Become A Youth Advocate

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Collaborative Rapid Advocacy for Youth (CRAY) is a partnership of Milwaukee grass roots and community and system based advocates designed to provide urgent medical and legal accompaniment and advocacy for youth 11 - 25 who have been commercially sexually exploited.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Be on-call twice per month to provide urgent, in person accompaniment and advocacy to commercially sexually exploited youth through the CRAY Collaborative.
2. Assess youth needs and incoming requests for advocacy utilizing indicators for exploitation and offer optional in-person accompaniment support to youth.
3. Provide medical advocacy during medical exams/consultations, legal advocacy during law enforcement interviews, crisis intervention, safety planning, harm reduction support, and service coordination as necessary.
4. Advocate for youth during medical and legal accompaniments to know their rights, understand and explore their options, safety plan, navigate complex systems, and advocate when their rights are violated. Refer clients to community resources and other organizations, as appropriate.
5. Attend and participate in monthly CRAY Advocate meetings.
6. Attend the seven session on-boarding trainings for CRAY Advocates.
7. Connect youth with Staff Advocates for ongoing services.
8. Learn and adhere to the CRAY Response Protocol.
9. Receive regular supervision from the CRAY Manager.
10. Collect and submit data related to accompaniments, including feedback surveys, releases of information, and demographic and advocacy-related information.
11. Complete all required volunteer paperwork and a fingerprint background check that will be coordinated by Pathfinders.
12. Other duties may be assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this position successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

1. Individual must be 21 years or older.
2. Must be able to make independent decisions in an environment where there is exposure to stressful/crisis situations.
3. Must maintain appropriate boundaries and confidentiality.
4. Ability to work with a non-judgmental attitude in a population comprised of diversity in gender, socio-economic and ethnic group, religious background, sexual orientation, and physical or mental abilities.
5. Be able to adhere to CRAY Response Protocols and accept supervision.
6. Must be available to respond to an Advocate request in person within one hour.

To learn more, please fill out our volunteer interest form. If this sounds like a good fit for you, please fill out our application.