Resource Navigator

RESOURCE NAVIGATOR

TAY Services & Resource Operations

HYPE Center | Freedom Forward
San Francisco, CA
Full-Time | In-Person, 5 Days/Week | Non-Exempt
$32/hour
Spanish-speaking required

Help us create a place where young people feel welcomed, supported, and cared for.

Freedom Forward is looking for a Resource Navigator to join our HYPE Center team.

This is a unique role for someone who genuinely enjoys both working with young people and making things work.

Our members are transitional aged youth (TAY), ages 14 to 24. Experience engaging with this specific age group is important. TAY are navigating the transition from adolescence into adulthood, and they deserve to be treated with the autonomy, dignity, and respect appropriate to that stage of life.

You might come from youth services, community work, retail, hospitality, a resource center, or another fast-moving environment where you learned how to take care of people while keeping a lot of moving pieces organized.

You're warm and approachable. You notice when someone needs help. You also notice when supplies are running low, a space needs attention, an appointment needs coordinating, or something simply needs to get done.

And you don't always wait for someone else to notice first.

If that sounds like you, we'd love to meet you.

ABOUT FREEDOM FORWARD & THE HYPE CENTER

Freedom Forward collaborates with Bay Area young people ages 14 to 24 to transform systems and prevent exploitation.

Our HYPE Center (Helping Young People Elevate) is a multi-service drop-in center designed with input from system-impacted TAY and TAY with lived experience.

Young people come to HYPE to access things many of us need to feel safe, comfortable, and supported: food, clothing, showers, laundry, supportive relationships, programs, referrals, and connections to community resources.

We believe young people are less vulnerable to exploitation when they have access to basic needs, opportunities, and people who consistently show up for them.

THE ROLE

As our Resource Navigator, you'll help make sure the HYPE Center works the way young people deserve it to.

You'll help create an environment where a young person can walk through our doors and find clean towels, stocked hygiene supplies, food they can access, clothing organized and ready, services that work and someone who treats them with authentic warmth and respect.

This is both a highly relational and highly hands-on role.

You won't spend your whole day behind a desk.

You also won't spend your whole day doing case management.

You'll move between young people, resources, spaces, appointments, supplies, documentation, and unexpected needs throughout the day.

A critical part of this role is knowing how to build authentic relationships with TAY while maintaining clear professional boundaries. Our members are teenagers and young adults, not children. We are looking for someone who can connect with them without becoming parental or overly familiar, and who understands that having family members in this age range is not the same as having professional or volunteer experience working with TAY.

The Boutique is one of the lowest-barrier ways young people enter and engage with HYPE. Keeping it organized, stocked, welcoming, and ready for members is a core responsibility of this position, not an extra task when there is time.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

On any given day, you might:

• Welcome young people into HYPE and help them feel comfortable in the space.
• Conduct orientations and tours for new HYPE members.
• Help a young person access clothing, food, hygiene supplies, showers, laundry, and other essential resources.
• Coordinate scheduled appointments while responding to drop-in needs.
• Keep our boutique, pantry, kitchen, showers, laundry, and other resource areas organized, stocked, welcoming, and ready to use.
• Wash and replenish towels and help maintain the routine operation of laundry and shower services.
• Receive, sort, and organize donations and bulk deliveries.
• Monitor inventory and restock frequently used items before they run out.
• Coordinate resource pickups and restocking with community partners.
• Notice when a young person may need additional support and connect them with the appropriate HYPE program, partner, or team member.
• Document services and member interactions accurately and on time in our CRM.
• Communicate relevant member needs and safety concerns with the HYPE team.
• Participate in team meetings, trainings, outreach, community events, and Communities of Practice.

WHO THRIVES IN THIS ROLE

We're looking for someone who genuinely enjoys taking care of people and taking care of a space.

You may be a great fit if you:

• Genuinely enjoy working with transitional aged youth and young adults.
• Understand that working effectively with TAY requires respecting their growing independence, autonomy, identity, and ability to make their own choices.
• Build relationships naturally while respecting boundaries and autonomy.
• Believe young people deserve dignity, choice, and respect, especially when asking for help.
• Know how to connect authentically with young people without becoming parental, overly familiar, or crossing professional boundaries.
• Are organized and get satisfaction from making a busy environment work well.
• Notice what needs to be done and take appropriate initiative.
• Follow through. If you notice something, start something, or tell someone you'll take care of something, you make sure it gets done.
• Don't need every task to be assigned to you before you act.
• Understand that in a busy drop-in center, there is almost always something that needs attention. When member traffic slows down, you look for what needs to be restocked, cleaned, organized, documented, prepared, or followed up on.
• Are comfortable with hands-on work like organizing donations, restocking supplies, maintaining resource areas, preparing resources, and helping with laundry.
• Can manage appointments, inventory, documentation, and multiple resource areas without losing the human connection.
• Communicate clearly and work well as part of a team.
• Know when to solve something yourself and when to ask for support.
• Approach young people with curiosity rather than judgment.

Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wakes up with "yes" in their heart. Someone who believes deeply in young people and brings compassion, initiative, care, and follow-through to the work.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Spanish fluency is required for this position.

