. The approach is holistic, grounded in a strong commitment to strengthen and build upon the personal resilience of each individual.

**Position Summary**:
Ujima Project (the “Project”) at St Mary’s Home (the ‘Centre’) is an initiative of the Ontario Association of Young Parents Agencies (“OAYPA”) that is comprised of over twenty agencies throughout Ontario that provide programs and services to vulnerable adolescent parents and their children. This initiative will plan and implement 9 Early Childhood Development Hubs throughout Ontario.

The Program Coordinator, Early Literacy Specialist supports early literacy and numeracy programming for young parents and their children 0-6 years old at the Centre. The Program Coordinator will provide individual or group interventions, workshops or consultations to young parents, caregivers and internal programs. The Program Coordinator identifies literacy, communications, social and emotional child development issues through early and routine developmental screening with Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) and proactive Early Literacy supports. The Program Coordinator develops individualized plans for children to address needs, provides strategies for young parents at home, facilitates early literacy programming, makes referrals for speech and language services, healthcare providers and other developmental early intervention supports, and works closely with Early Abilities partners. The Program Coordinator will work with the service partners to facilitate the Plan of Care and to determine their understanding of infant and early childhood and adolescent mental health, integrating the importance of a non-judgemental, youth-focussed, trauma-informed approach and work with healthcare leaders to determine gaps in the model of care.

**Qualifications/Experience**:

- A degree in early childhood education, child development, library sciences health promotion or an acceptable level of education, skills and experience
- Registration with the College of Early Childhood Educators in good standing will be an asset
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in child and family services
- Demonstrated knowledge of child development and parenting and/or early literacy
- Demonstrated program planning, coordination and evaluation skills
- Ability to set goals and get results within a pre-determined timeline
- Ability to multi-task and work independently and flexibility in accepting work assignments
- Effective time management, decision-making and organizational skills
- A good team member and supportive of interdisciplinary practice
- Demonstrated knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite
- Excellent interpersonal, and communication skills. Ability to work effectively with colleagues and clients
- The Centre is building its bilingual (French/English) capacity and excellent French Language proficiency is a significant asset
- Current Standard First Aid/CPR certificate

**Responsibilities**: (including but not limited to):
**Program Implementation**:

- Conduct ASQ-3 assessment and provide regular screening of development progress in the domain of emotional, communications, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social skills.
- Conduct ASQ:SE-2 assessment to identify communications issues and concerns for social-emotional development
- Create individualized plans for children with identified issues and provide strategies for parents to do at home, facilitate early literacy programming and make referrals for speech and language services and other developmental early intervention supports and healthcare providers as needed
- Establish appropriate links for clients/participants with their local: libraries, Early Abilities, Public Health Unit Programs (Healthy Babies Healthy Children and Nurse-Family Partnership) Child Care Centres, Mother Goose and other early literacy programs, bookstores, and parent groups, healthcare providers, and early intervention and mental health services in collaboration with the SickKids Young Families Program consultants as needed

**Administration**:

- Track progress against program plans and funder/Centre specific targets, deliverables, and activities and contribute towards reports to funders, team and Supervisor
- Proactively identify any areas where there is a risk of not meeting plans, targets or other deliverables as per the funder or Centre deadlines or targets
- Work with the project team to ensure all relevant forms and documents are completed in accordance with funder or Centre requirements
- Support the development of program evaluation surveys
- Compile and submit accurate reports (client records, ou