Category: Community Service

Community service is an important aspect of giving back to the society since it enhances the existing relationship between parties involved. Community service is basically a voluntary exercise that involves touching lives of special members of the society. Among the special group includes orphans, old, physically challenged among others. The process is interactive and involves practicing moral values and religious inclination beliefs to identify with humanity.

In the process of lending a helping hand, there are fundamental and pivotal factors and morals that control the process and give it its desired purpose. Generally, community service is meant to address social concerns and touch lives in the process. In Jewish tradition, several social concerns are notes in the Tenakh, Talmud, Midrash, commentaries, codes, and primary sources of this tradition.

Thus, this reflective treatise attempts give an in- depth conceptualization of the aspect of community service as explained in the Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash, commentaries, and sources of Jewish tradition. These aspects are correlated to my community service activities at Berkeley Men’s Homeless Shelter. In addition, the paper attempts to identify the origin of these teachings and date them appropriately.

My participation in the community service at Berkeley Men’s Homeless Shelter has been rewarding as the voluntary and well organized service at this expansive home has created a special attachment with a forceful and very clear opportunity to not only learn the Jewish contextual service provision, but also reaching out to the wider old generation practicing Jewish faith.

As I offered free services as a cook, “the connection and desire to belong exceeded the physical work” (Nuesner 14). I felt a strong feeling of total connection as the faith based programs involved interaction with the old. As a result, I experienced a momentum growth in service delivery and sincere concern for the fragile members of the society.

As a Jew, this experience presented an adept opportunity to practice the fundamental teaching by Baron to display and demonstrate inner commitment to “do good to the society which functions on moral value suasion” (Baron 354).

Besides, the practice, when performed beyond the mere boundary of faith, impacts the humanity and creates room for soul searching into benefits of inclusivity. Thus, the practice help to lay bare leadership skills, foster intrinsic empowerment, and activate passion for total engagement between the spiritual and physical being.

Therefore, this goes in line with the Rabbi Baron’s view that engaging young people in unique and new voluntary activities “encourages inclusive participatory and interesting learning process void of selfishness and disrespect to social values” (Baron 357) which define Jewish existence on the face of this planet.

Community service also involves resource mobilization and optimal use of these resources to give back and impact on lives of many people. Often, the resources are collected in a non profit integration of gifts and the art of giving.

As a volunteer at the Walnut Creek retirement home, in a group of fifteen persons, our group consisting of infused volunteers offer technical assistance in gardening to those unable to do gardening in their farms.

This was meant to facilitate efforts to rebuild old lives and make them smile with joy. Same as stated in the Rabbi Isaac, “this process enabled my group and the other party to appreciate and value the tradition of concern for fellow brethren through genuine and inspired commitment void of conditions” (Nuesner 18).

Community service foster creativity and activates expression of every part and aspect of personal life as part of the unique Jewish identity. Through provision of service training and aided learning, creativity sparks innovativeness in the process of directing assistance to members of the Walnut Creek retirement home.

As part of expressive the Jewish values, the aspect of creativity and innovativeness help to inspire the inner self to remain observant, responsible, and caring to the needs of neighbors and the society at large. Besides, “it creates a sense of pride in identity and sensitivity to concerns of special groups in the Jew society” (Nuesner 17).

Generally, what matters in community service is the little things people do. As a matter of fact, the service must not be prolonged or highly intensive to be classified as a community service.

What matters is the effectiveness of the service and response on the side of the target that appreciates and value the resultant impact. Often, impacts created by inclusive community service go a long way to ensure that services that are lacking are catered for, irrespective of the conservativeness or liberalness of the group and perception.

In Berkeley Men’s Homeless Shelter, our congregation was in the lead as the old men share heartedly on experiences and values of wisdom, and upright living in line with the Jewish tradition which demands for a voluntary and viable response to human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual encouragement.

As we practice community service in Walnut Creek retirement home, I noticed a slow but steady spiritual growth and appreciation of voluntary response to concerns and needs of people surrounding me. As the old people laughed with joy and indicated big smile, the involuntary aim of creating a sense of satisfaction was evident. The excitements and activeness indicated appreciation of our efforts and helped to foster feeling of satisfaction.

The services I offered in these settings went along way in promoting social action, affirming efforts, and creating a fertile environment for comprehensive outreach for achieving community inspired participation. This is because my actions and motivational insight was a direct reflection of Jewish tradition.

As a result, I experienced an all round feeling of special identity with my being and that of the community at large. In the Jewish tradition, the learning contextual facets in community service resonate on the service delivery as an extensive but clear order. As a matter of fact, the Torah remind the Jewish community to “love they neighbor as thyself” (Hurvitz and Karesh 45).

In the collection consisting of rabbinic laws for the Jewish called Talmud, tzedekah has the same rank on significance just like the commandments called the mitzvoth which is an obligation or commitment to do what is good. Mitzvoth issues an ultimatum directive to all Jewish believers to voluntarily help the needy, the old, orphan, widows, and even strangers who lack amidst us.

This directive is thirty six times more powerful than any existing legal commandment in the tradition of the Jewish community. Same as the old times when we were slaves in Egypt, mitzvoth is an inclusive command that goes beyond legal obligation to help. Actually, it appeals for morality and concern for the unfortunate amongst us as a means of “expression humanity and love for God” (Greenberg 36).

Irrespective of the religious views of the beneficiary in community service, the Torah is clear and condemns those who put bound in serving other. This means that doing well has no limit and goodness is a measure of the extra miles a person or a group may be willing to travel to reach out to the needy.

Among the eight Tzedekah teachings in the Maimonides include “upholding the hand of the poor” (“Jewish Philanthropy: The Concept of Tzedakar” par. 3) and being human in entering a mutual partnership with those who lack in the society.

The act of upholding hands of those lacking goes a long way in ensuring participatory approach in reaching out and reassuring others of the love of God expressed through mankind. Tzedekar defines the principles and offer explicit guidance towards practicing moral values as indicated in the Jewish tradition. Besides, Prophet Micah reminds the Jew to always “do justice and love mercy” (New Jerusalem Bible, Mic. 6. 8-9).It is only those who love mercy who can do well voluntarily among their peers and the society at large.

Thus, community service in this perspective helps to promote justice and mercy on mankind who are unfortunate or lack. Besides prophet Micah, prophet Isaiah reminds the Jew society to always “let the oppressed go free, cover the naked, deal thy bread to the hungry” (New Jerusalem Bible, Isa. 58. 6-8).Community service goes a long way in covering nakedness and giving bread to those who lack.

As indicated by the teaching of prophet Isaiah, voluntary and selfless giving back to the society is important and affirms the spirit of collective responsibility. Besides, it creates a sense of self worth and pride which comes from constantly showing unconditional love to the less unfortunate in the society.

The writings of Pirke Avot have reaffirmed the reminder from the above prophets. He instructs the Jew community in the following ways: “do not separate yourself from the community” (Hertz 29)”though it is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, you are not free from doing all you possibly can”(Hertz 30) “let not your learning exceed your good deeds, lest you be like a tree with many branches but few roots” (Hertz 30) and “happy are those who keep and pursue justice, who do righteousness at all times” (Hertz 32).

As indicated in prayer books, the phrase Aleynu is translated as it is incumbent upon us or “it is upon us” (“Jewish Philanthropy: The Concept of Tzedakar” par. 1) to make the world a better place for everyone.

Reflectively, at present this concept has been incorporated in the tzedekar as a social action meant to create an imperative Jewish society aligned on the same axis as traditions and morals of the past. According to Rabbi Yitz Greenberg sums up aleynu as a constructive but inclusive work as dependent and function upon tikkun alam, that is, the art of amending the world into a better place.

Rabbi Yitz asserts that the art of amending the world basically is “as significant as a divine creative act of cosmic significance” (Greenberg 18). In addition, he concludes in the book The Jewish Way that tikkun alam may be the only way on “how the mosaic of perfection will be accomplished” (Greenberg 29).

Through community service at Walnut Creek and Berkeley Men’s Homeless Shelter, I have been able to advocate and practice an inert, passionate, and self inspired commitment to serving the unfortunate and special members of the society without expecting any financial reward.

As a matter of fact, my service was not only inspired by biblical teachings, but also due to self conviction as substantiated and mandated by Jewish identity. As the wish of Jewish tradition, as indicated above, community service goes an extra mile in accomplishing the correct thing. At the end, both self satisfaction and affirming unique Jewish identity inspires community service activities.

As part of the Jewish identity ,there is an inert need to contribute, in depth desire to tremendously inspire through social service, and take informed actions that are aimed at benefiting the Jewish society and even non Jewish as an appreciation of humanity. In the process of achieving this, lives are impacted along the way as Jewish historical traditions and cultural orientation interacts with one another.

