Ben Hilligas

Experience

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  Compass House Emergency Shelter and Resource Center

  Jun 2007 - Nov 2012

  Counselor

  • Provide direct care and supervision of youth temporarily residing at Office of Children and Family Services approved Emergency Homeless and Runaway Youth Shelter.• Facilitate individual and group counseling sessions addressing life skills, conflict resolution, positive decision making, financial literacy, economic self-sufficiency and other topics relevant to at-risk youth population.• Provided 24 hour telephone crisis counseling.• Maintain and manage a caseload of young adults aging out of youth service provision seeking independent living skills training and assistance.• Maintained daily domestic management of household.• Responsible for shift supervision, mentorship of new hires and direct supervision of student interns reporting to agency administration Show less

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  Say Yes Buffalo

  Dec 2012 - Oct 2014

  Site Facilitator

  • Identify gaps in service delivery by conducting comprehensive school/community needs assessment including stakeholder interviews, focus groups, research and data analysis. • Serve as liaison between school and agency administration and stakeholder groups. Develop positive working relationships with students, families, school personnel, central district administration and public/private community partners.• Provide home visits for chronically absent students in collaboration with BPS attendance teacher.• Coordinate a full range of support services to meet student and family needs including social/emotional supports, mental/physical health services, financial/housing assistance and legal aide.• Create and implement systematic school-wide support and intervention initiatives addressing behavior, academic achievement and satisfactory school attendance. Show less

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  Erie County

  Oct 2014 - Jan 2021

  Senior Director, Erie County Youth Bureau

  • Administer Request for Proposal process for Youth Development Programs on behalf of the Erie County Youth Services Division and Erie County Department of Social Services.• Execute over 120 contracts with non-profit and government agencies for programs serving the needs of youth to assure the provision of a broad range of services, including educational, mentoring, counseling, gang and violence prevention, youth employment and job readiness, family support, and youth leadership, service, and civic engagement.• Ensure the delivery of quality services to youth, contract compliance, and the responsible use of state and county funds, through regular, unannounced monitoring visits and audits of fiscal expenditures.• Collect, research, and analyze data to serve the needs of youth and provide performance based evaluations of programs and service impact.• Serve as a convening agent in order to facilitate collaboration, capacity-building, and resource-sharing amongst contracted agencies and local youth bureaus to ensure efficiency and eliminate duplication of services.• Work collaboratively with 21 member citizen advisory board.• Represent the County Executive in the community by attending and participating in meetings, forums, press events and other events relevant to Youth Development. Show less

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  Lt. Col. Matt Urban Human Services Center of WNY

  Jan 2021 - Jun 2023

  Executive Director
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  Buffalo EOC

  Jun 2023 - now

  Executive Director