Community saftey through partnership
My name is Bobby Smith. I am currently a senior attending my last year of Portland State University. I am pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Social Science, with an emphasis in Public Affairs. In my required Capstone course to complete this degree I decided to spend my time assisting the youth of our country. I will be spending this semester as a mentor/volunteer with the Clark County Juvenile Court System.
Brief history
This organization has been around for some time now. This program was born as a result of realizing that mass incarceration was not a solution to address the youth problem of violations of state RCW’s. For example, one of the programs consist of a local company that provides sewing and knitting lessons. The youth learn a trade where they assist in making blankets and quilts that are given to the local community. The youth are very excited after finding out that all their participation and hard work is later provided to the Clark County Sheriff's Santa Posse at Christmas time. The Sheriff's Posse is a part of the Sheriff’s Dept that provides at least one of the blankets or quilts in the holiday baskets given out each holiday season at the Clark County Fairgrounds.
One more of the community partners is located in Brush Prairie at one of the local farms. The youth and the mentors meet up with the farmworkers and go over a quick intake meeting, which is a do/don’t of interacting with farm animals. It is normally a 2/1 ratio of mentors to youth. For 8 hours we perform farm duties, such as taking ATV’s loaded with hay and driving to unload the hay for cows and horses. We also assist in cleaning out the stables, put in new hay. We perform duties such as repairing fence lines. We hauled a mixture of manure and sawdust to lay out on new-seeded pastureland. At the end of the day we have a debriefing. Many of the kids are given an opportunity to be exposed to something new. A lot of them have never been exposed to farm animals prior to this experience. These are just a few of the many community partners working together for a safer, non-incarcerated community.
This organization has been around for some time now. This program was born as a result of realizing that mass incarceration was not a solution to address the youth problem of violations of state RCW’s. For example, one of the programs consist of a local company that provides sewing and knitting lessons. The youth learn a trade where they assist in making blankets and quilts that are given to the local community. The youth are very excited after finding out that all their participation and hard work is later provided to the Clark County Sheriff's Santa Posse at Christmas time. The Sheriff's Posse is a part of the Sheriff’s Dept that provides at least one of the blankets or quilts in the holiday baskets given out each holiday season at the Clark County Fairgrounds.
One more of the community partners is located in Brush Prairie at one of the local farms. The youth and the mentors meet up with the farmworkers and go over a quick intake meeting, which is a do/don’t of interacting with farm animals. It is normally a 2/1 ratio of mentors to youth. For 8 hours we perform farm duties, such as taking ATV’s loaded with hay and driving to unload the hay for cows and horses. We also assist in cleaning out the stables, put in new hay. We perform duties such as repairing fence lines. We hauled a mixture of manure and sawdust to lay out on new-seeded pastureland. At the end of the day we have a debriefing. Many of the kids are given an opportunity to be exposed to something new. A lot of them have never been exposed to farm animals prior to this experience. These are just a few of the many community partners working together for a safer, non-incarcerated community.
My responsibilities at the Clark County Juvenile Court
Duties and responsibilities for mentoring consist of needing a passion to assist youth. You must have the abilities to work with all cultures, all sexual preferences, all genders. This goes for both entry level and lead mentors. A lead mentor is someone who has more time than the average mentor and is willing to take lead on projects. The entry level mentor such as myself, is someone who comes in and is an assistant mentor to the head mentor. Also, as a mentor, lead or assistant, we are expected to mentor at least 2 projects per month. We have to make sure we don’t give any legal advice. We can talk about their day and we direct them to their probation counselors for any in depth questions. We attempt to talk about how their school and life is going in general. We keep conversations very general and safe, where there are no lines crossed by the mentor or by the youth.
All of our mentors are unpaid. This is on our own time, outside of attending college, working fulltime and raising our own families.
Some of the planned actions are to make sure the youth meet and complete the mandated required hours set by the judge and the juvenile courts. If there is a young person that is unmotivated, for example, we try to do as mentors is to allow the youth to have a voice and give them a moment to vent as long as it is within the parameters of not being violent. At the same time, we try to redirect them to see the positive side of this great opportunity to participate in this program. After all the previous steps have been attempted, and the youth are uncooperative, we take the youth to the lead mentor and explain the situation and hand off the youth to them as a standby party. These youths are being directed to contact their legal guardian to pick them up. As a mentor, we write a brief summary and pass that on at the end of the assignment up the chain of command to our coordinator. It is then forwarded on to their probation counselors.
I bring to this mentorship my life experiences and my leadership abilities, both civilian and military. I also bring my understanding that these youth are our future. We must provide them with every possible resource and opportunity to equip them to be leaders of this nation.
Duties and responsibilities for mentoring consist of needing a passion to assist youth. You must have the abilities to work with all cultures, all sexual preferences, all genders. This goes for both entry level and lead mentors. A lead mentor is someone who has more time than the average mentor and is willing to take lead on projects. The entry level mentor such as myself, is someone who comes in and is an assistant mentor to the head mentor. Also, as a mentor, lead or assistant, we are expected to mentor at least 2 projects per month. We have to make sure we don’t give any legal advice. We can talk about their day and we direct them to their probation counselors for any in depth questions. We attempt to talk about how their school and life is going in general. We keep conversations very general and safe, where there are no lines crossed by the mentor or by the youth.
All of our mentors are unpaid. This is on our own time, outside of attending college, working fulltime and raising our own families.
Some of the planned actions are to make sure the youth meet and complete the mandated required hours set by the judge and the juvenile courts. If there is a young person that is unmotivated, for example, we try to do as mentors is to allow the youth to have a voice and give them a moment to vent as long as it is within the parameters of not being violent. At the same time, we try to redirect them to see the positive side of this great opportunity to participate in this program. After all the previous steps have been attempted, and the youth are uncooperative, we take the youth to the lead mentor and explain the situation and hand off the youth to them as a standby party. These youths are being directed to contact their legal guardian to pick them up. As a mentor, we write a brief summary and pass that on at the end of the assignment up the chain of command to our coordinator. It is then forwarded on to their probation counselors.
I bring to this mentorship my life experiences and my leadership abilities, both civilian and military. I also bring my understanding that these youth are our future. We must provide them with every possible resource and opportunity to equip them to be leaders of this nation.
Reflection
My specific plans to achieve these goals are to continue to be a mentor even after receiving my bachelor’s degree. I want to work as a mentor with the youth of the greater Portland metro area.
I gain the knowledge and patience of working with our youth from all walks of life, all cultures, all religions, all economic backgrounds. The most rewarding part of this process was learning that the justice system and the process of mentoring has a greater impact on our youth at this level than letting them fall through the cracks and re-attempt at the adult level.
Where I go from here is back to my current career in the public safety field, but with a different perspective because of this internship.
My specific plans to achieve these goals are to continue to be a mentor even after receiving my bachelor’s degree. I want to work as a mentor with the youth of the greater Portland metro area.
I gain the knowledge and patience of working with our youth from all walks of life, all cultures, all religions, all economic backgrounds. The most rewarding part of this process was learning that the justice system and the process of mentoring has a greater impact on our youth at this level than letting them fall through the cracks and re-attempt at the adult level.
Where I go from here is back to my current career in the public safety field, but with a different perspective because of this internship.