Thus, through voluntary and participatory approach, it is not only possible, but also easily achievable as young people dedicate time and resource to freely give back to the society. Besides, seeing smiles form target group is generally rewarding putting into consideration the fact that “community service activities are aimed at making the world a better place through repairing” (Nuesner 16).

Since the learning of service as part of Jewish tradition is included in the community service segments, the young and energetic participants in my group were able to develop sensitivity and full involvement as the special needs members of the society responded by satisfactory applaud. As a result, I felt a deep sense of connection to my Jewish heritage.

Jewish heritage is characterized by readiness to assist neighbors, development of concern for humanity, and inclusive appreciation of human life. Through community service, these aspects are achievable by impacting the lives of the unfortunate irrespective of tribe, race, and religion. Community service is more than use of physical energy in serving others.

Rather, the process starts with personal conviction and “voluntary urge to impact lives through giving back selflessly to the society” (Greenberg 26). When inspired by the need to make a difference, connection with Jewish heritage is within reach, especially when practiced continuously and in different environments. Since the results of community service activities are quantifiable, it is in order to claim that the art is relevant and meaningful expression of personal growth commitment to Jewish intensification.

Moreover, acting Jewish affirms actuality of being a Jew. The traditional moral values aligned in the Torah mandates the Jew community to develop concern and responsible attitude towards brethren and assist voluntarily to improve and positively inspire spiritual growth for the less fortunate members of the wider community to create what Rabbi Greenberg describes as “another bit of perfection” (Greenberg 259).

In conclusion, it is apparent that community survive is an essential aspect of Jewish identity. Through community service, an individual is given an opportunity to practice the moral principles in Tzedakar. Generally, community service is meant to affirm concern, sensitivity, and responsibility in serving needs of special members of the larger community. Besides, practices in community service can be traced back to the time Jewish community was in Egypt and in the laws of Moses.

Works Cited

Baron, Salo N. A social and Religious History of the Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1958. Print.

Greenberg, Irving. The Jewish way: living the holidays. Virginia: University of Virginia, 1998. Print.

Hertz, Joseph. Pirke Avot. Jerusalem: Behrman House, 1986. Print.

Hurvitz, Mitchell, and Karesh Sara. Encyclopedia of Judaism. New York: Inforbase Publishing, 2005. Print.

Jewish Philanthropy: The Concept of Tzedakar. Web.

Nuesner, Jacob. Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989. Print.

The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.

Introduction

Voluntary organisations engage in the delivery of public services for various reasons in different nations across the globe. One such reason is to ensure that services are brought closer to the communities. Communities and voluntary sector organisations are critical since they help in “reforming public services and reinvigorating civic life” (Ponikiewski 2002, p.91).

This argument implies that, within a nation, such organisations are pivotal in linking operations and repairing gaps in service delivery within communities.

They boost the mechanisms of available services through petitioning the government to improve ways of delivering public services and goods that help to advance the lives of its people. From this line of thought, voluntary organisations have important roles to play. However, while playing their roles, they encounter a myriad of challenges.

This paper aims to examine and discuss how voluntary organisations may participate in public service delivery. The article first discusses the roles of voluntary organisation in the delivery of public services followed by the challenges encountered by such organisation while executing their roles.

These challenges include accountability issues, policy formulation and implementation, collaboration, and the pulling together of resources, improvement in working conditions for paid staff, and better means of funding practices.

Role of Voluntary Public Sector Organisations in Public Service Delivery

In the UK, there are about half a million voluntary and community-based organisations. These organisations range from “small and local community-based groups to large, established, national, and international organisations” (Billis & Harris 2006, p.35).

Although some of these organisations have their mechanisms for raising income, others largely depend on voluntary members for their operation. In reality, paid professionals manage most of the larger voluntary organisations, thus necessitating a significant sourcing of income, which presents major challenges.

In scholarly discussions of the roles of voluntary organisations in the delivery of public sector services, one dominant matter that attracts discussion is whether voluntary organisations have any purpose in charity work. This subject culminated in a conference entitled Charity Law Conference held in London in 2006.

The main concern raised in the conference was a discussion of the role of voluntary organisations in the delivery of public services. Some issues identified could affect an organisation in a negative way.

From the research findings of a survey conducted by the Directory of Social Change (DSC) in London, 68 percent of respondents surveyed thought that voluntary organisations do not play any roles of charity in the societies within which they are established (Directory of Social Change 2006). In the Public sector, modes of service delivery can be described as being benevolent and socially responsible.

Voluntary organisations need to deliver services from this theoretical point of argument. Conversely, if the public sector service delivery could be described as involving the delivery of service through charity, voluntary organisations engaging in delivery of such services, therefore, ought to be described as charitable organisations.

However, voluntary organisations fail to meet the classification of being charitable. Charitable organisations are not subject to introspection in the public domain to reveal whether they deliver their mandates precisely.

This argument implies that in charitable organisations, the proof of accountability and responsibility does not attract the public interest since the public has no central role in framing certain expectations that must be fulfilled by the organisations.

As opposed to charitable organisations, voluntary organisations are “often subject to greater scrutiny and monitoring processes than the private sector organisations” (Bovens 1998, p.457). Charity is conducted to ensure that the organisations remain accountable.

The public anticipates particular roles that voluntary organisations need to play in the delivery of public services. One such role is to ensure improved service delivery by the organisations. In this respect, it means that voluntary organisations may act as overseeing organisations for the manner in which the government bureaucratically manages the process of delivery of public services.

This case helps in ensuring that government services reach all persons who deserve them. Where the services fail to reach such persons, voluntary organisations act as the voice of the people. The operation of the voluntary organisations must be conducted with an expenditure of funds. Therefore, apart from facing the challenge of where to source funds, issues of internal and external accountability also emerge as discussed below.

Internal and External Accountability

Public accountability is one of the noble concepts that are universally supported by scholars in the discipline of public administration. In political discourses coupled with policy documents, the term finds an imperative usage since it portrays an image of trustworthiness and transparency (Forrer et al. 2010).

These two aspects are crucial in the discussion of the challenges facing the voluntary organisation that engages in the delivery of public services.

Citizens who are also the clients of voluntary organisations have to be satisfied that a system of service delivery through voluntary organisations is able to meet their expectations of the public sector, without exposing funds to the risk of fraud. To this extent, accountability emerges as one of the critical values in public administration and voluntary organisations.

Accountability entails making organisations transparently responsible in their dealings, with efforts to enhance their trustworthiness. For this goal to happen, a number of issues must be addressed by organisations seeking to be accountable. One such issue is the development of the facility to deal with emerging issues that could impede the organisation’s efforts to become and remain accountable.

For instance, the advent of globalisation presents many challenges to corporations, institutions of public administration, and voluntary organisations that seek be accountable to many nations. Kearns (2003) supports the argument by adding, “Globalisation plays the role of shaping the current trends in the global economic markets and the increasing interactions among nations and people from different parts of the world” (p.76).

Emergence of new interactions that are driven by the advent of globalisation introduces challenges to institutions of public administration, including voluntary organisations in that they handle the emerging new roles to expand their sphere of functionality.

The more expansive an institution or any system requiring checks, the harder it becomes to handle all the individual facets of its organisation.

This issue may provide loopholes for acts of fraud. Emerging new issues such as those prompted by globalisation also present challenges to an organisation’s public liability due to “ the need to understand the dynamics of global value chains, creating trade facilitation structures, developing partnerships, and the establishment of value chains and networks” (Kearns 2003, p.81).

Existence of such new challenges means that voluntary organisation officials have to change their tactics for enhancing accountability, which is due to traditional approaches or styles for public administration cease to be effective in handling all contemporary situations. This aspect may prove to be a challenge to their efforts to become transparently responsible.

From the above discussion, it is essential that an organisation that seeks to be accountable in a globalised market needs to consider looking for new approaches to enhance transparency as opposed to traditional approaches. In fact, this point is yet another crucial issue involved in making voluntary organisations answerable both internally and externally.

The history of public administration reveals that the primary approach for enhancing accountability is through exercising control and close monitoring of persons who are mandated to execute general duties. This task entails “bureaucratic discretion through compliance with tightly drawn rules and regulations” (Forrer et al. 2010, p.477).

Voluntary organisations form some of the administrations that are subject to a tight control in their operations, as they aim to set an example of good governance that ensures that resources are equally distributed across nations and organisations.

Alteration in the approach of bureaucratic discretion as a methodology for enhancing internal and external accountability in voluntary organisations is critical in a modern world that is driven by significant interactions.

Rather than direct control, an organisation has to consider implementation of strategies for enhancing accountability based on the concerns of delegation as a methodology for breaking down the bureaucratic approaches to public answerability.

The relevance of this issue for a voluntary organisation that wants to be responsible internally and externally rests on the platform that, although delegation is an effective way for enhancing accountability, it has its limitations.

