Community Service Procedure

This page details how to determine whether a prospective COURT ORDERED community service volunteer should be allowed to spend time at Free Geek. This does NOT apply to students doing community service for school. Students are regular volunteers whose hours we mark as "school". These instructions are intended to aid those at the front desk when faced with a person who needs to complete court ordered community service hours and would like to do so at Free Geek.

The HR committee is who you should point questions to.

Note: volunteers working at Free Geek for community service credit cannot earn double hours. Mark ALL community service hours as "punitive" in the database each time a shift is complete.

General Goals

Free Geek is a good place for people who've been down on their luck to gain good job skills, meet positive people, and possibly turn their lives around. While part of our goal is to provide opportunities for empowerment and growth, we also want to protect our volunteers and our more valuable gizmos from assault, harassment, and theft. Because of these two goals, we welcome people who need to complete community service, but only if we can be sure they won't mess with our volunteers or our stuff.

Multnomah County Community Court

• Note: This is NOT Multnomah County Circuit Court, for Circuit Court volunteers see "Other courts".
• Main points: No questions, unless from Multnomah "Circuit" court, no double time, note details in database, finished hours (marked punitive) with sticker handed to volunteer.

At Multnomah County Community Court, the contact person is Karen at 503-988-4993. Mary Kate is our contact person for Karen. Karen may request proof of their people actually working. Just look them up in data base and give the general information. If she wants detailed information, contact Mary Kate or (Kathie as back-up) or direct her to them. We often get people from this court. These people tend to need about 16 hours of volunteer time, and have been convicted of very minor crimes. The court does not allow those who have been convicted of theft to come to Free Geek.

Since they're only here for 16 hours, and we know they're probably not going to mess with our people or stuff, it's not really worth it to spend too much time figuring out what to do with them.

What to do

Go ahead and just let these people straight in. They usually call on the phone - once you've established that they're from Multnomah County Community Court, tell them these things:

• Come down for the tour, get into the system as a 'general volunteer', and sign up for thier first shift (pretty much like any regular volunteer). If they are on a tight deadline, encourage them toward Adoption versus Build.
• Please record the following in the "Notes" section of the database:
  • What county/court?
  • If Multnomah, is it "Community Court" or "Circuit Court"?
  • The date they start community service (extra important if they are already an F.G. volunteer)
  • The # of hours to complete
  • Important: Look at their court paperwork to verify the info above.
• Come in for their shifts, log their hours as "punitive", and sign them up for their next shift. Repeat until all their hours are done. Any court community service volunteers are not eligible for double time.
• When they're done with their hours, they should have the person at the front desk print out their hours. Then they need to find a staff-person (MK's the best choice if she's available), who will be able to put the special, required-by-the-court-or-else-they-don't-get-any-credit, sticker on the back of their time sheet. There are some stickers at the front desk in small file cabinet.
• Note: they do not get "double" time for any activity.

Be sure to mark their hours "punitive" when you enter their hours.

You're done!

Washington County Community Corrections

• Main points: Use "Other Courts" questions to screen, no double time, note details in database, completed fax to court satisfies them.

What to do

• Ask the "Other Courts" questions below. Follow the instructions below under "Other Courts". If they pass, tell them to come in for the tour.
• Get into the system as a 'general volunteer', and sign up for thier first shift (pretty much like any regular volunteer).
• If they are on a tight deadline, encourage them toward Adoption versus Build.
• Please record the following in the "Notes" section of the database:

         o What county/court?
         o If Multnomah, is it "Community Court" or "Circuit Court"?
         o The date they start community service (extra important if they are already an F.G. volunteer)
         o The # of hours to complete
         o Important: Look at their court paperwork to verify the info above. 

• Tell them to come in for their shifts, log their hours as "punitive", and sign them up for their next shift. Repeat until all their hours are done. Any court community service volunteers are not eligible for double time.
• Note: they do not get "double" time for any activity.

• Timesheet faxes for clients will come in shortly after they begin volunteering.
  • Put these in MK's Inbox.
  • She will file these in the folder marked "Community Court Timesheets" at her desk in Monkeyhouse.
  • The volunteer will need to request that we fill out the form and fax it in at the completion of their time here.
  • When this happens, send MK an email and she'll fax it. (Good idea to get a phone number from volunteer in case of questions.)

Be sure to mark their hours "punitive" when you enter their hours.

You're done!

Other Courts

Ask these four questions:

1. Do you have a history of theft?
2. Do you have a history of violence against people or things?
3. Do you have any stalking orders against you?
4. Can you be around children?

Notice that these questions skate around what the community service volunteer did to get the service assigned to them in court (we're not allowed to ask what they were convicted of, I don't think). They also ask about their history, because sometimes an isolated charge is no reason for alarm, but continued charges should raise a red flag. Additionally, if being around children will violate their parole, they can't come here, as children help out at Free Geek often.

If at all possible, these questions should be asked as discreetly as possible. You may ask the perspective volunteer to wait until other people have signed up, so that you can ask them these questions alone. Even if someone has been sent to Free Geek for a totally harmless offense, such as riding the MAX without a ticket, being singled out in front of a group might make them understandably discouraged about volunteering at Free Geek.

If the prospective volunteer's answers to the above questions are satisfactory (No, no, no, and yes, or - in very rare cases - they seem very upstanding and trustworthy despite the fact that they've done something stupid once), and they've taken the tour, they can volunteer here. But first we need some information.

FreekBox Adoption

Those who are completing community service as a punishment (i.e. court ordered community service) cannot count their community service hours towards a freekbox. After they're done with their court ordered time, they may earn hours towards a freekbox. This does not apply to, for example, kids or young adults completing time at Free Geek for school credit.