TITLE: Best Buy Teen Tech Center Coordinator

DEPARTMENT: Jerry Gamble Club

REPORTS TO: Branch Director, Jerry Gamble

SALARY RANGE: Negotiable based on the experience; Fulltime Hourly position

PRIMARY FUNCTION: The BGCTC is looking for an energetic, talented and passionate candidate to serve as the Best Buy Teen Tech Center Coordinator. This position is responsible for developing and implementing youth development instructional strategies, content, and management of the Best Buy Teen Tech Center. The Tech Center, established with the support of The Clubhouse Network, offers young people (ages 10 to 18) from inner-city neighborhoods the opportunity to work on projects they find meaningful to their lives, using computers and technology. The program provides support and resources for young people to pursue their interests and build upon their talents. In the Teen Tech Center, youth can design their own music, art, newsletters, robots, science simulations, computer games, and animation.

Essential Functions

• Provide community outreach to involve a diverse group of young people, parents, teachers, and community leaders in the program.
• Help Teen Tech Center members develop projects (e.g., help them come up with ideas, gather materials, get started, locate mentors to work with them, and support their ongoing work).
• Recruit, train, and support volunteer mentors, ensuring they work effectively with youth.
• Work closely with the local Best Buy store to recruit Geek Squad Agents and Blue Shirt volunteers.
• Support youth in planning for the future, including pursuing academic and job opportunities that leverage their Teen Tech Center skills and experience as outlined in the BGCTC Teen Pathways program model.
• Provide basic computer maintenance, including file management, trouble-shooting, and technical support to Teen Tech Center youth and mentors.
• Provide administrative support for the Clubhouse program, including keeping records of participants and keeping the Tech Center space organized.
• Collaborate with fund-raising and publicity for the Best Buy Tech Center, communicating the Clubhouse learning philosophy, goals, and results to external sources.
• Participate in the The Clubhouse Network, attending Network meetings, sharing ideas and issues, and supporting collaborative projects across sites.
• Support other programs and activities of the BGCTC organization with Teen Tech Center expertise and resources, as time permits.
• Serve on the BGCTC Teen Specialists work-group committee.
• Work collaboratively with senior leadership at BGCTC to leverage Best Buy National Partner relationships to expose members to skill development and media training.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience with computers and interest in technology as a creative and empowering tool;
• Demonstrated ability to reach out to youth, parents, educators, and community leaders;
• Interpersonal skills, including an ability to get along with people of diverse backgrounds and abilities and a talent for making people feel welcome and included;
• A passion for learning and helping others to learn;
• Excellent organizational skills.

Required Education & Experience

• Must have a high school diploma; post-secondary training/education preferred.
• Proven track record working with youth, in particular young people from low-income backgrounds, in an informal learning environment.

Physical Demands

Must have the ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time; exhibit manual dexterity to dial a telephone, to enter data into a computer; to see and read a computer screen and printed material with or without vision aids; hear and understand speech at normal classroom levels and on the telephone; speak in audible tones so that others may understand clearly in normal classrooms and on the telephone; physical agility to lift up to 25 pounds to waist height; and to bend, stoop, walk and reach overhead.

DISCLAIMER:

The information presented indicates the general nature and level of work expected of employees in this classification. It is not designed to contain, or to be interpreted as, a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications and objectives required of employees assigned to this job. All employees of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities are employees at will and signing this job description in no way enters into a contract for employment.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities is an Equal Opportunity Employer