A challenge facing a voluntary organisation that is determined to be responsible is thus establishing a balance between and a determination of the extents and permissible thresholds of accountability in the organisation.

Voluntary organisations engaging in the delivery of public services also face the challenge of dealing proactively with the issue of balancing the levels of accountability that is anticipated from various stakeholders. In support of this argument, Forrer et al. (2010) believe, “public managers report not only to a multitude of elected officials, but also to a plethora of interest groups, clientele, media, and other actors” (p.478).

This argument means that public administrators serve many conflicting interests of different stakeholders, both formal and informal, through the deployment of appropriate mechanisms for enhancing accountability.

The balancing mechanisms that an organisation that seeks to become responsible must deploy include hierarchical accountability and public accountability while not negating deploying of mechanisms for enhancing accountability to impersonal standards.

Voluntary organisations that embrace the relevance of accountability as a way of development of trust among various stakeholders must appreciate that one of the important issues they must put into perspective is that they must conform to their established models of accountability in their internal and external structures.

Policy Formulation and Implementation

Organisational success is measured by the achievement of the purpose for which it was established to serve. This goal cannot be achieved without the development and subsequent implementation of a variety of policies.

In case of voluntary organisations, challenges in policy formulations and implementation arise due to the difficulties associated with those who should ensure compliance and which methodologies are required to ensure that the established policies that aim at increasing the ease of accessibility of public goods are implemented.

This challenge is significant primarily upon considering the argument, “the scale of voluntarism and the relationship between voluntarism and the state have driven to the top of third sector research and policy debate” (Frumkin & Andre-Clark 2000, p.331).

The main aim of voluntary organisations is to enhance the lives of people. For instance, voluntary organisations operating in the healthcare setting alert people to the risk factors of specific ailments e.g., anti-smoking publicity.

While it is easy to develop policies to ensure that this aim is achieved, implementation of specific policies in the healthcare setting requires the action of bureaucratic structure (O’Donnell 2005; Taylor 2007), i.e., laws. Where the person charged with implementation of individual segments of the policies is not paid for the work, compliance to bureaucratically established roles becomes almost impossible.

Although the goal of many voluntary organisations is to work with all people, they tend to attract those who are disadvantaged in society. Such persons are marginalised and/or disadvantaged. Consequently, voluntary organisations require large funds to run the various policies that are in place.

The challenges associated with financial capacity to handle large programs as proposed by some of the voluntary organisations make policy implementation experience a major drawback (O’Donnell 2005). In this context, it is paramount to note that voluntary organisations at best identify the needs of the people they serve, although meeting the needs becomes a significant challenge.

This case makes it impossible for such organisations to run effectively. Implementing some policies without a voluntary organisation’s social projects can only be done within financial constraints hence making it hard for the organisations to operate as entities that are independent of the state.

Even though the state does not interfere with the policies developed, where the implementation of the developed policies requires the support of the national government, such policies must be consistent with the extents to which the government is able to fund various projects that are developed by voluntary organisations for societal gain.

Collaboration and pulling together of resources

Stemming from discussion raised in the previous section, voluntary organisations in health care cannot operate without close collaboration with the government.

Collaboration and pulling together of resources among the government and other organisations that provide health care services, as a public good, is vital since “ collaboration would aid in reduction of competition, duplication and costs and the sector would become more effective” (Ponikiewski 2002).

With collaboration, it becomes possible for all stakeholders operating in the organisations to speak with a single voice, especially when talking to the government.

In the UK, there are about half a million voluntary organisations (Wilding & Wainwright 2006). Coordination and close collaboration of this magnitude of organisations, which have their own procedures and ways of operation, present a major challenge.

A research by Barr et al. (2009) that was aimed to deduce the collaboration issues that hinder voluntary organisations to pull resources together found that “43% of voluntary organisations in Canada cited competition with other organisations for funding or revenues to be a major problem” (p.15). Twelve percent of these organisations identified competition as the main challenge that hinders proper coordination of the sector.

This finding implies that within the organisations in the sector, several challenges hinder collaboration of all voluntary organisations because small organisations feel that their voice would be engulfed by the voice of the large voluntary organisation when they collaborate on some matters (Hall et al. 2004).

Improvement of working conditions for paid staff

Large voluntary organisations require human capital to operate effectively. Tantamount to other profit-oriented organisations, voluntary organisations must balance the costs of paying for labour services provided to them and other activities, which must be accomplished for the organisations to fulfil the purpose for which they are established (Hall et al. 2007).

In an effort to keep employees motivated, voluntary organisations must deal with the challenges of improving the working conditions for the paid staff (Glennerster 2008). Where organisations provide low-cost services or free services, the efforts to improve the working conditions for the paid staff present significant challenges to them.

In a research to determine the impacts of the challenge of improvement of conditions of paid staff in the UK, Voluntary and Community Action (2009) found that among the organisations interviewed in its research, all participants noted that low salaries coupled with poor working conditions presented significant problems.

This aspect resulted in high labour turnover rates, thus making it difficult to hire staff with requisite skills and professional expertise (Voluntary and Community Action 2009, Para.8). These challenges can be offset by providing more external, constant, and stable funding to the organisations by the government so that voluntary organisations can become labour competitive.

This argument underlines the need for involving the roles played by non-voluntary organisations in the development of public policies at the national level. This strategy is crucial in the effort to ensure that public goods and services provided by the voluntary organisation remain competitive and of similar quality to those offered by profit-making organisations (Hall, McKeown & Roberts 2001).

For example, even though health care services are offered free of charge in the UK, benchmarks of quality are available elsewhere in the world. However, it is crucial to note that free at point of service does not make the NHS a voluntary organisation.

For voluntary organisations dealing with healthcare issues, such as inaccessibility of reasonably priced health cover, quality healthcare to the elderly, for instance, cannot be offered without highly qualified professionalism. Recruiting and maintaining hired employees when impaired by inadequate funds implies that major problems arise in any voluntary organisation.

Better Means of Funding Practices

In the performance of voluntary organisations, a myriad of practices requires a commitment of funds. Considering the funding challenges encountered by many voluntary organisations, Packwood et al. (2007) argue, “Funding of operations, the time, and money required when applying for funding to fulfil the reporting requirements of funders amplify the challenge” (p.19).

Dealing with these challenges calls for voluntary organisations to construct mechanisms of dealing with operating costs to increase service delivery gains (Hall et al. 2005) such as better healthcare to the public.

However, arriving at a collective formula common to all organisations in the sector that will enable all unpaid organisations to operate efficiently presents challenges because the need to remain relevant hinders cooperation amongst various organisations.

Research conducted in various charitable organisations reveals that they encounter problems while seeking to source funds from the government. For instance, in a research conducted in Canada by Hall and Andrukow et al. (2003), 48 percent of the studied organisations reported experiencing significant challenges in getting funds from foundations, government, and corporations.

Although only 20 percent of the organisations argued that the problem was serious, it is arguable that, since a similar challenge is experienced in the UK, better means of funding remain a major challenge to charitable organisations on the global dimension.

Engaging Volunteers

Volunteers participate in voluntary organisations through their altruism and to help essential services to the public become realised. This argument implies that volunteers form interest groups for voluntary organisations (Championing Volunteering and Civil Society, 2012).

They must then be engaged in the development and implementation process of the unpaid organisations’ policies (Community and Voluntary Service 2008; Moxham 2010). Although this role is necessary, not all volunteers’ contributions in the voluntary organisation can be incorporated in the final policies implemented by the organisation.

This case may create perceptions of inconsideration of particular people’s contributions. Therefore, engaging the volunteers in the development and implementation of policies within charitable organisation may attract conflicts of interest. Resolving these conflicts encompasses one of the major challenges that these organisations have to deal with in any sector, including those in the health care sector in the UK.

Conclusion

Voluntary organisations play pivotal roles in ensuring that public services are brought closer to the most deserving persons, such as the marginalised and disadvantaged within communities.

They do this by consulting with local and central government on the most successful communal projects, for instance, elderly healthcare services. This paper argues that realisation of these roles encompasses seeking mechanisms of dealing with the challenges encountered along the way.

These challenges include engaging volunteers, seeking effective ways of ensuring both internal accountability and external accountability, and policy formulation and implementation. Other challenges discussed in the paper include the need for collaboration and pulling together of resources, improvement of working conditions for paid staff, and seeking better means of funding.

Reference List

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Horizon House is the specific full-service day center which is located in Indianapolis. The non-profit center is organized to provide the necessary assistance to homeless neighbours in order to improve the conditions of their life.

The mission of Horizon House is to help homeless neighbours in Indianapolis receive the necessary assistance and support along with the opportunities to satisfy their basic needs because these persons belong to the local community, and members of the community should be discussed as equal to each other (Horizon House, 2013). From this point, the representatives of Horizon House contribute to increasing the homeless neighbours’ beliefs in their abilities and to the discussion of neighbours as valuable members of the community.

