Non-Profits Offer a Second Chance

September 2, 2010

By Ingrid Zacharias

For many, non-profits offer a second chance. I have always thought of non-profits as the organizations that help the underprivileged by reducing the impacts of poverty and social challenges to our society. But the more I think about it the more I realize they give people who have been beaten down by life’s challenges a second chance at living life in a more self caring manner.

We have a program here in Canada called the “Fine Options” program. It is run by the YMCA/YWCA. It allows people with minor criminal offenses against them to work off their fines if they can’t afford to pay them, by doing community service. In the non-profits I worked for, this program allowed us to access volunteers on a regular basis to help out with things that we didn’t have the manpower to do. It was a great program for the organization, but also for the people participating in the program.

The program may be implemented slightly differently in every organization. But the program gave them a chance to start over in several ways:

• Admit their error – A part of participating in this program where I worked was for the person to openly admit why they were performing community service. I feel this is a part of the healing process and important for people to be able to move on.
• Offer tasks that ensure success – Part of our responsibility was to also help to build their self esteem back up again. This was done by asking them what types of work they liked to do and assigning them tasks that they could feel successful at doing.
• Empowerment – Offering the participant an opportunity to learn some new tasks as well. This helped them to broaden their skill set and provided new opportunities to find success.
• References – Participants were told if they were prompt, reliable, and we were satisfied with their work, then we would be willing to be a reference for them when they were job hunting. This was important because many of our participants had never held a job, or not held one for a significant length of time. This provided them with an opportunity to dip their toes back into the employment world.

Question of the Day: In what ways has your non-profit offered your clients a second chance?

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