In service to others
volunteers, yours to keep...or lose
Background
One of the pillars of the non-profit program I managed in a youth correctional facility, Hope Partnership, is volunteers. The nature of the program is to meet the needs and wants of the young men (ages 14-24) and expanding to providing some services to the young women’s facility. Volunteers are in tandem to our main pillar of a youth driven program. We sought and engaged volunteers who are experts in their field and/or have standing in the community. The next step was engaging with community and global partners for services and having their trained facilitators come in to deliver the workshops.
End of an Era
As an example, we have a volunteer who has been with us for 14 years. One of our first volunteers. I’m not going to lie…in the beginning to make this program work, I cherry picked from my family. This volunteer is my son, Sean Fullerton, who began a fitness workshop in December of 2010. Sean was eminently qualified having just graduated from Western Oregon University with a degree in Exercise Science and as an intern and then employed with Performance Training Center in their brick and mortar facility. Fitness and exercise programs were high on the youth’s request list after music and art. A template for how the program was and is built on youth ideas, requests, wants, and needs.
A Volunteer’s Journey
Over the years Sean held more workshops, accommodating more youth, times, constraints on moves within the facility, and cooperation with supervising staff. Rapport with the young men led them asking to form a book club (MasterMinds). Sean led it in the facility and continued virtually via zoom during COVID restrictions on volunteers. As Sean’s life took him overseas, to California to teach high school, to the University of New Mexico for his PhD, and now Towson University in Maryland he continued workshops via zoom sometimes with unit staff putting youth on camera. He came in to the facility when he was home on breaks. This is the story of all our volunteers, staff, and youth: commitment, relationship, and innovation.
To keep or lose…
In the extraordinary opportunity we had to create a non-profit program operating in a state agency’s youth correctional facility there is a tremendous amount of work to ensure volunteers are supported as well as meeting the safety and security needs of the agency. We have navigated the landscape successfully. Sean’s work comes to a conclusion in part to to his life’s work and also the frustration in the agency’s ability to facilitate and nurture volunteer access. Beware the pitfalls that will derail your volunteers and program.
Coordinating agency and program management: collaboration is essential and building trust and relationships with the Superintendent, campus security, and staff.
Where that breaks down:
“Administration by rumor” where staff make up rules and policy when they don’t have the information.
Lack of training of staff who will be first line meeting, greeting, and securing access for volunteers. Volunteers turned away after long drives and time commitment are damaging lapses in support.
Lack of knowledge of policies and procedures.
Loss of institutional knowledge due to staff attrition, rotations, outside leadership hires, and upper management at odds/ill informed on programming. Our program has been in operation 14 years, yet we rarely had new staff shadow or even meet our staff.
Lack of investment in skills development in volunteer management. Essential for the program and agency
Entrenched negative belief and stereotyping of volunteers and need for volunteers. This is an important component of volunteer management to ensure understanding by volunteers of boundaries, policies, procedures, channels of communication, and relationship building. It is the way to combat negative interactions and build new views of the trust and benefits
Success stories…
My husband complimented my “stewardship” as the conduit for engaging volunteers. The reality is the stewardship comes at great cost. It is volatile, exhausting, and yet rewarding when great outcomes and relationships exist.
We engaged Kanaan Kanaan in 2010 in the very early days of the program. The expertise and lived experience he shared were paramount to the development of art skills and world view for his students. His consistency in weekly workshops are another hallmark of successful volunteering. It was up to our program, me, to make that happen in the strict policy and procedures of a correctional facility.
Write Around Portland (WAP) writing workshops had also been engaged since 2010. When we started the program in August 2010, WAP was our first workshop come hell or high water in October to get the meetings in progress. To ensure we could demonstrate we could be successful under the aura of skepticism among state agency staff and leadership that such a program could or should exist. We continued hosting WAP via zoom during the pandemic. The workshops will be returning soon.
In 2019 we celebrated their 20th anniversary with them and talked about impact and the relationship. These Wounds Will Heal
Successfully managing a program and program volunteers has ensured that we had, until recently, volunteers delivering workshops weekly on a quarterly basis for over 10 years. Volunteers felt as much a part of Hope Partnership as the student participants. The young men owned the program and were protective and respectful to volunteers and their time, expertise, and commitment. New volunteers and programs would come on board, enrich the experience of the youth, end when volunteers circumstances changed or youth interest changed. New volunteers and programs exist now as population and staffing has changed. The state has moved from the understanding of the brain science for what works to a more restrictive model for safety and security of all involved.
Over the years…
Toastmasters, pubic speaking, began in 2011. Community members attended as volunteers, young men earned awards, and supported each other in the process. We changed to a Gavel Club in 2020 when a lot of population was under 18 years old. No meetings are currently being held due restrictions on mixing youth from different units.
The Insight Alliance, began in 2019 with 15-20 young men attending weekly meetings. We continued via zoom in 2020. The partnership and volunteers remain today.
Restorative Justice began in 2010 with volunteers from Resolutions NW. A tremendously impactful program which saw meetings stop in 2020. This workshop and connections ignited a passion for one of our alumnus and former staff who now oversee Restorative Roots Project.
Playwriting began in 2011 with Francesca Piantadosi, our playwright, leading remarkable workshops designed to create 10 minute plays. In 2017 youth playwrights were able to watch their plays be performed by actors in Portland’s Fertile Ground production. They participated in a Q & A. Play readings were conducted in the facility after every workshop (twice a year) with professional actors reading the plays. Again 2020 closed this workshop. Changes in the facility have made it difficult to bring the volunteer back in.
Forward Stride with equine assisted therapy came in on a fantastic “why not?” moment. We hosted university undergrad practicum students, also volunteers. When meeting with youth leadership to collaborate on what services they might bring, one of our Portland State University students told a story of how she worked with equine therapy. Well, the young men at the table sat up straighter, leaned in and with the optimism of their success so far asked “can we do that?” Of course the answer was “why not?” We made the pitch. Bringing in horses, horse trailers, finding space to hold the workshop, identify the youth to participate, and having the Forward Stride staff trained is a testament to what CAN be done in this unique relationship of non-profit and state agency. Forward Stride continues today with a long standing relationship in place, funding through our parent non-profit Janus Youth Programs and trust built over time.
It is easy to lose volunteers. More difficult, but oh so rewarding to keep.
Here are some other workshops we’ve held and still offer and long term relationships we’ve built…even beyond time in the facility:
Unlock the Arts, Radio Journalism, Open Signal Film Production, Beading and Jewelry (audio report/volunteer voice begins at 28:27)
Chess for Success, NW Noggin, Inside/Out, Improv, Breakdancing, Job Connections, Finance Literacy, Highland Games, Céili of the Valley.
Two documentary projects: Perception: From Prison to Purpose and We Create the Love: The Story of Hope Partnership through partnerships with documentarians and youth participation.
Legal Studies: law student led workshops leading to collaboration with Oregon legislators in writing SB1008
Men in the Movement: Portland State University grad students led comprehensive, well prepared workshop incorporating dialogue on consent, feminism, and more.
And many more as well as guest speakers, practicum students, and partnerships.