To understand and analyze the role of the center in changing the homeless neighbours’ life for better, it is appropriate to focus on the center’s assistance in employing neighbours and developing their job skills with references to influencing the neighbours’ motivation. Thus, it is possible to state that those homeless neighbours who use the assistance provided in Horizon House can increase their self-esteem, and this fact influences these persons’ motivation to find jobs and develop working skills positively.

Homeless neighbours usually cannot see possibilities for their successful employment and development of the necessary job skills because they suffer from the chains of the negative situations in their life which can prevent them from effective actions and can cause depression and fears of failure (Coren, Hossain, & Pardo, 2013, p. 1140). As a result, under the burden of the negative consequences, neighbours do not see perspectives for changing the life for better and to find the necessary job (Goodman, Saxe, & Harvey, 1991, p. 1220).

However, while receiving the help in Horizon House in relation to the developed employment program and computer lab, homeless neighbours’ motivation to find jobs and develop skills increases because they can see a difference.

The assistance of the center’s representatives and volunteers and positive attitude observed and experienced in Horizon House contribute to developing the neighbours’ motivation directly because these persons in need receive the appropriate assistance associated with different challenging tasks, see the progress achieved by the other neighbours and can share their positive results, and feel the support and trust of the center’s representatives who are also oriented to the positive result (Feist & Feist, 2008, p. 111; Horizon House, 2013). All these factors contribute to the growth of the neighbours’ motivation significantly.

Furthermore, the positive changes in neighbours’ motivation and in their visions of the employment opportunities are closely connected with the fact of satisfying the neighbours’ basic needs. Thus, in Horizon House, homeless neighbours can receive food and clothing. The center provides shelter and contributes to the neighbours’ personal safety (Horizon House, 2013). As a result, homeless neighbours become less focused on satisfying the basic needs and more focused on the development of their feelings of dignity and self-respect.

Responding to the neighbours’ needs in hospitality and care, Horizon House provides the assistance associated with the persons’ self-determination. That is why, those persons who become more confident in relation to their food and clothing can also become more interested in discussing the opportunities for employment, even if the process of finding jobs is rather challenging (Coutts, 2010, p. 659).

From this point, the role of center’s employment program and computer lab services for increasing the homeless neighbours’ motivation is significant because neighbours can receive the certain knowledge and develop practical skills in relation to finding jobs, writing resumes, and providing applications (Horizon House, 2013; Taormina & Gao, 2013, p. 155).

The fact that all these activities are explained for neighbours in detail along with the fact that neighbours can always receive the necessary help contributes to the persons’ increased interest in their future life.

To provide more opportunities to find appropriate jobs for neighbours, Horizon House worked out the Opportunity Knocks (OK) program which curriculum is developed to discuss the important job search skills and to develop the neighbours’ communication or interview skills.

Moreover, the program serves to influence the neighbours’ motivation directly because the coaches from the center organize the seminars to develop the persons’ life skills and to increase their self-respect and dignity with references to the adequate self-assessment (Horizon House, 2013). While receiving the information on how to use their potential as workers and personalities, homeless neighbours focus on their confidence, and their motivation to perform effective actions can increase proportionally to the assistance received in the center.

Thus, Horizon House is the important center which provides services and assistance necessary for homeless neighbours in Indianapolis. In spite of the fact that many persons come to the center in order to satisfy their basic needs and receive the food, clothing, and shelter, the center provides the support in relation to many aspects of the people’s life, and homeless neighbours can receive the chance to become employed because of the center’s assistance.

From this point, the neighbours’ motivation to find jobs is closely connected with their participation in the center’s activities. Homeless neighbours come to the center to receive the desired support, and their motivation to act more decisively increases because the representatives of the center believe in equality and dignity of all the persons, and they make homeless neighbours believe in themselves.

References

Coren, E., Hossain, R., & Pardo, J. (2013). Interventions for promoting reintegration and reducing harmful behaviour and lifestyles in street-connected children and young people. Evidence-Based Child Health, 8(4), 1140-1272.

Coutts, R. (2010). A pilot study for the analysis of dream reports using Maslow’s need categories: an extension to the emotional selection hypothesis. Psychological Reports, 107(2), 659-673.

Feist, J., & Feist, G. (2008). Theories of personality. USA: McGraw-Hill Humanities.

Goodman, L., Saxe, L., & Harvey, M. (1991). Homelessness as psychological trauma. Broadening perspectives. The American Psychologist, 46(11), 1219-1225.

Horizon House. (2013). Web.

Taormina, R. J., & Gao, J. (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 155-177.

Introduction

The Hampton-Newport Community Services Board (HNNCSB) offers a broad range of mental well-being and drug abuse services and care for people with mental and developmental disorders (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013).

These services are available to people of all ages in Hampton and Newport News. The agency’s vision is to create a community in which individuals can find their own purpose and be self-determining (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013).

The HNNCSB’s mission is to offer an inclusive range of services and supports by encouraging avoidance, recovery, and independence for people impacted by mental disorder, drug use, and intellectual and developmental disabilities, and encouraging health of societies it serves (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013).

In order to achieve these goals, the agency has adopted critical core values, which include collaboration, continuous improvement, cultural competency, development, dignity and respect, professionalism, quality, and stewardship and accountability. The agency believes that these core values have enabled it to offer effective services.

Services provided by the agency and any associated costs

The agency offers a number of services to its clients. These services are mainly case management and supports. Case management involves the provision of services to people with serious mental disabilities to allow them to live productively in society. The agency has divided its services into several different areas in order to provide critical care by monitoring individual’s specific needs and engaging the required agency in the provision of care.

The agency has case managers, who are mainly “mental health therapists, nurses, or social workers” (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013). Case managers work with clients or their families in order to develop personalized plans, which are based on strengthens and preferences of clients in order to manage their disabilities effectively.

Case management for adults

Intellectual development disability services (IDDS) is a case management service for adults with mental problems and developmental challenges (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013). The agency offers services to allow such adults to live independently. Case managers work with the client and the family of the client to develop interventions for specific needs.

Case managers also ensure that clients get other services, arrange for these services and transportation. They also support clients from hospitals and home care facilities to start new life in society, as well as counseling and psychosocial support to overcome normal challenges in life.

There is also IDDS for day services. This service allows adults with mental retardation to be independent and find meaning in life. These services involve support, training, and other initiatives, which can facilitate improved life at homes, workplaces, and in societies.

The final service for adults is IDDS, which entails diagnosis, evaluation, and psychological assessment. The agency conducts a thorough evaluation of all individuals who require its services with the aim of determining the most effective services for such persons.

Evaluations involve psychological assessment in situations where clients require them. The agency works together with certified psychoanalysts and psychologists (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013) in the provision of these services to its clients.

Case management for Children and Adolescents

The HNNCSB offers services for children and adolescents. The IDDS focuses on providing service after school and summer holidays. Children who suffer from mental disorders and other disabilities get effective services from HNNCSB after school. They get high quality services and school bus transportation to the program.

The agency provides services for children and adolescents with hearing problems, deaf, blind, and deafblind or deaf children.

The HNNCSB offers gender-related substance abuse interventions. These services are available through other clinics in the vicinity such as, “Hampton Roads Clinic, Partners in Recovery, Project LINK, Men’s Substance Abuse Case Management, and South-Eastern Family Project” (Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, 2013).

Common characteristics of clients served

The Hampton-Newport Community Services Board serves children, adolescents, and adults, i.e., it caters for people of all ages. The agency’s clients are mainly people with the following disorders or challenges:

• Mental retardation problems.
• Drug and substance abuse.
• Blindness.
• Deaf.
• Deafblind.
• Hearing problems.

The presence of a social worker in the agency, if any

The agency has social workers, who it refers to as case managers. However, case managers could be any specialist in the agency.

Article Summary

Gwinner, Knox, and Brough (2013) observed that there were developing interests in research evidence in mental illnesses in order to provide evidence-based practices in providing care in health facilities and social work fields (Gwinner, Knox & Brough, 2013).

The article explored recovery and illness among eight people. Researchers used a Participatory Action Research approach to conduct the study. The researchers acted subjectively as clients with mental illness, who were also artists.

The study noted a specific issue of concern during recovery by using a clinical term in order to achieve prior standards set by health workers for their clients in recovery.

The researchers concluded that individualized interventions and values for mental illness and recovery patients were related to several dynamics and complicated perceptions, which patients acquired from their life experiences and objects in their environments.

References

Gwinner, K., Knox, M., and Brough, M. (2013). Making Sense of Mental Illness as a Full Human Experience: Perspective of Illness and Recovery Held by People With a Mental Illness Living in the Community. Social Work in Mental Health, 11(2), 99- 117. Web.

Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board. (2013). Who We Are. Web.

