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COPAL MN

 

Digital Skills Instructor (Bilingual Spanish) - CTEP AmeriCorps
Partner Agency: COPAL MN
Location: 3521 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55406
Site Supervisor: Itzayan Rocha-Coronado, Health & Wellness Coordinator 

CTEP Program Description

The AmeriCorps Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) bridges the “digital divide” for new Immigrants and low-income communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul. CTEP is a program of Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN).
 

Site History and Mission

Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (or COPAL) is a Latinx-led nonprofit established in January 2018 with a mission of uniting Latinxs in Minnesota in communal democracy that builds racial, gender, social and economic justice across community lines. Serving 15,000+ Latinxs in its first year of operation, COPAL has since grown to reach 25,000+ persons annually via $1.9M annual funding, 26 regular staff, and a unique portfolio of organizing, advocacy, and direct service programming. The Primero de Mayo Workers’ Center expansion was established in 2021 to address the significant workforce development and skills training needs of Minnesota’s Latinx community.

COPAL’s leadership is comprised of highly experienced and respected leaders of community-based services and advocacy in the Twin Cities, who are passionate about COPAL’s mission and ensuring its long-term stability and success. COPAL’s skilled stewardship and success in achieving community impact has garnered the trust of multiple new private and public sector funders committing multi-year funding support to COPAL’s mission.

COPAL targets its community-based services to low-income 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Latinxs in Minnesota. Numerous recent studies have shown that Latinxs and people of color have been disproportionately affected by nearly every metric throughout the pandemic. From an economic view, Latinxs especially have suffered, with a study from the Economic Policy Institute (source) showing that Latinxs are least likely able to work from home and the most likely to have lost their job during the crisis. In the Twin Cities, 25% of Latinx frontline workers are employed in cleaning and waste management positions and 11% in construction, while 6% of all workers are Latinx (source). Once the crisis is over, thousands of Latinxs will remain underemployed and will seek help finding jobs, exploring and retraining for new industries, and seeking compensation from past employers.
 

Specific Site Responsibilities

This Digital Skills Instructor (Bilingual Spanish) role will serve at Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL)’s 3521 East Lake Street location. The member will serve in COPAL’s Workers’ Center resource area and be responsible for teaching specific software skills, such as how to use the internet, word processing, email, and teach workforce readiness classes geared towards English language learners using interactive software.

The Digital Skills Instructor, as a member of COPAL's Worker Center team, will join the effort toward building a Minnesota Latinx economic power through workers’ rights, leadership, career training and placement.  The CTEP member will play a key role facilitating group digital literacy classes to COPAL constituents and offering 1:1 assistance for unique participant needs. In addition to general digital literacy skills and Northstar certifications, the CTEP member will support digital and remote learning aspects in Workers’ Center programming focused on English skills, remote GED training, work readiness, and financial wellness training.

  1. Digital Literacy Training implementation (65%)
  • Implement digital literacy skills training on behalf of COPAL constituents (predominantly Latinx un- and under-employed immigrant adults and youth)
  • Facilitate group training and administration of Northstar tests/certifications.
  • Create digital skills training and educational materials, ensuring that all materials are available in Spanish. 
  • Partner with COPAL staff to ensure compatibility of CTEP training  with use of desktop PCs/laptops and smartphones.  
  • Deliver trainings to participants in-person as well as remotely, in Spanish and English, with a variety of materials to support different learning styles. 
  • Provide culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate in-person training to COPAL participants. 
  1. Support Workers’ Center programming and partnerships (10%)
  • Support Workers’ Center team with additional trainings on how to be self-sufficient in job searching, participate in distance/remote GED classes, as well as provide resources guiding people towards accessing telehealth, COVID-19 tests and vaccinations.  
  • Partner with local government to hold listening sessions with COPAL participants as it relates to local Digital Equity Plans 
  • Support participant skills development, remote GED coursework, and other soft skills training 
  • Support participant job search and career exploration activities
  1. Program Evaluation/ Administration (10%)
  • Conduct general outreach and advertise training opportunities through COPAL’s communications platforms, including social media, cable TV, radio, phone, SMS, and email. 
  • Measure the impact of the education and training for those who participate and benchmark the skills of COPAL participants at large. 
  • Enter program data into various data platforms and compile reports for St Paul Neighborhood Network or other Digital Inclusion funders as needed.
  1. Professional Development & Civic Engagement (15%)
  • Work together with other CTEP members on a group civic engagement project in which you tackle an issue related to digital inclusion with outside community agencies.
  • Participate in COPAL team/ agency meetings and trainings
  • Work with supervisor to pursue additional professional development opportunities ($500 stipend provided).

In addition, members attend professional development days with their fellow CTEP members to enhance service-readiness skills, personal attributes at the service site, and citizenship skills. These Corps days take place twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Fridays from 9 AM to 4 PM, and these trainings are mandatory. Members also attend statewide AmeriCorps events, such as the Martin Luther King Day celebration, and/or serve on the statewide InterCorps Council.
 

Site Environment

This position is in an office building with a number of duties and responsibilities related to in-person customer service. The building is accessible and smoke free. This position works during normal business hours and may include evening and/or weekend hours.

This position also may require travel to and from community settings.

All employees and AmeriCorps members are expected to comply with the Covid-19 safe and prevention protocols of the organization and vaccination records up to date. 

All employees and AmeriCorps members are expected to serve effectively in a mission-driven organization whose clients and staff exhibit significant diversity with respect to age, race/color, disability, marital status, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, socio-economic status, genetic information, or veteran’s status.

Additional Benefit

The Digital Skills Instructor will receive $500 in professional development funds to use throughout the service year.

How to Apply

Apply online at http://my.americorps.gov/ and click on “Apply to Serve”. Be sure to search for the “Community Technology Empowerment Project” or “CTEP” when asked to indicate what program you would like to send your application to. Contact: ctepmn@spnn.org, 651.298.8919 for more information about CTEP Member requirements.

CTEP AmeriCorps values an equitable work environment and strongly encourages Black, Indigenous and people of color, speakers of many languages, disabled individuals, LGBTQIA+ identified, and people from other underrepresented communities to apply.

Reasonable accommodations will be made upon request.