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 COURT community service credit cannot earn double hours.
• Note: volunteers working at Free Geek for COURT community service credit cannot earn a computer until AFTER they complete their COURT community service hours.
• Mark ALL community service hours as "court" 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 Court

• Note: Multnomah County pre-screens the individuals they direct to Free Geek.
• Mark all finished hours as "court" in the database.
• When COURT community service hours are COMPLETED, print out a "list" from the database of all their hours and be sure to put a Multnomah County sticker onto the printout and fill it out. Hand this directly to the 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 database and give the general information. If she wants detailed information, contact Mary Kate.

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.

Washington County Community Corrections

• Main points: Be sure to have them fill out the Court Community Service Form, no double time, no earning a computer until done with court community service. Note details in database.
• Washington County faxes or mails us a form to complete for each person we approve for court community service. Mary Kate keeps these in a file at her desk. Let her know when someone is close to being done with their Washington County court hours so that she can begin to prep the paperwork in a timely manner.
• Timesheet faxes for clients from Washington county 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. (Get a current phone number from volunteer in case of questions.)

Other Courts

Have volunteer fill out the Court Community Service Form. Send them on the tour if their answers are appropriate on the form. MK will still need to give these folks final approval. Tell them we handle these on a case by case basis and they are responsible for gathering and sending their paperwork to their respective court. It is best direct these folks to MK. MK will get more info and tell them "yes" or "no" based on the requirements of their county and their answers on the form, via phone or in person. If folks call in from other counties to do court ordered time, connect them with MK directly.

Send any unusual court inquiries to MK for now.

Court Volunteer's Responsibilities

Please tell them to:

• Take a tour
• Show us their court paperwork for verification
• Fill out Court Community Service Form and turn it into a front desk employee.
• Sign up for shifts. If they are on a tight deadline, encourage them toward Adoption versus Build.
• Log their hours at the end of each shift at front desk and tell us they are for "court".
• Tell us when they have completed their hours so we can:
  • send them with a "list" database printout & sticker for Multnomah County
  • fax or mail their completed form for Washington County
• If they are out-of-state or with another county the volunteer is responsible for getting their own documentation together for the courts. We can provide the printout of hours and MK can sign any letters they craft to satisfy the courts. It is not FG's job to write letters or take on extra work due to unique court requirements.

Front Desk's Responsibilities

• Record the following in the "Notes" section of the database, from their completed form:
  • What county/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.
• Enter all pertinent data from completed form into database
• File their completed Court Community Service form at the volunteer desk in the hanging folder
• Sign them up for their shift, log their hours as "court" at the end of the shift, and sign them up for their next shift. Repeat until all their hours are done.
• When they're done with their hours, they should have the person at the front desk print out their hours. Follow directions based on the county. Sticker on printout (Multnomah), fax or mail completed form (Washington), other requirements from other counties should just be directed to MK.

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

Court Ordered Community Service Questions

Have all court ordered community service volunteers fill out this form Court Community Service Form, which asks these 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 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. No earning a computer until court hours are complete. No double time allowed for court hours.

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.