Running head: Second Chances Program

AGENCY REPORT & PRESENTATION Gus Tarphen Wilmington University

Second Chances Program

Overview The organization, A Center for Relational Living - Second Chances Program goal is successful community re-integration of men and women, 18 or older, who have a criminal record, thereby contributing to stronger and safer communities. Second Chances functions include connecting mentor

with ex-prisoner and job development for possible employment opportunities. They believe that one of the keys to a successful re-entry process is by having access to a positive role model. By providing a mentor, Second Chances are ensuring that this need is met. Participants who met with a mentor were 56% more likely to retain their jobs to at least past the probationary period of 90 days (three months). Upon enrollment, participants of the job development portion of the program are required to attend one, if not two job prep sessions each week. Job Prep Sessions are also held every week at two locations, at The Wilmington Library Job Center and the other at Bethel Villa Apartments computer lab with internet access on Mondays and Wednesday between 1 3pm and 10 12noon respectively. At these sessions, participants will work with the program coordinator to begin resume building, and revisions-job-leads; while providing positive re-enforcement to participants with every interaction amongst meeting other needs. Mission and Vision The mission of A Center for Relational Living Second Chances is to improve the quality of life of formerly incarcerated men and women through mentoring and sustainable employment. While the vision of a center for Relational living is, in Delaware, people must be able to relate positively and freely among races, classes and genders. Policy and Procedures The Code of Conduct describes the expected actions and behaviors of employees while conducting ACRL business. All employees are expected to abide by it. The highest standards of personal and professional ethics and behavior are expected of all ACRL employees. ACRL strives to provide an employee-friendly environment, and value a collaborative and helpful environment with open communication. ACRL has an Open Door policy encouraging employees to bring problems to the executive director, when unable to resolve issues directly with other colleagues. Below are some policy and procedures guidelines just to name a few: Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Conflicts of Interest Discrimination and Harassment Confidentiality Reporting any Illegal or Unethical Behavior

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Demographic Information A federal conviction should never deprive human being survival for life in this civilized land, the

United States of America that promotes In pursuit of Happiness. The period following incarceration or conviction during which a person (adult or juvenile) reintegrates into community, is a time of paramount importance to both public safety and the rehabilitative process. A Center for Relational Living Second Chances stand-out to meet that need. According to the American Bar Association Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions, individuals with criminal records who are unable to obtain employment are three times more likely to return to prison than those individuals who are able to find work. There are many obstacles that stand between the individual with a criminal record and the successful re-entry. Nonetheless, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and other leading researcher conclude that more than two-third of the individuals released from prison are recidivated within three years. There is an Act at the federal level that also emphasized millions in federal aid to state, local and tribal government and nonprofit organization to support programming to assist people exiting incarceration including competitive grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance and other services. Structure and Governance Second Chances is led by a dedicated group of board members who share commitment to the population they serve. The organization has Executive Director and comprised of multi-disciplined Board members, each with extensive experience in the fields of human services. The top three members of the leadership team consistently focus on providing a range of innovative program opportunities for those serve. Those executives promote stewardship and fiscal responsibility. Agency chart:
Executive Director

Program Coordinator

Director for Job Development

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Funding The agency is funded by Vista capacity-building grant and Longwood Foundation. AmeriCorps

VISTA members are passionate and committed to their mission to bring individuals and communities out of poverty. Members make a year-long, full-time commitment to serve on a specific project at a nonprofit organization or public agency. They focus their efforts to build the organizations administration and help with financial capacity of organizations that fight illiteracy, improve health services, foster economic development, and otherwise assist low-income communities. The Longwood Foundation is dedicated to the people, environment, and communities of Delaware and southern Chester County in Pennsylvania. They accept grant requests from all organizations that have received 501(c)3 status from the IRS (if you are a nonprofit without a 501(c)3 certification, please call us). They invest primarily in the education, health care, environmental, housing, arts, social services, and civic sectors. Longwood are looking to make grants that will accelerate an organization towards its own success and in the process to help solve a community challenge in our geographic boundaries. Relationship to Others A center for Relational Living Second Chances is currently collaborating with West Neighborhood House, Latin American Community Center, and Ministry of Caring. The agencies provide an Employment Specialist that assesses clients and provide soft skills trainings. Strengths, Trends and Challenges Strengths strengths are those company attributes or activities that you do better than most, or better than anyone else, in your competitive environment. Second Chances finds patience and strengths in resume building and revision-job-leads for the participants. Second Chances assists with positive re-enforcement of participants attitude with every interaction. They think and analyze questions such as: What do we do well? What do we do better than most? Below are some examples of the agency strengths: o o o Perception by clients of the products or services Perception in the industry of their brand One-on-one advantage over competitors

Trends - Second Chances provide and facilitate mentor training to prepare all mentors for their future work with match participants. They provide resources to ex-prisoners during the ACRL Pre-Release Transformational Re-entry Readiness Workshop, which focuses on Group Cognitive Behavior Therapy & Emotional Management, with A Life skills Component.

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The Challenge - Advancing strategic goals for recruitment remains a challenge for the organization. Thus, a recruiting strategy is defined as a business document written for the purpose of describing its current marketing position for the period covered. To accomplish this, there must be a system in place. A system is a network of interdependent components that work together to try to accomplish one aim (Deming, 1994). In addressing the constraint factors, I realized that finding funding and understanding the participants satisfaction needs were very vital. In addition, I felt that focusing on the participants funding would help to eliminate the constraints and promote the selling stage for more services. In fact, Lepore and Cohen say and I quote, Lets focus on the way we sell (Lepore & Cohen, 1999).

Interns Role At my internship site, I have a huge role. As I prepare every week, my role include a very formal, organized, and structured project or task to be clear and the supervisor relatively involve in the work. I have a project in which I was given the opportunity to create a system to capture record and report outcomes data. I also had an invitation to attend the Criminal justice Council Grant Writing Workshop. Before this workshop, I was given a research work to describe how the evaluation strategy assesses all threshold requirements, the impact of the project and the sustainability plan beyond funding. The qualities and knowledge I hope to gain during this experience of the course work are to provide me with the experience of fund raising which is key in the industry, and insights of the evaluation process as a leader. In all aspects of the internship, I would like to not forget that I am representing not only my own integrity but also that of the program and the university as a whole.

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References

Deming, W. Edwards. (October, 1995). The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, Second Edition.

Kiser, P. M. (2008). The human services internship: getting the most from your experience (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. Lepore, Domenico; Cohen, Oded. (1999). Deming and Goldratt. The Theory of Constraints and The System of Profound Knowledge, http://www.relationalliving.org/