thePassage issue 4

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Handy Work:

A Wise

from the

“Studies show…volunteering increases the likelihood of being employed,” said Florida Department of Economic Opportunity director, Jesse Panuccio. Audrey Kidwell has years worth of volunteer experience to date. She has gone from Americorps to Peace Corps service to current Volunteer Generation Fund Program Manager for Volunteer Florida. Kidwell shares her insight into personal benefits of volunteering, the business side and a new social media trend regarding the task.

become future community leaders through a rigorous middle-school program coupled with ongoing graduate support,” appears successful based on graduate testimony shared on AcademyPrep.org. Jorge graduated in 2008. He wrote, “I have had my sights set on an Ivy League university since I was an eighth grader at Academy Prep. I always enjoyed school, but Academy Prep gave me the confidence I needed to take pride in my accomplishments.” Jorge went on to attend Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire and now Columbia University.

Special Thanks        

Marcus Scott The Sneakerhead Collection 2 Extreme Tattoos Tampa Infamous City Tattoos- Tampa Nuekie owner Eunice Cofie Academy Prep Center of Tampa Audrey Kidwell Carrie Ann Baade

Educators are crucial to success stories like Jorge’s, but 11-hour school days require assistance. Academy Prep students attend convocation, 6 class periods a day- 4 core and 2 supplementary. Volunteers are most helpful in study hall and enrichment. There is an 18 and older requirement for volunteers to contribute in areas like gardening, cooking, music, sports and much more. Gutierrez notes that volunteers gain professional experience in decision making and team building. When asked if there are disadvantages to volunteering, Gutierrez says, “Obviously some of the downsides is when you have a volunteer who isn’t trained as a teacher and they don’t have any experience. Maybe they have experience one on one tutoring when they were in high school. Maybe they just had a passion for sports but they’re not teachers. So what ends up happening is, of course, they’re going to go through a time where they mess up and tell the student the wrong answer. Or maybe they themselves don’t handle situations very well even with the teacher in the room sometimes. And so it takes a bit of intervention on our end…”

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the Passage Alternative Sentence A look at court-ordered community service There’s the service some teachers require along with coursework ; Even some businesses and organizations promote community service among employees. And then there’s the infamous court ordered community service. The phrase may put a sour taste in your mouth but a look into the judicial ruling could prove it is a service in itself. In court cases where individuals charged with a crime are facing sentencing, they are sometimes given the option to complete hours of service. This is considered an alternative sentence in which communities and offenders benefit more from the service of the individual rather than his or her incarceration. Community service in general is regulated by the Office of Community Service (OCS)- a division of the United States Health and Human Services Department. "The goal of OCS services and programs is to help individuals and families become self sufficient and to revitalize communities throughout the United States."

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A Publication of 20Something Media LLC ©2015 All Rights Reserved May 2015

Q. What is your organization’s stance on volunteerism? How do you promote it? A. “On a personal level I volunteer. Volunteering has been a passion of mine for many years but now I really enjoy working with non-profits to create meaningful volunteer opportunities for others. Through my work at Volunteer Florida, I work with non-profits around the state to help increase the capacity of the organization to recruit, manage, support and retain skill-based volunteers to serve in high value volunteer assignments.” Q. What patterns do you see within volunteerism? A. “With the increase of social media and technology, I have noticed this growing trend among the younger generation called ‘slacktivism’…where people support an issue or social cause but their actions have little or no practical effect on the issue other than to make themselves feel some amount of satisfaction.” Q. With the organization and volunteer in mind, what are some pros to volunteering? What are some cons? A. “While there are many pros to volunteering, my favorite is getting to meet people and know the community in which you live or work. Onetime or short term volunteer opportunities I’ve found to be the best since you have flexibility to try different types of volunteering. However, for the organization, a big con is that it does take up time and resources to have volunteers.” Q. How do you recommend volunteers navigate the chain that may begin to form? A. “I would take time to research opportunities and organizations you want to volunteer with based off what you want as the volunteer.”

issue four

6 Ways You Never Thought to Volunteer 1 As a remote volunteer 2 As a visionary volunteer (i.e. Creating vision boards, schedule setting, etc) 3 As a coach (i.e. Sports coach, life coach) 4 As an organizer of a thank you project for local, state and/or national service men 5 As a guide for the blind 6 As an organizer of neighborhood projects (i.e. Little Libraries, newsletters, gardens, neighborhood crime watch)

in this issue >>> - Volunteerism- “Year of the A” - Alternative to College - Handy Work

Specifically though, laws governing court ordered service is established by individual states. Even within states there are organizations that partner with the court system to administer and oversee performance of hours. Last but not least there are the organizations that agree to host the offender.

Volume 1 Issue 4 May 2015

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