Introduction

The issue regarding the importance of participating in community service has for long time generated intense debate among behaviorists. According to anthropologists, sociologists and other behaviorists in different fields, doing charity work or helping others fundamentally changes something in our behavior and ability to understand others.

Behaviorists argue that once you have worked on a community service project, you will want to continue helping others throughout your life. on the other hand, another group argues that forcing people to do community service in their town, city or country changes nothing inside the person’s life and only serves to fix problems albeit temporarily.

Although both groups of people have valid reasons for their arguments, I tend to agree that every citizen of a country should require community service due to the enormous benefits accrued from the exercise. (KidsHealth)

According to a report by Diana Loupe titled Community Service: Mandatory or Voluntary?, the approach that one takes in joining community service can determine if the program will fail or not. The article narrates the outcome of community service schemes of two schools in the same state. In these schools, high school juniors were supposed to complete a certain amount of time in doing community service for them to be able to receive their high school diplomas.

In one group of schools known as Jefferson Parish, students had to complete 40 hours of service while in another school known as Chicago students had to complete 60 hours for them to be able to graduate. Although the students in Jefferson Parish School had to put shorter hours than in Chicago, the system failed before the involved students could graduate. The system in Chicago School is still existent close to ten years after its introduction. (Loupe)

By looking at the two schools, the situation in them was quite different. Although students in Jefferson had to put up with shorter hours than in Chicago, their system was rather forced. This made education officials to claim that the system took away academic hours hence leading to its scraping.

On the other hand, students from Chicago were given an option of choosing the activities they wanted to get involved in. On top of this, teachers got training on community service and students were encouraged to reflect on what they wanted to do. Unlike the situation in Jefferson where community service was done as a prerequisite for graduation, the system in Chicago had community and administrative support.

The outcome of this system was that students in this school were found to engage in some form of community work long after they had gotten their certificates. This example shows that engaging in voluntary community service while young has a greater impact for the participant in the future. On the other hand, forcing people to do community service does little in changing ones behavior. (KidsHealth)

Engaging in community service not only helps in transforming the behavior of young people but it is also helpful to adults. In the modern world, it is easy for families to feel detached from each other due to the long list of chores that parents have to deal with. However, choosing to do simple chores together can really make a big impact in bringing families together.

Psychologist’s term engaging in community service projects to be one of the most effective ways of bringing families together. Volunteering not only enables parents to help the community but they also set up a good example for their children. Studies have showed that volunteering brings pleasure and pride to an individual.

Committing one’s time to a cause that you believe in can bring untold joy in life. If children could be encouraged to join community service while at a young age, they would be willing to join community service even as adults. This would in turn encourage their children to join community service even at a young age hence change the course of a whole generation. (Bryant)

Another advantage that voluntary community service brings in life is in enhancing the social aspect of the elder members of the society. In most cases, majority of senior citizens find it hard to transition from work to retirement. By remaining productive, feeling useful and staying in touch with people whom they share things in common can help senior members of the society to adapt from the working climate and get accustomed to living on their own.

Upon retiring, many people lose contact with their fellow co-workers and pals when they leave their job places. If one lives without interacting with people, it is easy for one to become withdrawn and probably suffer from depression. By engaging in community service, seniors are able to not only get out of the house but they also get an opportunity to meet people who have the potential of becoming new friends.

Engaging in community service has been termed as one of the best ways that people can meet new acquaintances. It is often easy for senior people who were involved in community service in their early days to join service than their counterparts who are doing it for the first time. This goes a long way in showing why people should be encouraged to join community service while they are young. (Bryant)

On top of helping to improve people’s behavior, community service helps in improving one’s physical and emotional health. Today’s world is moving at such a fast rate such that people do not get a chance to engage in physical activities. This takes a toll on their physical and emotional health.

Engaging in community work helps people to not only give back to the society but also to engage in physical activities that consequently help them to boost their health. Most importantly, community service gives one an opportunity to learn new skills that might help them in their personal lives. All these benefits can only be realized fully if people and especially the young are encouraged to engage in voluntary community service. (Bryant)

Conclusion

There are many theories surrounding the issue of community service. Some behaviorists claim that engaging in voluntary community service helps people to better their behavior later on in life. While this is true, it is important to ensure that people are not involved in forced community service since while it may fix a problem at the time being, it does nothing to make the person better in the future.

Studies show that people who engage in voluntary community service while younger have a greater probability of continuing with the service even when they are old. This teaches us that engaging in voluntary community service is something that should be encouraged to every citizen. However, it is important to ensure that one is given a chance to serve in an area of their interest.

Works Cited

Bryant, Barbara. Benefits of Community Service for Elder Citizens, 2010. Web.

KidsHealth. Community Service: A family’s Guide to Getting involved, 2010. Web.

Loupe, Diane. Community Service: Mandatory or Voluntary?, 2000. Web.

It is pretty amazing how community service has continued to develop and become an issue of debate in our schools and the community. It is quite agreeable that all students have come from different backgrounds. Socioeconomic backgrounds, family backgrounds and cultural backgrounds differ from student to student.

Ideological intertwinement between networks of students will lend a hand in trying to demystify the true value of community service, be it mandatory or voluntary. Continued development of this topic is therefore required for students to ruminate and crystallize its direct and indirect impacts on the environment in the societal perspective.

As people from all backgrounds engage themselves into this issue, the question to be asked is whether this should be voluntary or not. Many students will agree that it is good for them to engage in community work.

This is because community work reprieves a student from class work so that they are given a break to stop worrying about calculus, Newton’s laws of motion and the second theory of thermodynamics. It is this community work that allows students to apply what they have learnt in class to the real world. Thus such kinds of service projects are aimed at buttressing what the student has been able to learn in class.

There are diverse ways of engaging in community work. A school based environmental club can volunteer in cleaning up a drainage system or maintenance of a local roundabout. On the other hand organizations which are not school based may organize leadership forums or forums for citizenship to the local public (Randa 8). These community based organizations include the scouts or religious groups.

There are plenty of reasons to believe why mandatory community work is oxymoronic. For this statement to be substantiated, the pros and cons of mandatory communal work must be considered.

In the United States for example, students in a number of schools are required to perform certain services to the community before they earn a diploma. There have been a number of success and failure stories from schools which practice a sort of mandatory community service to their students.

Service learning programs are increasingly becoming popular in the national academic curriculum across the states of the U.S. One of the reasons is because President Clinton has been explaining the importance of volunteering to the community by the American students and the public. Proponents of this idea have come up with reasons to support this ideology. They exclaim that mandatory community service raises self esteem, morality and acts as a bridge between their individuality and that of their community. I strongly agree with these sentiments.

However there have also been criticisms against the program. The main critics claim that these programs oblige students to offer free labor placing them in a form of forced servitude which as they claim is unconstitutional. Involuntary community service also forces students to express specific beliefs thus interfering with their freedom of speech.

The opponents have gone ahead and described mandatory community service as a form of modern day slavery. I support this by exclaiming that community service should be voluntary and not mandatory. This way it can be done by most citizens of a country.

Majority of American citizens feel service learning program has benefited them in one way or another. This is explained by the fact that these programs crate awareness, particularly to the learners, on the need to offer community service.

Thus according to Bethlehem Area School District concerning this program, students will be able to understand their responsibility in their community when they serve them. Apprentices will manage developing a sense of pride in voluntary work to the society. The programs help students to acquaint themselves with community needs.

Community services should be done by most citizens of a country. I strongly agree with this because community service has been misconstrued by many people as a service rendered only by teenage students. Community service should be a service done during and after school life. This is due to the fact that it is a public thing thus beneficial to everyone, the young and the old, the school going and the working class and the guys on the streets. Thus this service must not be restricted to teenagers and college students.

However, I do partly disagree with policies which demand that community service should be compulsory for students to be accepted for admission. Community services should be encouraged not enforced, unless according to constitutional demands it is affected by a court ruling. We have to understand that these services should come from within an individual (Kintisch 5).

Thus when we involve in this issue of community service we have to take into considerations its effects on the individual’s academics and socioeconomic desires. Currently, there many schools in Northern America which oblige their students to engage in a 40 to 60 hours mandatory community work. Parents in other places are required to offer a particular service in order for their child to get a place in a sports team. Much as I do agree with these particular community services, the disagreement comes in the area of involuntary aspects.

Students and organizations who engage in offering free services such as visiting children’s homes and rehabilitation programs do offer a great assistance to the individuals in question. Free medical services to members of the society can help increase their life expectancies (IBA 4).

Communities and schools can be brought together when students and the public are encouraged to engage in community servicing. This is because the school invites the community into the learning process. These are some of the reasons why I support voluntary community programs. Recent research shows that these services reap many benefits for the individual and the public.

On the other hand making these programs to be mandatory makes the individual to feel like they have been forced to offer free labor to the community (Haskvitz 2). It is quite disadvantageous to those students who are not able to perform these tasks by virtue of their disabilities.

