Reports to: Higher Pathways Manager
Status: Full-Time, Exempt
Work Arrangement: Hybrid; must be available for weekly office-based work, in-person student support, campus visits, and occasional evening and weekend programming.
At the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI), we are dedicated to improving the education, health, and well-being of youth and communities of color by empowering them to enact social change through research, training, and community mobilization.
Our Higher Pathways program is a direct pipeline through which SJLI alumni—young people who participated in SJLI’s high school programming—receive continued support in achieving educational, career, and economic growth through three high-touch approaches: College Success, Career Readiness, and Support Services.
College Success is SJLI’s college access and persistence work. We support alumni throughout their educational attainment journey, including college acceptance and enrollment, family financial-aid workshops, SJLI scholarship support, school-year planning, summer college-immersion experiences, academic counseling, and wraparound services. Our goal is to ensure that alumni have the foundation, resources, relationships, and guidance necessary to begin and complete their postsecondary education with a degree or credential in hand.
Career Readiness is SJLI’s career guidance and development work, consisting of workforce-skill development, internships, externships, part-time opportunities for alumni enrolled in college, direct career preparation and placement, and entrepreneurial exploration.
Support Services provides wraparound counseling and resource navigation on an individual and small-group basis to support alumni’s healthy engagement in their educational experience and connect them with additional assistance when unforeseen challenges or emergencies arise.
Working out of SJLI's Houston office, the College Success Counselor will manage a caseload of approximately 30–60 SJLI alumni, ages 18–24, from the Houston and Dallas, TX regions. The caseload will primarily consist of alumni enrolled in two-year or four-year postsecondary institutions, as well as alumni who need support returning to school or entering another appropriate postsecondary educational pathway.
Working alongside the Higher Pathways Manager and other Higher Pathways team members, the College Success Counselor will support alumni’s college access, persistence, educational attainment, and socio-emotional well-being. The counselor will provide individualized academic counseling, monitor student progress, assist with financial aid and college systems, connect alumni with campus and community resources, and intervene when barriers place a student’s continued enrollment or degree completion at risk.
The College Success Counselor will also support a smaller group of graduating Urban Scholars seniors in Dallas as they transition from high school into college, trade school, or another postsecondary educational program.
This is a hybrid position that includes virtual counseling, weekly office-based work, in-person programming, and travel to college/school site campuses and community sites.
- Manage a caseload of approximately 30–60 Houston and Dallas-area SJLI alumni between the ages of 18 and 24.
- Provide individual academic counseling related to college persistence, degree completion, postsecondary planning, and educational decision-making.
- Co-create individualized academic goals and persistence plans with each scholar.
- Maintain consistent contact with alumni through scheduled one-on-one meetings, phone calls, email communication, virtual meetings, and in-person campus visits.
- Conduct monthly wellness check-ins to identify academic, financial, social, emotional, housing, transportation, or other challenges that may affect a scholar’s continued enrollment.
- Monitor scholars’ academic and non-academic persistence goals, including course registration, academic standing, organizational skills, time management, self-advocacy, and connection to campus resources.
- Collect and review progress reports, transcripts, academic plans, and other relevant information with scholars to ensure that they remain on track toward graduation.
- Develop and use early-warning practices to identify students at risk of stopping out, losing financial aid, failing to complete required coursework, or otherwise becoming disconnected from their educational pathway.
- Support alumni who have stopped attending school with college reentry, reenrollment, financial-aid restoration, scholarship applications, and updated educational planning.
- Empower scholars to take ownership of their education, advocate for themselves, navigate institutional systems, and make informed decisions about their postsecondary journey.
- Foster relationships grounded in trust, belonging, accountability, cultural humility, and SJLI’s youth-development approach.
- Review and assist scholars with FAFSA completion, financial-aid requirements, scholarship applications, SJLI scholarship opportunities, and other educational funding resources.
- Help scholars understand financial-aid awards, outstanding balances, satisfactory academic progress requirements, and other financial considerations that may affect continued enrollment.
- Support scholars in developing appropriate educational budgets and identifying resources to address tuition, textbooks, transportation, technology, food, housing, and other college-related needs.
- Identify alumni who may need SJLI scholarship assistance or other emergency and persistence resources.
- Track SJLI scholarship awards and follow up with scholars regarding the use and impact of scholarship support.
- Support a designated group of Houston & Dallas-based Urban Scholars seniors with their transition from high school into postsecondary education.
- Assist seniors with college, community-college, trade-school, scholarship, and financial-aid applications.
- Help seniors navigate admissions portals, enrollment requirements, placement testing, orientation, housing, financial-aid verification, and other steps required to complete enrollment.
- Maintain appropriate records related to application status, admissions decisions, financial-aid completion, and postsecondary enrollment.
- Co-create individualized postsecondary transition plans with graduating seniors and appropriate SJLI team members.
- Provide summer transition support to help graduating seniors successfully matriculate and begin their first postsecondary term.
- When appropriate, work with families to strengthen college knowledge and support scholars’ persistence and degree completion.
- Serve as a liaison among Urban Scholars seniors, SJLI alumni, families, colleges, and community partners.
- Develop working relationships with college personnel, including academic advisors, financial-aid representatives, student-support offices, mentoring programs, and other appropriate campus resources.
- Help alumni access academic advising, tutoring, mentoring, financial-aid assistance, counseling, emergency support, textbook assistance, transportation assistance, and other resources that contribute to persistence.
- Cultivate knowledge of relevant Houston & Dallas-area community resources and establish referral relationships that respond to the needs of young adults.
- Maintain appropriate confidentiality when communicating with families, colleges, community partners, and other external parties.
- Collaborate with fellow College Success Counselors and the Higher Pathways Manager to develop and provide monthly college-persistence programming.
