Youth Intake Specialist

City and County of Denver; Denver (CO); Hybrid; USD 35,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension after 5 years

457B Retirement Plan

PTO + holidays + personal day

Medical, dental and vision plans

Job summary

City and County of Denver is seeking a CS2670 Youth Counselor to join the Office of Social Equity & Innovation. The role focuses on intake, outreach, safety planning, and trauma-informed responses for high-risk youth and families.

You will coordinate with the RONI Project, engage with partners, and help ensure ongoing youth support within a hybrid Denver workplace. We value diverse backgrounds, bilingual candidates, and strong communication.

Qualifications

• Experience working with youth and families in coordinated case management.
• Excellent communication skills with diverse communities.
• Spanish language skills preferred (written and spoken).
• Empathy, professionalism, and boundary setting in emergency situations.
• Proficiency with MS Office and data documentation.

Responsibilities

• Take initial runaway police report, complete screening tools, and follow-up reports.
• Assist parents/guardians with reporting to law enforcement when needed.
• Provide community members with overview of the RONI Project and community resources.
• Case management and direct support to youth and families.
• Maintain regular communication with service providers and partner organizations.
• Use critical thinking for crisis response and case coordination.
• Maintain accurate data in department databases.
• Collaborate with Youth Outreach Specialists as part of ONS.
• Support the DATA HRY MDT’s mission to prevent exploitation and trafficking.

Skills

Coordinated case management

Excellent communication

Bilingual Spanish

MS Office Suite

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Psychology, Human Services, Child Development, or related field

Tools

MS Office Suite

Job description

About Our Job

With competitive pay, great benefits, and endless opportunities, working for the City and County of Denver means seeing yourself working with purpose — for you, and those who benefit from your passion, skills and expertise. Join our diverse, inclusive and talented workforce of more than 11,000 team members who are at the heart of what makes Denver, Denver.

About Our Job

With competitive pay, great benefits, and endless opportunities, working for the City and County of Denver means seeing yourself working with purpose — for you, and those who benefit from your passion, skills and expertise. Join our diverse, inclusive and talented workforce of more than 11,000 team members who are at the heart of what makes Denver, Denver.

What We Offer

The City and County of Denver offers competitive pay commensurate with education and experience. New hires are typically brought into the organization between $25.30 - 37.96/hour, based on experience and education.

• A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service
• 457B Retirement Plan
• 140 hours of PTO earned within first year + 12 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday, 1 Wellness Day and 1 volunteer day per year
• Competitive medical, dental and vision plans effective within 1 month of start date

Location & Schedule

The City and County of Denver supports a hybrid workplace model. Employees work where needed, at a job site several days a week and off-site as needed. In this position you can expect to work at the Minoru Yasui Plaza at 303 W. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO 80202. The schedule is 4 days/10 hours per week, Wednesday – Saturday, shift hours are 12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. There is a shift differential for the swing shift, from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Please note: Downtown parking expenses are the responsibility of the employee. We offer a flexible spending account option specifically for parking; if you elect this option, you can use pre-tax dollars for parking. We also offer a City-sponsored RTD EcoPass to all City employees – allowing the use of public transportation for free as a City Employee.

Who We Are & What You’ll Do

The Mayor’s Office of Social Equity and Innovation (OSEI) brings together the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) and Equity Strategies and Innovation (ESI) to put equity at the center of Denver’s safety and community programs. ONS fosters neighborhood safety and well-being by working with residents, community organizations, and city partners to provide comprehensive and compassionate support to individuals and families affected by crime, violence, or involvement in the justice system. ESI helps city agencies build equity into their work by supporting, guiding, and building the infrastructure that enables agencies to create, implement, and evaluate their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) efforts. Together, ONS and ESI make OSEI the hub for equity-driven solutions that reduce harm, build trust, and strengthen Denver’s most underserved neighborhoods.

ONS is hiring a Youth Intake Specialist to support the Runaway, Outreach, Notification, and Intervention (RONI) Project and the Denver Anti‑Trafficking Alliance High‑Risk Youth Multidisciplinary Team (DATA HRY MDT).

The RONI Project's innovative approach to responding to youth missing from care is the first of its kind in the nation. The RONI Project has partnered with the Denver Police Department to civilianize the response, outreach, and follow‑up to juvenile runaway incidents. Outside of exigent circumstances, parents and guardians will be connected with an Intake Specialist who will complete a police report, conduct follow‑up, and partner with ONS Outreach Specialists to determine next steps.