Service learning can also cause negative impacts on the individual because students and worker feel like the mandatory community service adds to their workload (Eccles & Appleton 20). Service learning may not help an organization to be responsive to its mission. In addition if an organization has less staff and limited resources, service learning may not sustain the diversion that service learning would mean for that particular organization (Abravanel 12).

Works Cited

Abravanel, Susan. Issue Paper, Civil Engagement and Service Learning, Building Community through Service Learning: The Role of the Community Partner, April 2003 Indiana Broadcasting Association (IBA), a Local Report on Broadcasters’ Community service 2004.

Eccles, Jacquelyn & Appleton, Jennifer. Community Programs to Promote Youth Development, National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences, National Academy Press, 2002.

Haskvitz, Alan. A community service program that can be validate, Journal article, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 78, 1996.

Kintisch, Eli. Mandatory community service is truly oxymoronic Randa, Morris. Volunteer teens: pros and cons, 2010. Web.

Introduction

Since the eighteenth century, the capability of prisons to serve its main purpose of reforming and re-integrating offenders has been put under scrutiny. Starting from Howard’s study in the eighteenth century, prisons have been found to be no more effective than other intermediate sanctions like community service. Recently, more studies have been conducted and the same conclusion has been confirmed. With several works portraying the negative aspects of imprisonment, including Sykes study on the pains of prison, many of the stakeholders have reconsidered their imprisonment decisions to other alternatives. Of these alternatives, community service has been one of the most employed and therefore opened a room for debates with the proponents feeling that the option is a remedy to all the prison problems while the opponents feeling that community service is not the way out. To this extend, this paper will outline the advantages and disadvantages of community service as an alternative to imprisonment and therefore show whether the government should go ahead with encouraging the move or revert to the old tradition of imprisonment.

According to Walgrave (1994), community service, “means all tasks accomplished for the benefit of a public or private social institution, as a compensation for the transgression of a rule imposed on an offender by a judicial institution.” In 1966, the State of California started this form of punishment and it was meant only for traffic offenders and later spread to other white-collar offenders. Although some people view this as a measure that is not punitive, some scholars argue that this form of punishment acts as a means by which offenders are made to atone for their wrongdoing while the community benefits from the service offered by the offender (Conrad 1990).

Advantages of Community Service

Statistics have shown that community service leads to positive behavior after the sentence. Through these statistics, a conclusion can be made that the more the offender is engaged in community participation, the more the chances that he will not recidivate. As Wilkinson (2000) found out in his research study, the rate of recidivism for individuals who were not involved in community service was 36.2 percent while those who participated in community service had a rate of 27/9 percent. In addition, the study found out that more hours of participation led to less chances of recidivism. Those offenders who had more than 100 hours of community service had 26.1 percent chances of recidivating as compared to the 36.2 for those who had not participated in any form of community work. In the case of re-incarceration, the chances of an increase in the gravity of the offence for the re-incarcerated offenders who had participated in community service only increased by 1.51 months on average while those who did not participate in community service recorded an average increase in the gravity of the crimes committed and hence the sentence by 8.29 months.

These findings are an accurate indicator that while prison custody serves as a corrective measure in many countries, the use of community-based approaches could as well have a better result as compared to this method. Consequently, it, therefore, means that there are some advantages associated with this method that lead to these positive results. Let us, therefore, view the advantages of using this method.

One of the greatest contributions of this form of punishment is that it offers the offender a sense of self-worth and responsibility. By feeling responsible, the offender learns to attain job skills which are very essential as a corrective measure. Through such works, the offenders are given an opportunity to identify skills that they previously never knew and put them in use and hence discover their value something that they had not known previously. This solves one of the greatest problems that has been hindering corrective programs and thus resulted in high recidivism; the problem of lack of employment (Elikan, 1996).

Another distinct benefit of using this type of correction comes in terms of overcrowding in prisons. Many studies have shown that managing overcrowded prisons is a daunting task. It is therefore important that some of the prisoners are taken outside for community service. Through these work programs, the offenders usually get something that occupies them and makes them feel that they are doing some meaningful act. This eventually creates in them a sense of responsibility and eventually changes their attitude towards criminal activities. This is very important when it comes to the reduction of recidivism. Reduced recidivism leads to a reduced population in prison and hence curbs the problem of overcrowding. As it goes, failure to allow offenders to participate in productive work directly translates to the same attitude after their term. They will maintain the same attitude of not participating in productive work (Elikan 1996). In a study in Australia, it was found out that resorting to a community-based approach to offenders who are sentenced to less than six months would lead to great benefits in terms of decongestion. In the study, if this group of offenders was given non-custodial corrective measures, the number of imprisonments per week could reduce from 150 to 90. This could translate to a 10% decrease in the prison population in New South Wales and translate to a savings of $33 to 47 per year in prisoner housing costs (Whelan, 2005).

Using community service and other community-based corrective measures reduces the number of prison deaths and thus saves lives of the disadvantaged societies. A good example was found in a study in Australia. In this study, it was found out that as the number of indigenous offenders increased in jail, the number of custody deaths for the same group equally increased. As a recommendation, one of the solutions to avoiding rampant deaths in custody for indigenous people was through avoiding their imprisonment and assigning them community service. This shows that community-based corrective measures lead to reduced custody deaths for less privileged societies like the indigenous people (Whelan, 2005).

In the case of women’s imprisonment, there has been a debate on how the children who are basically dependant on the woman are going to be taken care of. Community-based corrective measures offer a solution to this big problem. While the government could have incurred great losses while trying to employ childminders. In addition, the availability of female supervisors was found wanting, and that there was no gender balance in workgroups to ensure good care of women in prison. These problems have given the department of corrections a headache in trying to establish the best way to correct women. But with the availability of community-based measures, the women will be in a position to cater to the community as a result of their crime but at the same time be in a position to cater for their families both emotionally and physically (Information Service Unit, 2001). Apart from women’s cases, it has also been argued that community-based correction measures always play a great role in the maintenance of the family unit. In a discussion by a focus group in Uganda, it was found that this form of punishment contributed positively to the cohesion of the family. In one case in Uganda, an offender was given the opportunity to visit his sick wife. In addition, the offenders are in a position to attend to their businesses and therefore ensure a continuous income and hence an ability to cater for their families (Birungi 2007). Furthermore, the offenders usually stand a chance of getting employed from the same institutions that they were offering their services during their prison terms. As clearly exhibited by one of the offenders in the study by Birungi who is currently employed as a specialist in banana grafting a skill he acquired during his prison term.

In his research, Birungi (2007) points out that community-based corrective measures have great benefits to the community. His research-based in the Masaka and Mukono districts of Uganda proved that 90% of the community members were happy and satisfied with the services offered by the offenders to the community. They were able to outline the benefits that they had accrued from the services. In the Mukono district, for example, the offenders were made to plant a banana plantation that is currently used as a model plantation for the inhabitants. In addition, they have engaged in flower growing which has contributed to the beautification of the place. In another episode, the offenders have engaged themselves in a brick-making project in one of the schools around. These bricks are used as a construction material for the school, a direct benefit that leads to the reduced costs of a building.

Another very important advantage of this form of correction is the fact that it gives the community at large the perception that they are part and parcel of the justice administration. Through the involvement of the offended community in administrating and benefiting and seeing with their own eyes as the perpetrator undertake his community service makes them feel like part of the criminal justice system by allowing them to participate in the process of administrating justice (Roodt 2001).

Disadvantages of community-based corrective Measures

As mentioned above, there have been debates concerning the issue of community-based corrective measures. This means that this form of correcting has its disadvantages. This section of the paper will therefore identify the negative side of the same phenomenon. According to the Center for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London, the policies implemented by the government concerning imprisonment so as to reduce overpopulation in the UK jails have failed. The organization purports that the initiative has not only failed through its inability to arrest the growth of the population in prisons, but it is offering an increase in the rate of arrests and thus contributing to a greater number of people in prisons (CCJS, 2009).

One of the greatest drawbacks is the inappropriate use of these measures by the judiciary. The findings by the CCJS show that these sentences are being passed without proper consideration and that they are being passed too often and without being appropriate. Within its inception in 2005, the sentences had increased in the UK by fifteenfold. According to the study, a good number of the cases were summary offenses without grave seriousness. In addition, the outlook of these punitive measures has transformed and become tougher than originally expected. More sentences are resulting in the use of curfews and unpaid jobs. Finally, the study has also found that most of these measures are not serving their real purpose which was to reduce the population in prison. The prison population seems to be growing alongside the measures. In fact, the sentences are said to be substituting the issue of fines rather than the prison population (CCJS 2009). This position was also echoed by Roberts (2004) who argued that while the main aim of this measure was to reduce the population of prisons, they have ultimately failed. In his argument, the failure can be attributed to their limited use during jurisdiction. The greatest reason for this has been their inability to show the power of denunciation and that they don’t exhibit punitive muscles. Instead, the real reasons for reducing costs of maintenance and restorative goals fail to compensate for punitive measures of a punishment that would lead to the denunciation of crime and the ability of punishment to hold an offender accountable for his actions.

