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St. Vincent de Paul Society
District Council of Mid-Willamette Valley
3745 Portland Road NE
Salem, Oregon 97303

Description of the St. Vincent de Paul Society:

The St. Vincent de Paul Society, a faith-based organization, witnesses God's love by embracing all works of charity and justice. The Society collaborates with other people of good will in alleviating poverty and its causes, utilizing resources available in the community and making no distinction in those served. Since 1957, St. Vincent de Paul Society volunteers and staff have been helping families and individuals in need with food, clothing, emergency assistance, and other services.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society's administration office the thrift store, emergency services are located on Portland Road, the Marion County Home For Good program is located at 1164 Madison street. We have thirty staff members - including management, administrative, retail, warehouse, and waste stream personnel.

Description of Marion County Home for Good:

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a foundational member of Marion County Home for Good (MHFG), which started in 2003. MHFG is a collaboration of faith-based organizations and public service providers that offers a variety of services to current inmates and those recently "transitioned" into Marion County communities:

• "reach-in" screening, counseling and mentoring of inmates with less that one year of incarceration remaining before their release
• working with transitioned persons after their release on their transition plan and with resource referral services
• continued life and personal skills training and mentoring

MHFG also provides a pivotal role in the community - with ex-offenders, their families and the families associated with the crime, including victims. MHFG staff and volunteers will be trained in a successful Canadian model of community healing, called Circles of Support and Accountability.

MHFG is an important link between all individuals and groups dealing with transitioning individuals - a link that heretofore has not been in place:

• corrections staff at state prisons and local jails
• community corrections personnel "outside" (County parole and probation)
• treatment providers
• direct service providers for housing, transportation, clothing, etc.
• church ministers
• job and career placement organizations and individuals
• housing complex managers and owners
• potential employers

The community itself is a beneficiary. When ex-inmates find greater support in the community through MHFG, there will be greater compliance with parole and probation requirements, higher completion rates of required post-prison treatment (anger, alcohol & drugs, etc.), a larger percentage of successful job placement sand job retention and, thus, fewer repeat offenders sent back to prison for not abiding by their release and transition plan.

The force behind developing MHFG was to bring corrections, the justice system, and faith-based organizations to work together. The missing links for avoiding subsequent recidivism have been clearly identified as the lack of continuity between the "reach-in" program and outside services, as well as gaps in the existing outside services. The MHFG pilot program builds a system of support, guidance, training and resources in Marion County that promotes the successful restoration of ex-offenders to their families and communities.

The need for this program is great in the community. Salem has a disproportionate level of crime and higher numbers of ex-offenders. The city has four prisons and one jail, on local and two state juvenile detention centers and the Oregon State Hospital for the criminally insane. Because many prisoners leave incarceration without a job or permanent residence, they often become re-involved with the criminal justice system. One of the goals of the MHFG pilot program is to lower recidivism, reestablish balances in the lives of ex-offenders back into a caring community, and to reduce the bias against ex-offenders within the entire community.

MHFG supports the positive reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals into established communities through self-determination and measurable achievement thorough self-sufficiency. This collaborative of faith-based organization and public service providers includes representatives from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Salem Alliance Church, the Oregon Department of Corrections, Marion County Community Corrections, West Salem Foursquare Church, Chemeketa Community College (Job and Career Placement), First United Methodist Church, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, CASL (Clean and Sober Living) and Salem Leadership Foundation, in addition to community chaplains. In addition, new organizations are joining MHFG. This team of individuals brings passion and interest in working with individuals coming out of incarceration.

The Internship:

The goal of the internship is to provide a well-rounded experience in living out the Gospel and engaging others to do the same by working deeply with the population most affected by crime. Some core elements offered to interns are personal reflection, the human potential for transformation, community organization and overcoming community bias.

This internship will also allow the intern to identify and refine their search for vocation by focusing on their values, purpose, morality, faith and spirituality. Certainly those students interested in social work, sociology, psychology, religious studies, urban planning, law and, particularly, restorative justice will be interested in this opportunity.

There are four specific program elements an intern can choose within the MHFG program.

Direct Service

The intern may choose to work directly with inmates inside the institutions. The MHFG team will provide training before the intern meets with inmates in the local institutions. There is a high degree of safety involved in all aspects of this internship - interns will be mentored and accompanied at all times when the issue of security is involved.

The intern will help transition counselors assess the inmate's skills, provide resources on available educational opportunities and community resources, in addition to offering assistance for a smooth transition back in the community. The intern will provide one of the community links inside the institution, while having person-to-person contact. Community chaplains will also be an additional resource for the intern.

Community Outreach

The intern will work with those coming out of incarceration and the families of those incarcerated by providing mentoring, training, community resources, education opportunities, etc. This option will allow the intern to network with other service and faith-based organizations in locating services for ex-offenders, in addition to working side-by-side with ex-offenders and their families, with appropriate supervision, while they are in the process of transitioning back into the community.

Administrative Support

Working with the MHFG team, the intern will connect with community organizations that are not already involved in the pilot program - employers, housing providers, etc. This interaction will provide an opportunity for the intern to acquire and develop the skills necessary to understand and properly address the bias in the community regarding offenders. With this program element, the intern will recruit individuals to work with those coming out of incarceration, the families of those incarcerated, and the victims. The intern will also provide administrative support to the MHFG team, deliver presentations in the community, create marketing materials, and attend meetings within the community.

Training

An intern choosing this program would be immersed in various trainings that would assist the MHFG team, volunteers, as well as ex-offenders. After attending special trainings on conflict resolution, creating circles of support, accountability, mediation and reconciliation, nonviolent communication, in addition to other topic of interest, the intern would give presentations to the MHFG team in addition to local community members. This selection requires interest in teaching and good communication skills. The intern would also create resources and training materials for the MHFG team to utilize in the future.

Typical week:

When working within faith-based organizations, there is not a typical work week. The work week would depend solely on which of the four components the intern chooses.

Supervision:

The intern will be supervised by Billie Reed, the Marion County Home for Good Co-ordinator who works for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Billie directs the various transition programs under the Marion County Home for Good umbrella. She will be joined by Rick McKenna, Chair of Marion County Home for Good and Board member Tim Buckley in working with the intern.