Youth Programs Director - Detention & Community Impact

City of New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 71,000 - 81,000; Full time

Job summary

Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) is seeking an Administrative Director of RES to lead program implementation in a juvenile detention setting. The role focuses on supervising program staff, coordinating youth activities, and ensuring high-quality documentation and reporting.

The position requires a master’s degree in social work or related fields and substantial administrative experience in child care settings. Willingness to travel and work evenings/weekends is expected.

Qualifications

• A master's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work and four years of full-time, paid professional experience in a child care institution or in group work with children in a child care setting, including two years in an administrative capacity; or
• A master's degree from an accredited college in sociology, psychology, education, public administration or a closely related field, and five years of full-time paid professional experience as described in '1' above including two years in an administrative capacity; or
• Education and/or experience equivalent to '1' or '2' above. However, all candidates must have two years of administrative experience in a child care setting.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage, coordinate, and lead the day-to-day implementation and facilitation of programming within a juvenile detention facility for youth pending court proceedings or as a sentence after a conviction for either felony or misdemeanor offenses, including indoor and outdoor activities and workshops, youth and family-focused events, daily living activities and schedules.
• Directly supervise a unit of Program staff and actively participate in the development, coordination, and provision of orientation and in-service training, coaching, and supervision to promote professional development.
• Collaborate with ACS-contracted vendor and partner program staff, volunteers, and facility operations staff to design, coordinate, and implement youth and family-focused events, enrichment and prosocial programming, and daily living activities including related vocational programming and internships and after-school activities to promote youth engagement and achieve idleness reduction in accordance with the needs and interests of the youth.
• Ensure the required development, completion, distribution, and maintenance of reports and other documentation, including weekly recreational and program schedules, statistical reports, data entry, internal monthly, quarterly and annual reports (on requests), and programming logs that are contemporaneous, accessible and used as the basis for planning, management and evaluation.
• Maintain collaborative and ongoing relationships with the Department of Education (DOE), ACS-contracted behavioral and mental health staff, and DYFJ facility staff to ensure appropriate development, implementation, and maintenance of a youth behavior management system.
• Represent the programming unit at detention, milieu-based meetings and conferences to support the planning, development and coordination of care and behavior plans, and discharge recommendations for youth.
• Assist the Director of Programs to perform data collection and tracking, identify trends, review incidents, review policy, facilitate tours with external guests and visitors, and mitigate operational issues related to coverage and facility coordination.

Education

Master's degree in social work

Master's degree in sociology, psychology, education, or public administration

Education and/or experience equivalent to 1 or 2 above; two years administrative experience in a child care setting

Job description

Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) is seeking an Administrative Director of RES to lead program implementation in a juvenile detention setting. The role focuses on supervising program staff, coordinating youth activities, and ensuring high-quality documentation and reporting.

The position requires a master’s degree in social work or related fields and substantial administrative experience in child care settings. Willingness to travel and work evenings/weekends is expected.