Another great threat this program has is the inability for it to identify suitable candidates. This is to say, some offenders put under this form of corrective ness can change their perception of crime and turn into good people who are beneficial to the community while others tend to be encouraged by the perception that the punishment is light and hence engage in criminal activities. This was evidenced by the Information service unit study which showed that the application of this form of punishment to women to solve the problems that were involved in the complex nature of women imprisonment led to an increase in the population of women which kept rising since the inception of the program in 1987 to 1998. In the study, it was found that the number of women populations in prison rose steadily to a hundred percent increase from 1993 to 1998 to a population of 3,110. This means that the population of women in prison increased during the time when the program was being implemented (Roberts, 2004).

Supervision over these groups of offenders poses another problem and weakness of this program. Several studies have shown that the people responsible for these supervisions have been unable to adequately implement the supervisory work properly leading to absconding of duty by the offenders. This is more evident in the cases where the government fails to participate through disbursing of adequate funds. With insufficient funds, the process of supervision becomes dwarfed leading to instances of absconding duty and thus losing the corrective aspect of the program which is the ultimate principle. This was very evident in the implementation of the program in Uganda. According to the research, the greatest problem was the funding of the project which eventually resulted in the inability of the supervisors to ensure that all the offenders were working at their assigned stations. Most of the respondents pointed out that there were no adequate transportation facilities to the expansive regions that the offenders were working thus leading to failure to supervise them (Birungi, 2007).

Conclusion

From the points highlighted above about the pros and cons of Community Service as a Form of Correction, it is evident that the program has failed to serve its ultimate purpose which was to decongest the prisons. This could easily lead to a complete discarding of the idea. However, a closer look at the benefits makes one come up with another thought. Due to the fact that most of the failure is attributed to lack of funding and poor implementation, it is therefore important to recommend that a more defined and clear way of implementation be made. In addition, the government should be engaged fully in the implementation of the program through funding so as to facilitate the movements of the supervisors. Finally, the judiciary should engage in a more defined way of applying this sentence. This could curb the problem of its misuse. With all these put in order, it is evident that the program has benefits that will not only be experienced by the offenders or the government but also by the community at large.

References

1. Birungi, Charles. 2007. Community Service in Uganda as an Alternative to Imprisonment. Mini-Thesis. University of the Western Cape.
2. Center for Crime and Justice Studies. 2009. community Sentences Fuelling Prison Expansion Problem, New Report Suggests.
3. Conrad, J.P. 1990. Concluding comments: VORP and the correctional future. In B. Galaway and J. Hudson (Eds.). Criminal justice, restitution, and reconciliation. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
4. Elikann, P.T. (1996). The tough-on-crime myth: Real solutions to cut crime. New York: Insight Books.
5. Information Service Unit. 2001. community sentence for women: Where Have They Gone? Probation and Community Corrections Officers’ Association.
6. Roberts, Julian. 2004. The Virtual Prison: Community Custody and the Evolution of Imprisonment. London: Cambridge University Press
7. Roodt, M. 2001. Participation, Civil Society and Development: Development Theory, Policy and Practices. Eds. Coetzee, J. Graaf, J., Hendrick, F., and Wood, G., South Africa: Oxford University Press.
8. Walgrave, L. 1994. In Search of a Constructive Alternative in the Judicial Response to Juvenile Crime. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 2: 57-75
9. Wilkinson, Reginald. 2000. The Impact of Community Service Work on Ohio State Prisoners: A Restorative Justice Perspective and Overview.
10. Whelan, Justin. 2005. Community Based Sentencing Inquiry Submission. Uniting Care.

Dayton Children’s provides a variety of community benefit activities. This medical center provides qualified assistance to children in the region. Notably, this is the only medical center in the region that addresses numerous serious diseases. It has such clinical programs as “pulmonary, endocrinology, hematology/oncology, gastroenterology, psychology, nephrology, urology, surgery, child abuse, neurology, developmental pediatrics” (“Community Benefit,” 2012, n.p.). Notably, the center provides financial support to people in need. It also provides health care services at low prices if clients cannot afford medical insurance (“About Dayton Children’s,” 2011). The health center is also involved in “asthma and smoking cessation programs, healthy lifestyles projects and special needs programming” (“Community Benefit,” 2012). Dayton Children’s pays a lot of attention to development and research. Thus, the center assists students to obtain medical education and acquire the necessary experience. The center collaborates with a variety of organizations to carry out numerous surveys. Dayton Children’s is committed to improve quality of life of people living in the community.

The organization’s community benefit report and the Schedule H form include quite similar data. These reports highlight major activities of the organization. It is necessary to note that the organization reports at the individual hospital level. The categories highlighted in both reports are as follows: Unreimbursed Medicaid and charity, community health care improvement services, education of health professionals, monetary contributions to community groups and subsidized health services (“Community Benefit,” 2012).

The reported monetary amounts do not differ in two reports. However, it is necessary to note that Schedule H form is more detailed. This report provides more detailed information on the organization’s activities and monetary amounts of community benefit. This can be justified by the fact that Schedule H is a more formal report which is provided to state government bodies and which is usually used by other organizations. Thus, the form contains specific data on community benefit expenses; it also includes a list of programs and incentives, the list of organizations involved in the same projects (Schedule H, 2010). At the same time, community benefit report is carried out in a free form and it highlights the most important information. This kind of report provides a general idea of major activities of the organization. Basically, every organization decides on what should be mentioned in the report. I believe the community benefit report is quite detailed and it reaches its major aim, i.e. it makes all stakeholders acquainted with the organization’s community benefit activities. I do not think the report needs any extension and any extra information as more detailed report may be confusing for clients and members of community who also need to be aware of community benefit activities of the organization. For more detailed information, people (organizations) may address Schedule H form.

According to the community benefit reports, Dayton Children’s provides quite significant community benefit. The organization provides health care services to people who cannot afford insurance. This is the only health care center of this kind in the community and many children do not need to go long distances to obtain high-quality health care services. Apart from this, the organization invests into the development of health care professionals and pays quite a lot of attention to research. Dayton Children’s is also involved in a variety of charity programs. This contributes greatly to the improvement of life quality in the community.

Reference List

About Dayton Children’s. (2011). Web.

Community Benefit. (2012). Web.

Schedule H. (2010). Web.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the world today. It is imperative to note that it is a metabolic disorder that results from partial or absolute pancreatic failure in production of glucose-breaking hormone- insulin. Besides, individuals diagnosed with this condition do experience high levels of glucose in their blood streams.

Usually, it is classified into two categories and has been found to affect diverse age groups (Colwell, 2003). For instance, type 2 diabetes involves partial production of glucose-breaking hormone while type 1 which is normally considered to be the most severe, results from permanent failure in production of this hormone.

These two types are generally perceived to last for a lifetime of an individual. While this disorder is easily diagnosed and sometimes treatable especially if identified early enough, many victims hardly know whether they are diabetic or not. Statistical evidence released a couple of years ago suggests that approximately six million people in United States alone do not know their statuses as far as diabetes is concerned.

In addition, almost eighteen million people are diagnosed annually with some sixty million having pre-diabetes without their knowledge. Moreover, gender statistics indicate that men are more likely to have diabetes than women. However, the margin might just be slight.

The same statistics also point out that the rate of infection is higher for those older than 20 years implying that there may be higher adult infection rates than among young people (Diabetes Forecast, 2011).

These statistical evidences point out the need for adequate information on diabetes. Many people are unaware that they may have hidden signs and symptoms of diabetes and those with this condition do not take strict caring measures in order to contain their conditions (Moran & Merriman, 2004).

Since majority of diabetic victims are bright working and potential individuals needed for national growth and development, there is need for some collective responsibility that will overly involve communities and individuals in combating the severe nature of diabetes. In fact, the latter reason explains why I chose to involve myself in diabetes sensitization and research support program.

“Illuminate Diabetes” Event

‘Illuminate Diabetes’ is an event aimed at providing the public with sufficient information regarding diabetes. Important information focuses on diabetes causes, symptoms, cure and current research, with emphasis in getting tested for surety purposes. This event thus aims at providing the public with enough information for health measures against diabetes and thus leads to voluntary testing of the condition.

Aims and objectives of the event

This event is purposely prepared for reasons of passing information on diabetes and its current status in the country with emphasis on diagnosis.

Since the main concern of the event will be delivery of prioritized information alongside encouraging voluntary testing, major emphasis will be laid on current and future trends of diabetes. It is quite vital to note that the aforementioned facts led to drafting of the following aims and objectives to be used in the campaign program.

