Justice Advisory Council-SGV-Case Manager/Mentor

TASC's Youth & Family Support Services (YFSS) Division provides community-based services designed to strengthen youth and families, address behavioral health and social needs, reduce barriers to stability, and promote positive youth development.

YFSS collaborates with Cook County juvenile justice partners, schools, behavioral health providers, community-based organizations, families, and other systems to connect youth with individualized services and supports that promote safety, healthy decision-making, positive relationships, and successful community functioning.

POSITION SUMMARY: The Case Manager/Mentor provides intensive, relationship-based case management, mentoring, advocacy, and community support to youth participating in the Cook County JAC-SGV program.

The position is responsible for engaging youth and families; identifying individual strengths, needs, risks, and barriers; developing individualized service plans; providing ongoing mentoring and coaching; coordinating community-based services; facilitating structured programming and prosocial activities; and monitoring youth progress.

The Case Manager/Mentor serves as a consistent and trusted adult support for participating youth while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. Through frequent contact and individualized engagement, the Case Manager/Mentor assists youth in strengthening decision-making, conflict-resolution, coping, communication, life, and interpersonal skills.

The position works collaboratively with parents/caregivers, Cook County partners, schools, behavioral health and substance use treatment providers, community organizations, and other service systems to address factors that may contribute to violence, justice-system involvement, or instability.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Youth Engagement & Mentoring

• Establish consistent, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and developmentally appropriate relationships with participating youth.
• Provide individualized mentoring, coaching, encouragement, and practical support designed to strengthen youth engagement, accountability, resilience, and positive decision-making.
• Maintain regular contact with assigned youth in accordance with program expectations and individualized needs.
• Assist youth in identifying personal strengths, goals, interests, protective factors, and positive opportunities within their families and communities.
• Model healthy communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, emotional regulation, accountability, and other positive interpersonal skills.
• Support youth in identifying alternatives to behaviors and circumstances that may contribute to violence, victimization, substance use, or deeper justice-system involvement.
• Engage youth through structured and informal activities that strengthen trust, consistency, and connection to positive adults and peers.

Case Management & Individualized Service Planning

• Complete intake, orientation, screening, needs identification, and other required program activities.
• Develop individualized service plans in partnership with youth and their parents/caregivers that establish measurable goals, interventions, and supports.
• Provide intensive case management addressing identified needs such as behavioral health, substance use, education, employment, family functioning, housing stability, healthcare, transportation, mentoring, recreation, and other social determinants affecting youth stability.
• Monitor progress toward established goals and modify interventions and service strategies as youth needs change.
• Identify emerging behavioral health, substance use, safety, victimization, or crisis concerns and coordinate appropriate intervention, referral, or escalation.
• Advocate for youth and families when barriers interfere with access to needed services or successful participation.

Violence Prevention & Community Stabilization

• Work with youth to identify individual, family, peer, school, and community factors that may increase the likelihood of violence involvement, victimization, or continued justice-system involvement.
• Support individualized safety and stabilization strategies when appropriate and consistent with program protocols.
• Assist youth in developing strategies for managing interpersonal conflict, peer pressure, retaliation concerns, community safety issues, and other circumstances that may increase risk.
• Connect youth to positive community supports, credible adults, structured activities, behavioral health services, educational opportunities, employment resources, and other protective supports.
• Reinforce strategies that promote safe community participation and reduce exposure to situations associated with violence or justice-system involvement.
• Immediately communicate significant safety concerns or critical incidents to the Program Supervisor or designated leadership in accordance with agency and grant requirements.

Family Engagement

• Establish collaborative relationships with parents, caregivers, and other supportive adults identified by the youth.
• Engage families in service planning and progress discussions when appropriate.
• Assist parents/caregivers in identifying resources and addressing barriers that may affect the youth's stability, participation, and progress.
• Promote healthy communication and positive relationships between youth and their families.
• Connect families to behavioral health, substance use, parenting, housing, benefits, food, employment, and other community resources as appropriate.

Service Coordination & Community Linkage

• Coordinate referrals and warm handoffs to behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, education, employment, mentoring, recreation, healthcare, violence-prevention, and other community-based services.
• Follow up with youth, families, and providers to confirm successful linkage and participation in referred services.
• Maintain current knowledge of community resources available to participating youth and families.
• Collaborate with Cook County partners, community organizations, schools, treatment providers, and other systems involved with participating youth.
• Participate in multidisciplinary case staffing, case consultation, and service-coordination meetings as required.

Structured Programming & Prosocial Activities

• Facilitate or co-facilitate structured groups, workshops, restorative practices, life-skills programming, educational activities, and other approved youth-development interventions.
• Engage youth in prosocial recreational, educational, cultural, employment-readiness, leadership, and community activities.
• Support activities that strengthen communication, problem-solving, emotional regulation, conflict resolution, leadership, healthy relationships, and other protective factors.
• Assist youth in identifying longer-term educational, vocational, employment, and personal-development goals.

Documentation, Performance & Grant Compliance

• Complete timely, accurate, and thorough documentation of client contacts, mentoring activities, assessments, service plans, referrals, progress, incidents, group participation, and other required services.
• Maintain required documentation in the designated electronic client record and other approved program systems.
• Track youth participation, service delivery, referrals, outcomes, and other grant-required performance measures.
• Monitor individual progress toward established goals and contribute to program-level performance and outcome reporting.
• Maintain confidentiality and comply with TASC policies, Cook County requirements, grant requirements, applicable regulations, and professional standards.
• Participate in case reviews, quality-assurance activities, supervision, data review, and continuous quality-improvement initiatives.

Transportation & Community-Based Services

• Transport youth to and from approved program activities, services, appointments, and other program-related locations as assigned.
• Conduct community-based engagement and service delivery as appropriate to the needs of participating youth.
• Ensure youth are transported safely and in accordance with TASC transportation policies and procedures.
• Maintain appropriate supervision and professional boundaries during transportation and community activities.
• Follow agency safety, crisis-response, incident-reporting, and emergency procedures.

Our Ideal candidate:

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Experience participating in their own personal recovery process in order to care for self and/or family member
• Must understand and respect an individual’s unique path to recovery
• Must possess a commitment to the recovery community
• Demonstrates proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to work with a diverse population
• Within one year of hire, will be required to obtain Certified Recovery Support Specialist certification (CRSS) through the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association
• Knowledge of community support resources, organizations, governmental agencies, and nonprofits
• Valid driver’s license and access to a personal vehicle are required for this position.

Our benefits package includes:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance and Flexible Spending
• Paid Leave - Short-term Disability (STD)
• Paid Time Off/Sick Time/ Floating Holiday
• Tuition Reimbursement
• 403 B (retirement plan)

If you are interested in this position, please visit the TASC website at and apply online.

TASC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Drug Free workplace. The agency does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran or military status or any other protected status in accordance with federal and state law.