Qualified candidates will also demonstrate:

• Experience working directly with transitional aged youth (TAY), particularly young people ages 14 to 24. This may include paid employment, internships, or substantive volunteer experience.
• An understanding of the developmental needs of older adolescents and young adults and the importance of supporting autonomy rather than infantilizing young people.
• Experience supporting vulnerable and/or system-impacted populations.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Empathy, patience, and a genuine respect for young people, paired with the ability to consistently follow through on responsibilities.
• Strong professional boundaries and the ability to build trusting relationships without becoming parental or overly familiar.
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Comfort balancing direct engagement with young people and hands-on operational responsibilities.
• Ability to remain responsive and solution-oriented in a busy drop-in environment.
• Comfort using digital tools, documentation systems, data entry, scheduling, and other routine administrative systems.
• A trauma-informed, nonjudgmental approach to working with young people.
• Comfort with a physically active role that involves being on your feet throughout the day, moving throughout the HYPE Center, bending and reaching, doing laundry, organizing and restocking supplies, receiving and sorting donations, and maintaining resource spaces.
• Ability to safely lift and move supplies, donations, and other materials associated with the day-to-day operation of the HYPE Center, with reasonable accommodation as needed.

YOUR EXPERIENCE MIGHT LOOK DIFFERENT, AND THAT'S OKAY

There isn't only one path to becoming an excellent Resource Navigator.

Relevant experience might come from:

TAY & Community Work: TAY programs, drop-in centers, community organizations, shelters, residential programs, after school programs serving high school students, outreach, mentoring programs, or other direct-service environments serving older adolescents and young adults.

Hospitality & Customer Service: Retail, hotels, restaurants, front desks, recreation programs, community centers, or other environments where creating a welcoming experience and keeping things running matters.

Resource & Operations Work: Clothing closets, food pantries, inventory, donations, supply management, resource distribution, facilities, or other hands-on operational roles.

Experience can be paid or volunteer. What matters is that you have meaningful experience engaging directly with transitional aged youth in a role where you were responsible for building appropriate relationships, maintaining boundaries, and supporting their autonomy.

We're interested in what your experience has taught you, not simply where you've worked.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Young people feel welcomed.

They are treated with dignity, respect, and without judgment, and they know they can come to you for help.

Young people are treated like young adults.

You build trust without infantilizing members, overstepping, or trying to take over their decisions. You support young people in making choices for themselves and accessing what they need.

The Boutique and resources are ready when they're needed.

The Boutique is a critical entry point to HYPE. It is consistently organized, stocked, welcoming, and ready for young people. Clothing, food, hygiene supplies, showers, laundry, and other essentials are accessible and ready to use.

The details don't fall through the cracks.

Appointments are coordinated, services are documented, inventory is monitored, supplies are replenished, and the team knows when something needs follow-up.

You notice, act, and follow through.

You don't wait for someone else to point out every task. When member traffic slows down, you look around and identify what needs attention. When something isn't working or a young person needs additional support, you take the appropriate next step and make sure it gets followed through.

You're part of the team.

You communicate, ask for help when you need it, pitch in when something needs to be done, and contribute to a HYPE Center where both young people and your coworkers can thrive.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

$32.00/hourFull-time, non-exempt position

Freedom Forward offers:

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits, 99% covered by Freedom Forward
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 401(k) retirement plan
• 17 paid holidays each year, including a two-week paid winter closure
• $250 quarterly wellness stipend
• Monthly professional development opportunities

Yes, you read that correctly: our paid holidays include a two-week winter break!

We believe people doing meaningful work need meaningful time to rest and recharge.

This position works in person at the HYPE Center in San Francisco five days per week, primarily Monday through Friday, with some evenings and weekends required.

YOU DON'T NEED TO CHECK EVERY BOX

We know excellent candidates don't always look like a traditional job description.

If this work speaks to you and you believe your experience has prepared you to support young people while helping a busy community space run exceptionally well, we encourage you to apply.

Freedom Forward knows diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we're committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

We highly encourage applicants who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color, LGBTQ+, and/or have lived experience to apply.

Freedom Forward is an equal-opportunity employer committed to providing a workplace free from harassment and discrimination. Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your resume to: Hans Savella, Executive Assistant [email protected]

Selected candidates will participate in a multi-step interview process that includes an initial Zoom conversation, an in-person panel interview, and, for finalists, a paid three-hour job shadow at the HYPE Center.

The job shadow gives candidates an opportunity to experience the HYPE Center, meet members of the team, and get a realistic sense of the work. It also includes a short, hands-on competency assessment using some of the everyday tools and tasks required for the position.

We don't expect candidates to know Freedom Forward's internal systems before they join us. We do want to understand how comfortable they are using common workplace technology, following instructions, learning a new system, staying organized, and completing routine administrative tasks.

Professional references will be requested from finalists.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $32.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Application Question(s):

• Are you familiar with youth-serving organizations and services in San Francisco? If yes, please briefly describe.

Language:

• Spanish (Required)

Work Location: In person