Family Advocate

Are you passionate about supporting families and making a meaningful difference in early childhood development? Shine Early Learning is seeking a dedicatedFamily Advocateto engage and empower Head Start families, fostering strong partnerships that promote children’s school readiness and family wellbeing. Join us in creating nurturing communities where every family feels valued and supported.

Your Role:

The Family Advocate partners with Head Start families to promote children’s healthy development and school readiness. Using family engagement principles, the Family Advocate supports families as their child’s primary educators, encourages positive parent-child interactions, and enhances overall family wellbeing. This role provides targeted support to vulnerable families and those with children who have chronic health conditions or special needs. The Family Advocate also fosters a sense of belonging and community among families to strengthen their mutual support and shared aspirations.

What You’ll Do:

• Engage families through individualized, in-home, and group experiences that foster school readiness by promoting consistent routines, positive guidance, enriched home environments, and literacy activities.
• Manage responsibilities across ERSEA, record keeping, reporting, ongoing monitoring, planning, implementing, and maintaining a safe, healthy learning environment.
• Support children’s well-being and encourage family involvement in the Head Start program.
• Participate in outreach, recruitment, and attendance follow-up to motivate family engagement.
• Assist families with application completion and collection of necessary documents.
• Support families in submitting health-related information.
• Maintain funded enrollment levels, collaborate with FSC/ERSEA Lead to fill vacancies, and analyze enrollment data for planning.
• Set attendance goals for families with attendance below 80%.
• Enter data accurately related to family engagement, enrollment, and attendance.
• Build and maintain relationships with community partners to enhance family access to resources and training.

What You Bring:

• Associate degree required in social work, human services, family services, counseling, or related field. Master's Degree or RN preferred.
• At least 2 years of experience working in community-based settings, serving individuals and families from a range of backgrounds in low-income or under-resourced communities.
• Experience working with families of young children (0–5) strongly preferred.
• Flexibility to work some evenings and weekends.
• Comfort with Google Suite and basic data systems.
• The ability to communicate clearly, both in writing and verbally.
• Strong facilitation and group leadership skills.
• A growth mindset and the ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams.
• A valid driver’s license or reliable transportation.

When/Where/How Much:

When: Fall 2025

Where: Richmond, IN

How Much: $40,000-50,000/year

Interested in next steps? Apply today or if you have questions, please reach out to Aisling Toby, aisling@shineearly.com, who is managing the search for this role.

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating a diverse and healthy workplace.