Fresh Start Program: A Case Study

According to Jones, the most challenging aspect of ODRC’s goal of reducing recidivism is employment of individuals once they are released from their institution back into the community. This relates back to the views of the community in that, much of society does not want to associate with ex-offenders. This includes within employment. Individuals who have been incarcerated have a much harder time finding employment than do most others due to their record. However, according to Jones, ODRC is combating this by creating connections with area employers who are willing to employ ex-offenders. Connections such as these, along with other connections with churches and reentry coalitions, are extremely useful for ODRC and a crucial contributor to its efforts. They assist in providing support and care for individuals reentering the community.

Besides be adjacent to a major interstate this particular library is nestled between the Hoover Police Department and the Hoover Recreation Center. The library to address such a diverse and large community is a two floor facility with the basement level having meeting rooms, a theatre, and a box office. While the main level has the collections, circulation desks, lounges, and café. The spacious and large floor plans are necessary to fulfill the needs and visits from an estimate of 79,127 patrons and counting. The exponential growth of patrons is value to understand how much this library has grown to serve its community since opening in 1983. The handling of such growth in patrons would not be possible without the help of the Jefferson County Library Cooperative and the Library Board, which is open to the public. Considering the following it is important that what the Hoover Public Library is for fulfillment of their mission “to serve all the citizens of Hoover by offering the services, resources, and facilities to fulfill the informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs and interests.” (Hoover,

The prison population in the United States has been growing steadily for more over 30 years, a great portion of this population are returned offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, each year more than 650,000 offenders are released into communities with at least 5 million of the ex-offenders being under some form of community-based supervision (James, 2010). In an attempt to curtail the rate of recidivism, the Bureau of Prison contracts with Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs) to assist inmates approaching release. RRC’s provide safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement and financial management assistance (Prisons, 2017).

Garthwait, C. L. (2014). The Social Work Practicum: A Guide and Workbook for Students (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Grinnell, R. M. Jr., Gabor, P. A., & Unrau, Y. A. (2016). Program evaluation for social workers

For the re-entry program, I conducted intake interviews and assessed the needs of each client. I managed three to five cases and assisted with pre-release re-entry classes at the Middle River Regional Jail in Staunton. Although the re-entry program was challenging at times, I remained passionate and enjoyed assisting our clients with finding employment, housing, transportation assistance, resume assistance, food assistance and other valuable resources within the community. BRCS also provided

To meet these challenges Unlimited Second Chances has developed a comprehensive system navigation and linkage program in effort to increase access to needed public health, behavioral health, and/or social services. Working in collaboration with various community- based organizations, healthcare services, and local social services etc. Unlimited Second Chance will provide individuals formerly incarcerated with access to much needed resources in order to appropriately reintegrate back into their communities. However, although Suffolk, Franklin, Southhampton County and Isle of Wight offers a variety of programs that assist ex-offenders with reintegration many are simply inundated with the connecting process. Therefore, the comprehensive system

The London Public Library is an organization spanning the city of London, delivering services from 16 physical locations. The core services of the library include reference, reader’s advisory and referral; collections and lending; technology services; programming and community outreach. The library is focused on literacy, learning, culture/leisure/recreation, information and community meeting place. The past few years have seen significant resources pegged towards fund raising strategies, resulting in other areas of the organization being neglected and

In this paper, the intern will disclose information from a case that they experienced during their internship at the Mobile County Department of Human Resources. The paper will demonstrate the intern’s knowledge of the presenting problem and the fundaments of their field placement. It will explain the client’s problem in context and display the intern’s ability to understand diverse groups. Next the paper will explain the how a plan was established for the clients and how the intervention process was utilized in their case. Then the intern will describe how the plan and intervention was evaluated and, if successfully, how the termination process was applied. Lastly, the intern will identify any issues related to social work values and

In 2015, there were 6,741,400 individuals in the United States who are under some form of supervision in the correctional system (Kaeble & Glaze, 2016). While this number was the lowest since 1994, it illustrates there is still a significant number of people who will be seeking employment upon reentering society. Studies have shown that recidivism is increased by legitimate and satisfying employment, particularly amongst those with higher quality and better paying jobs (Visher, Winterfield, & Coggeshall, 2005). While many offenders were employed prior to incarceration, many have not held steady jobs and may not have the education and job skills to find steady employment. Additionally, longer sentences equate to longer gaps in employment and experience. While many correctional systems provide vocational training, opportunities to learn basic skills, and GED classes; offenders still need assistance navigating the job search process. Furthermore, they often need assistance with housing, childcare, counseling, medical care, and food. Therefore, it is important to provide this population with resources to meet their basic needs, in addition to, locating satisfying employment, education, and skills training. While this population may need assistance with resumes, cover letters, and interviewing, they are also faced with a need for education regarding their rights and how to disclose their criminal background to potential

Founded in 1899, Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) first library opened with a dictionary and encyclopedia in its collection. Located in the central part of the NAU Flagstaff campus, it provides both physical and virtual environments that foster intellectual discovery, collaborative research, and access to technology (Library overview, 2016). As with most academic libraries, the research collections are critical to supporting the curricular and research mission of the university. As of April 2016, members of the NAU community and public have access to more than 670,000 print and e-books, 81,000 e-journals, 161,000 online audio and video recordings (J. Swann, personal communication, April 19, 2016). Successful learning requires inclusive and widespread support along with relevant resources from the library. Thus, the library offers spaces including group and individual study rooms; multi-media production studios, classrooms, and a makerspace. The library’s mission statement confirms the organization is committed to:

The library I volunteered at is run by the high school, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute (C.I.). The school was founded in 1979 and was named after Norman Bethune; a well-known Canadian doctor. He was best known for his services during World War I and his dedication to helping the poor in Canada. Moreover, over these past few years, the school has prospered beautifully and has had many renovations and changes. For example, two years ago, the school’s library had a huge makeover. The library was given new furniture to allow to have students a better working space. Similarly, the library moved shelves around in order to make it more convenient for everyone to access books. Ultimately, Dr. Norman Bethune C.I. has it in their best interest to provide students with the tools they need to succeed in education. In other words, the school displays good citizenship by assisting their students.

Holly Vanderbusch is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Wisconsin. She just received her license approximately 4 weeks ago (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). She graduated from Mount Mary College with a Master’s in Art Therapy and Professional Counseling (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). She works as a Clinical Therapist at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in the Fresh Start Program (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). The Fresh Start Program is a program for at-risk students (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). Students who are unable to complete task, have difficulty maintaining composure, have poor attendance and who are physically and verbally aggressive (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). Fresh Start is an alternative program to school. It is a collaboration between Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Racine Unified School District (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). Fresh Start uses lessons that are age appropriate for each child from the Racine Unified School District (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). Fresh start is offered Monday thru Friday from 8am-2:30pm for students in first through fifth grade (H. Vanderbusch, personal communication, February 29, 2016). Fresh Start communicates regularly on the progress of each child with the child’s home

One of the organizations in the U.S. combines many interventions suggested by the reviewed literature to help formerly incarcerated people transition back to society. The Fortune Society is a New York-based nonprofit organization which has helped thousands of formerly incarcerated people to rebuild their lives in their communities. The organization provides social and health services to previously incarcerated people since 1967. The mission of this organization is “to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities” (Fortune Society n.d.). The vision of the organization is “to foster a world where all who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated will

Since their establishment, libraries have served as a gateway to knowledge and services that revolutionized the way the public attains information. Unlike many other institutions, public libraries have grown and evolved along with society by adopting new technology and offering resources tailored to the needs of their local community.