• To provide statistics on current rates of diabetes
• To provide data and figures on the most affected groups
• To provide statistical estimates of undiagnosed victims of diabetes
• To educate the vulnerable groups on the importance of early diagnosis

How to get involved

Involvement in campaigns against diabetes has been considered as one of the most challenging activity, positively influencing today’s healthy living. In this regard, every individual is entitled to enjoy healthy living and thus collective responsibility is imperative in achieving this endeavor. Thus the chosen dimension of involvement is through social events that people love attending.

Choosing a concert event as highlighted above would prove very effective in dispersion of desired information. Raising awareness on this event will have to be simplified in order to pas the crucial information to affected population (Leslie & Robbins, 2008).

Due to numerous social media tools available for reaching large number of people in diverse locations, advertising will utilize these tools for raising awareness and occurrence of this event, which is very critical in materializing it.

To begin with, according to Health Canada (2010), information will be posted on several tools such as Facebook, twitter, banners, You Tube, RSS feeds and mobile phone application codes. Indeed, use of social interactive sites such as those mentioned will assist in speedy delivery of information to both affected victims as well as those who may not have been screened for diabetes.

These social media tools have been projected as the most influential in information dissemination. By accessing these sites, people will gather enough information to understand of event implementation. To understand public reaction as regards the event, a Facebook account for “Illuminate Diabetes” will be created.

After that, creation of a group of attendants with details of venue and the main activities of the day with recognition of special guests. A corresponding twitter account will also be created for well wishers and organizations to chip in through follow-ups. Creation of videos with information on diabetes is imperative in reaching people with immense interest in watching videos online on You Tube community.

These are some of the low cost social media platforms that are available for immediate publication and awareness of the anti-diabetes campaign. After thorough advertising, there will be need for scheduling of the final plan on the activities of the day (Team Diabetes, 2010).

Agenda of the event

This event is aimed at providing sufficient information to the general on diabetes

1. Introduction of the listing of the guests and special programming
2. Initiation of the program through first item
3. Performance from our special guest
4. Information dissemination, introduction to diabetes with regard to definition, causes and symptoms
5. Performance from second special guest
6. Statistical information on current trends of diabetes and treatment.
7. Performance from the third special guest
8. Return of the medics who are illuminating measures against diabetes
9. Emphasis on getting tested to know one’s status
10. Final performance with distribution of fliers

Organization and funding

From researches on public interests, it has been clearly identified that people undergo immense influence of learning through some well known social events like music concerts. Lots of researches have also indicated that nowadays, music and sport events have raised immense curiosities of the public and as such, have been preferred by various event organizers in presenting their views to the public.

There will be solicitation of funds from various NGOs and the government for this event and more funds shall be raised through selling of T-shirts during event day.

Attendance is open to the public during a weekend for maximum turnout since most people work for fewer hours during this time and thus might spare their free time in joining our members on the event. Chosen guests of the day will involve the entertainers and medical professionals.

Main activities of the event

The event will commence with an opening performance from one of our special guests. As performances progress from one presentation to another, successful introduction of next items and unleashing of vital information for combating the spread of diabetes will done with a sole intent of getting the masses to respond towards fighting diabetes.

Promotional T-shirts will also be sold at the arena bearing artistic messages which will be emphasizing the need for positive living with Diabetes and getting tested. This will assist in passing campaign messages to the targeted groups and consequently assist in achieving the preset objectives.

Since this activity seeks to focus on enlightening victims against diabetes, doctors who will be among the visitors and other medical professionals will be given the chance to offer relevant in information.

Hence, after the first performance from guests, introduction of medical experts will follow with spotlight on detailed information about diabetes. Specific emphasis regarding causes, symptoms and treatment will be delivered systematically.

For example, definition of diabetic condition and its causes will be captured at this stage of the concert. Then another invited guest performer will be invited to the platform to entertain attendants.

Thereafter, the program will focus on return of medical experts to continue illuminating on treatment and preventive measures against diabetes. This will articulate the purpose of the event to using a thematic approach.

Given enough information on diabetes, the progress of the event will be directed to another special guest performer who will give special performance in order to maintain the attention of the attendants on the event. Thematic approach is imperative such that special each performer should observe and include this theme in their performance.

Finally, after these special performances, there will be distribution of fliers with information on diabetes and encouragement to get tested for diabetes and thus reach the climax of the event. Testing is intended to create awareness among members of the public and thus increase cases of known diabetes. In this way, measures on combating this terminal health condition will be drafted since diabetic status is known.

Reduced cases of progression to stage 1 will occur and thus many lives will be saved through this event. Event conclusion will follow afterwards with emphasis on spreading the information acquired during the event to the wider public. This will be ensured by informing attendants to spread this to their immediate friends and relatives who were absent from the event.

Conclusion

In summing up, it is imperative to note that statistical substantiations that were provided a couple of years ago suggest that estimated six million people in United States alone do not know their statuses in regards to diabetes. Besides, another eighteen million people are diagnosed annually with diabetes with more than sixty million having pre-diabetes condition without their understanding.

On the same note, gender statistics indicate that men are more likely to have diabetes than women though on a slight margin. Hence, there is need for sufficient information the development of diabetes hence an informative campaign against this disorder. Through social gatherings that people like attending, creation of performance events will prove to be very effective in disseminating desired information.

References

Colwell, J.A. (2003). Diabetes. New York: Hanley & Belfus Ltd.

Diabetes Forecast, (2011). All about diabetes. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/

Health Canada. (2010). How to get involved. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada.html

Leslie, R. D. G. & Robbins, D. C. (2008). Diabetes: clinical science in practice. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.

Moran, K.J. & Merriman, L. P. (2004). Diabetes: the ultimate teen guide. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.

Team Diabetes (2009). Get involved and support us. Retrieved from https://www.diabetes.ca/

For my community service, I worked at a homeless shelter that provided thirty-six beds, showering facilities, and a washing machine to everyone, who checked in before. The shelter also provides lawyer and social worker consultations for one hour during the day. The homeless people can rest in the shelter from 8 p.m. until 9 a.m. and come for consultations between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. The shelter also provides one hot meal in the evening and a light breakfast in the morning per person. Every Monday, the shelter gives out personal hygiene items to those in need. The shelter also organizes outreach and humanitarian work during the day to ensure that homeless people in the community know about the shelter and the services it provides.

During my service, I participated in a humanitarian program conducted every week. Every Saturday, the shelter provides hot meals to everyone in the local park. During the program, the volunteers give away food and information to the homeless people about the shelter. The volunteers also give handouts with information about the different needs of the shelter to all people in the area to encourage private donations. These donations help to finance the shelter’s outreach and humanitarians programs. Currently, the shelter plans to start giving out hot meals on Wednesdays due to the COVID-19 situation. Thus, the activity I participated in was both a humanitarian and outreach program.

Jane, the manager of the program, demonstrated a wide range of leadership values, which were crucial for the success of the program. First, she was guided by the principle of respect for all people regardless of their age, sex, race, or socio-economic position, which is central according to Mitchell (2015). She treated every person passing by in the park with the same respect she treated the volunteers. Second, she was guided by the principle of humility, which was demonstrated by a sense of humbleness, dignity, and an awareness of her limitations. Finally, she was committed to making a difference in the community to improve the well-being of every person around her.

These values were also demonstrated by Michael depicted in the Heart City scenario. He treated the young people with respect even though they were unfriendly to him in the beginning. Michael was also committed to making a difference in the community, as he achieved the desired goal regardless of the circumstances. However, the Heart City case scenario did not reveal Michael’s acknowledgment of his limitations. Thus, the leadership values demonstrated by Jane were different.

In general, even though the Heart City case scenario also described an outreach program by a homeless shelter, my experience was different from that described in the scenario. First, the target audiences of the programs were different. While Michael and his team targeted teenagers, our program targeted mostly adults. Second, in the Heart City scenario, the teenagers were hostile in the beginning, as they did not know who Michael was. In my experience, homeless people waited for Jane and her team to arrive, as it was a recurrent program. Almost everyone was grateful for the provided services. Finally, the program I participated in also targeted people who were not homeless to seek private donations. In the scenario, Michael did not address the community to raise additional funds.

The analysis of the case scenario contributed to my understanding of leadership in humanitarian and outreach programs. In particular, I realized the importance of leadership for the outcomes, as the majority of stakeholders are shy and do not how to approach each other. People may seem unfriendly or awkward in the beginning; however, an experienced leader can improve this situation. I also realized the role of an advanced human service professional is to address the specific needs of the target population and improve the well-being of the entire community. This is why I want to follow the career path of an advanced human service practitioner.

Reference

Mitchell, G. E. (2015). The attributes of effective NGOs and the leadership values associated with a reputation for organizational effectiveness. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 26(1), 39-57.