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Volunteers Needed – Home For Good in Oregon March 2, 2008

Posted by FairSentencing in : Current News , trackback

As HGO has grown we recognized the need to increase the number of people who were trained as trainers to provide ODOC approved community-based volunteer training. The purpose is to increase the pool of ODOC community-trained volunteers in each county throughout the State so that the mentoring and support needs of individuals releasing from prison can be met.

Early January we provided training to the institutional chaplains serving releasing or minimum institutions and the HGO Regional Chaplains. We, now, have about 25 trained trainers. Each of them, working closely with the HGO Regional and Community chaplains, are beginning to set dates for community-based volunteer training.

In order to make the training dates available we have created a list of scheduled trainings that is posted on the internet at the following website:

http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/TRANS/religious_services/rs_hgo_program.shtml

By going to this site you will be able to see scheduled dates for ODOC approved community volunteer training and the county where the training is to be giving. Because we are building up teams of trained individuals and organizations in each county able to provide support to those releasing from prison we are restricting training to individuals from the particular county where the training is scheduled. If your county does not have an ODOC community volunteer training scheduled please contact your county HGO Community Chaplain, an institutional chaplain or the HGO office in Salem to get one scheduled. Those who complete this training will be identified in the ODOC volunteer databank and provided ODOC approved community volunteer IDs. These IDs will not give access to prisons but will serve to show that the individuals is an ODOC community trained volunteer and, when providing services under HGO supervision, covered by the State’s liability insurance plan.

For those who become mentors in their counties their names will be added to an approved list of community mentors. Those on the approved list of community mentors will be given visiting privileges to any inmate in the ODOC system for the purpose of establishing a mentoring relationship. Those on the Approved Community Mentor List will be able to present themselves at ODOC institutions and have the same visiting privileges as an attorney. Mentor visits will not count against the inmates visiting points. Again, only individuals who have completed the ODOC Community volunteer training and been identified by the HGO Regional or county teams will be listed on the ODOC Approved Community Mentor list.

Those who are part of and trained by an existing mentoring organization can, also, become ODOC community trained volunteers and put on the Approved Community Mentor list. That volunteer and their organization will then become part of the HGO network and their volunteers who have received ODOC community volunteer training will become part of the HGO information network and receive ODOC generated information pertinent to those assigned for mentoring. Organizations interested in becoming part of the HGO volunteer and information network should contact an institutional chaplain for more information or contact the HGO office in Salem (503-945-0929).

We welcome any and all of you who wish to become part of the HGO network of individuals and organizations serving communities by providing support and services to those releasing from prison to contact the HGO office for further information (503-945-9087).

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