Additional responsibilities consist of providing services and support to parent(s)/guardian(s), which consists of safety planning, harm reduction, and a trauma informed response. The Intake Specialist will work closely with Youth Outreach Specialists to ensure engagement occurs once the youth is located, as well as completing follow‑up reports, and maintain regular communication with service providers, partner organizations, and parent(s)/guardian(s).

The purpose of the DATA HRY MDT is to identify the presence of, or risk for exploitation/human trafficking among all youth referred to the MDT and apply a victim‑centered and trauma informed response. Intake Specialists when completing RONI Intake will assess for risk of exploitation/human trafficking, and assign Youth Outreach Specialists cases deemed high‑risk, which requires regular engagement with the youth in the community, providing safety planning, and harm‑reduction, with the overall goal of intervention and prevention of human trafficking and exploitation. There will be a collaborative effort in providing the youth and family support between the Youth Outreach Specialists and Intake Specialists.

We are looking for candidates who have previous experience working with youth and families, performing coordinated case management services for youth that included outreach to youth/families, screening and assessment, case planning, crisis response, and ongoing case coordination to support youth/family engagement.

• Take the initial runaway police report, complete various screening tools to determine next steps, and complete any additional follow‑up reports.
• Assist parent(s)/guardian(s) with making report to law enforcement if exigent circumstances exist that would require a law enforcement response.
• Provide community members with overview of RONI Project as well as resources within the community when dealing with a youth who regularly runs away or is identified as high‑risk for exploitation or human trafficking.
• Case management and direct support to youth and families.
• Operate as the conduit for continued communication with identified service providers, parent(s)/guardian(s).
• Use critical thinking and decision skills for crisis response and case coordination. Respond and immediately determine next steps during crisis situations.
• Maintain accurate, organized information, data input. Documentation in various department databases.
• Case management and provide coordinated services with diverse communities with a focus on youth and families as a team member of ONS. Assist as needed with agency project deadlines and reports with a team‑based approach.

What You’ll Bring

We value diversity of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, gender, religion, language, ability, and experience and exemplify this through the makeup of our team at all levels. You'll be right at home here if you cultivate strong relationships and push yourself, your work, the people around you and Denver to the next level.

• Prior experience and strong passion to serve the public, working with youth and families with coordinated case management services.
• Excellent and effective communication skills with diverse communities.
• Language skills, ideally be bilingual (Spanish), written and oral fluency.
• Professionalism, competence, and calmness under emergency and stressful situations, yet ability to show empathy and compassion with boundaries.
• Ability to adapt and be flexible to pivot with possible changes and priorities. This includes work schedules and working non-traditional hours/days.
• Experience and ability to use MS Office Suite.

Required Minimum Qualifications

• Education requirement: Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Psychology, Human Services, Child Development, or a related field.
• Experience Requirement: One (1) year of experience implementing behavioral and/or educational programs for youth and assisting in developing and implementing treatment plans.
• Education/Experience Equivalency: One (1) year of the appropriate type and level of experience may be substituted for each required year of post-high school education. Additional appropriate education may be substituted for the minimum experience requirements.
• License/Certifications: Requires a valid Driver's License at the time of application. Licenses and certifications must be kept current as a condition of employment.

To be considered for this position, you must include the following on your job application (upload the attachment(s) to the Resume/CV section on the My Experience tab):

• Resume

Application Deadline

This position is expected to stay open until Sunday, September 27, 2026. Please submit your application as soon as possible and no later than September 27th, at 11:59 PM.

About Everything Else

Job Profile

CS2670 Youth Counselor

Position Type

Unlimited

Position Salary Range

$25.30 - $37.96

Target Pay

$25.30 - $37.96/hour

Agency

Office of Social Equity & Innovation

Redeployment during Citywide Emergencies

City and County of Denver employees may be re‑deployed to work in other capacities in their own agencies or in other city agencies to support core functions of the city during a citywide emergency declared by the Mayor.

The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law.

It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact [e-mail] with three business days’ notice.

Applicants for employment with the City and County of Denver must have valid work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S.

For information about right to work, click here for English or here for Spanish.