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.

General Goals

Free Geek is a good place for people to gain job skills, contribute to their local community, 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. We welcome people who need to complete community service, as long as they are legally able to be around children AND do not have any restraining orders against them. We do not discriminate against court appointed community service workers. We expect ALL Free Geek volunteers to legally be able to be around children and not have a restraining order against them. These questions are now asked of everyone who would like to volunteer with us.

The Basics for All Court Community Service Volunteers

Please tell court appointed volunteers:

They may not earn a computer until AFTER they complete their COURT appointed hours.
They are responsible for making sure their hours are recorded properly and delivered to the proper person/place on time.
Previous volunteers currently assigned court community service cannot use hours toward court that were earned prior to being assigned court community service.
If they come from a court that faxes Free Geek a form to complete (Washington County and some other states) they must make contact with Mary Kate at least 1 week before their hours are due, to ensure she got the form and knows to complete it and fax it off by the due date. Give them her card (or phone number and extension) to call and leave a message.

Front Desk workers, please:

Enter the following data in the "Notes" field of the database, for each court community service worker:

County & State (if not Oregon)
Date they started earning hours for court (very important for previous volunteers now doing court hours)
Number of hours required
Deadline
Anything noteworthy - special instructions, limited areas they can work, etc.
Today's Date (should be the same as their start date)
Your initials

Then, remember to read the notes section and:

Mark all community service hours as "court" in the database.

Multnomah County Court

Note: Multnomah County pre-screens the individuals they direct to Free Geek.
Please have them fill out the community service form & questions for Free Geek's files.
Tell court community service workers it is their responsibility to get their community service paperwork to the courts. Front Desk makes the printout.
If the court community service worker is expecting us to fill out and fax a form provided by the courts, they need to make contact with MK at least 1 week before the form is due to ensure that MK has the form and it is completed and faxed before their court date.
Tell court community service worker to remind the Front Desk worker to mark hours as "court" when logging them in the database.

When COURT community service hours are COMPLETED:

Print out a "list" from the database of all their hours
Make sure all hours are marked "court", edit as needed all the way back to the date they started court hours, but not before that date
Be sure to put a Multnomah County sticker onto the printout and fill it out.
Hand the database printout with completed Multnomah County sticker directly to the volunteer
Remind the volunteer it is their responsibility to deliver this info to their court contact (judge, PO, Karen, etc.)

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 most often get people from this court.

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. These folks need final approval from MK. 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:

Do you have a history of theft?
Do you have a history of violence against people or things?
Do you have any stalking orders against you?
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.