- Coordinate, plan, and implement workshops, events, small-group sessions, college visits, and other activities that support alumni persistence.
- Provide targeted outreach and educational activities designed to strengthen scholars’ educational attainment, personal resilience, and ability to navigate college systems.
- Travel to conduct quarterly campus visits, with more frequent visits when necessary based on student needs.
- Assist with college-immersion experiences, alumni programming, family workshops, and senior-transition activities.
- Supervise scholars during overnight field trips and programming when required.
- Be available for occasional evening and weekend events.
- Use SJLI’s database and other approved systems to document counseling contacts, services provided, referrals, student progress, enrollment status, persistence, and graduation outcomes.
- Maintain accurate and current records for Urban Scholars seniors and SJLI alumni.
- Document phone calls, meetings, email correspondence, campus visits, and other interactions related to alumni progress.
- Update alumni educational and contact information on a consistent schedule.
- Track college applications, enrollment, financial-aid completion, scholarships, persistence milestones, stop-out and reenrollment activity, and degree or credential completion.
- Generate monthly caseload reports summarizing student status, services provided, emerging needs, risks to persistence, and progress toward educational goals.
- Work with the Higher Pathways Manager to collect and analyze information that reflects the current landscape of SJLI’s postsecondary work in Dallas.
- Support the development and refinement of SJLI’s college-counseling and persistence model by identifying trends, service gaps, and effective practices.
- Work collaboratively with the Higher Pathways Manager and other members of the Educational Equity team.
- Participate in case conferencing, team meetings, professional development, program planning, and evaluation activities.
- Maintain professionalism, collegiality, consistency, and optimism in interactions with scholars, families, colleagues, and partners.
- Communicate emerging student needs, serious concerns, and barriers to persistence to the Higher Pathways Manager in a timely manner.
- Follow all SJLI policies regarding confidentiality, youth safety, documentation, transportation, communication, and professional conduct.
- Perform other college-success and alumni-support responsibilities as assigned.
Demonstrates a willingness to learn, adapt, and continuously improve in response to evolving youth needs, educational systems, and social-justice conditions.
Shows a strong commitment to SJLI’s mission and values and integrates them into college counseling, youth development, relationship building, and program implementation.
Exhibits strong verbal and written communication skills and adapts communication appropriately for youth, families, colleagues, college personnel, community partners, and other stakeholders.
Takes responsibility for assigned scholars, program activities, documentation, outcomes, and stakeholder relationships while demonstrating initiative, consistency, and follow-through.
Demonstrates respect, openness, and responsiveness to the diverse identities, experiences, strengths, and perspectives of the young people and communities SJLI serves.
Effectively prioritizes responsibilities, manages a caseload, maintains accurate records, meets deadlines, and balances individual counseling, programming, travel, outreach, and reporting requirements.
- Strong understanding of college access, enrollment, financial aid, college persistence, and degree-completion processes.
- Ability to provide strengths-based, culturally responsive, and youth-centered counseling.
- Ability to form trusting relationships with young adults, families, college personnel, staff, and community partners.
- Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
- Ability to manage a high-touch caseload while maintaining timely and accurate documentation.
- Ability to identify barriers to college persistence and coordinate appropriate interventions and referrals.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound professional judgment.
- Demonstrated social-justice framework and understanding of equity in education.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team environment.
- Experience working with young people through a youth-development approach.
- Proficiency with databases, spreadsheets, virtual communication platforms, and other systems used for case management and reporting.
- Ability to travel throughout the Texas educational landscape particularly in the Houston and Dallas areas and occasionally travel for SJLI programming. Travel may include other states as well depending on location of alumni in the caseload.
- Ability to occasionally work evenings, weekends, and overnight programs.
- Bachelor’s degree in education, psychology, social welfare, counseling, youth development, or a related field.
- At least two years of experience in college access, academic counseling, college persistence, youth development, or a related area.
- Experience supporting first-generation college students and young people from historically underserved communities strongly preferred.
- Knowledge of FAFSA, financial aid, college admissions, enrollment, and student-support systems.
- Valid Texas driver’s license and reliable transportation.
- Ability to complete and maintain required background or fingerprint clearance.
Social Justice Learning Institute ("SJLI") is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity. We are committed to complying with all applicable federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities, as well as all other employment laws and regulations. It is our intent to maintain a work environment that is free of unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. SJLI prohibits discrimination, harassment, or retaliation based on any characteristic protected by applicable law, including, but not limited to: age (40 and over), race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists), color, religion, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, reproductive health decision-making, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender (including gender identity and gender expression), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, protected medical leaves (including requesting or taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act or California Family Rights Act), domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, off-duty and off-premises use of cannabis, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. The Organization is dedicated to the fulfillment of this policy in regard to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, placement, transfer, training, promotion, rates of pay and other compensation, benefits, discipline, termination, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Employment decisions at SJLI are based on legitimate, job-related qualifications, skills, experience, performance, organizational needs, and other lawful business considerations. In carrying out our mission, SJLI values mission alignment, community-centered practice, culturally responsive approaches, and the ability to contribute positively to the communities we serve, particularly historically underserved communities. Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted or applied in a manner inconsistent with applicable law. The Organization will conduct a confidential, prompt, and thorough investigation of all allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or any violation of this Equal Employment Opportunity Policy. Where appropriate, the Organization will take corrective and remedial action. SJLI strictly prohibits retaliation against any team member who, in good faith, reports concerns, provides information, participates in an investigation, or otherwise exercises rights protected by law or this policy. We are all responsible for upholding this policy and fostering a workplace characterized by dignity, respect, inclusion, and belonging. Team members who have questions regarding equal employment opportunities or who wish to report concerns should speak with their manager, Human Resources, or any other designated member of management.
Pay: $30.00 - $32.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Houston, TX 77027
