1. Focus Forward
Serving Youth in Fresno County
Focus Forward mission is to
create positive change & promote
successful outcomes for youth in
the Fresno County juvenile justice
& foster care systems.

2. Strategic Initiatives of Focus Forward
 Advocacy and support services
 Leadership development
 Education and training
 Research and policy development

3. Organizational Structure
 Governing Board
 Advisory Board
 Chief Executive Officer
 Program Manager
 Bright Futures Program Manager
 Program Coordinator
 AmeriCorps Vista
 Interns & Volunteers

4. Program Pillars
 Accountability
 Ethics
 Professional Identity Development & Values
 Empowerment
 Opportunity
 Social Justice
 Culturally Competent Practice

5. Intern/Volunteer Role
 To assist the youth in developing
interpersonal skills at the Juvenile Justice
Campus & to the youth as they transition
back into the community
 The desire to fully commit the role as a
mentor at the Juvenile Justice Campus
 Following through on assigned dates & times
for programming at the Juvenile Justice
Campus (Not letting the youth down).

6. Problems and Issues Affecting
Incarcerated Youth
 Youth at the Juvenile Justice Campus often
come from families with histories of
incarceration, abuse and neglect, often lack
positive relationships with adults, have strong
affiliations with gangs, and frequently perform
below grade-level in academics.

7. Problems and Issues Affecting
Incarcerated Youth (cont.)
 Youth with a parent in prison are seven times
more likely to be involved in the criminal
court system and spend time in jail or prison
themselves.
 The introduction of a reliable mentor during
adolescence can greatly reduce the
likelihood that such conditions will lead to
further criminal activity and incarceration as a
an adult.

8. Roles and Expectation of Social Work
Interns
 Coach
 Motivator
 Companion
 Counselor
 Sponsor
 Supporter
 Advisor
 Tutor
 Teacher
 Advocate
 Career Model

9. Qualities of a Successful
Intern/Volunteer
 Commitment
 Consistency
 Accessibility
 Flexibility and
Openness
 Sense of Humer
 Persistence
 Respect for youth
 Willingness to listen
 Kindness and practice
 Ability to accept
different points of view

10. Intern/Volunteer Benefits
 Supporting a Cause
 Making a difference
 Self Development
 Leadership skills
 Friendship
 Overcoming fears &
accepting challenges
 Learning new skills and
how to teach them
 Gaining valuable
experience that will
enhance resume

11. Intern/Volunteer Guidelines
 Understanding boundaries
 Always be accessible
 Maintain regular communication
 Follow through on your commitments
 Demonstrate trustworthiness
 Promote the overall Focus Forward Program
 Be reliable
 Seek assistance when needed

12. Do’s and Don’ts
 Do:
– Appreciate growth
– Come prepared
– Be honest
– Be a good role model
– Be punctual
– Show and strive for mutual respect

13. Do’s and Don’ts (cont.)
 Don’t
– Think you will change the world overnight
– Judge
– Forget to listen
– Try to be a parent
– Be late
– Try to instill your own values and beliefs

14. Interns Objectives with Incarcerated
Youth
 Improve their self esteem
 Learn self-reliance
 Establish personal goals
 Initiate positive actions
 Learn to problem solve
 Learn to be part of a team

15. Interns Objectives with Incarcerated
Youth (cont.)
 Practice civic responsibilities
 Learn to identify and build on personal
strengths
 Learn life skills including conflict mediation
and alternatives to violence

16. Analyzing the Agency’s mission and
aims
 The need for the Focus Forward agency has
shown to have great need for the Fresno
County community.
 Statistics have shown that Fresno County
has a local juvenile detention population
higher than the California state average.

17. Analyzing the Agency’s mission and
aims (cont.)
 This suggest that either more pervasive and
serious juveniles crime, a more aggressive
law enforcement response to juvenile crime,
or both; May count for this geographical
concentration of utilization

18. Analyzing the Agency’s mission and
aims (cont.)
 The importance of interventions for serious
juvenile offenders cannot be overstated as
this group poses a significant challenge to
criminal justice agencies both in terms of
frequency and seriousness of their offending
and later behavior as adults.

19. Analyzing the Agency’s mission and
aims (cont.)
 The challenge involved in the treatment of
the violent delinquents have been widely
reported. By the time most serious
delinquents are identified and receive
intensive treatment from the juvenile justice
system, they are well into their delinquent
career.

20. Analyzing the agency’s practices
 The results of institutional juveniles
contrasted marketable with those for non-
institutional juveniles. With the offenders
institutions, the treatment effects are much
the same for a given program whatever the
same characteristic of the juvenile.

21. Analyzing the agency’s practices
(cont.)
 The most successful intervention being the
interpersonal skills training, followed by the
teaching.

22. Agency’s social justice, social work
values and human rights
 The strategy of the agency is to insure that
they have members and local communities,
to insure that they are not just experts,
however have members who have lived it.

23. Agency’s social justice, social work
values and human rights (cont.)
 As they aim to empower and transform the
local communities and push for social
change until power has shifted and the
people most affected by the issues as part of
the decisions making process.

24. Agency’s social justice, social work
values and human rights (cont.)
 As they continue to participate until there is a
world where everyone is judged by the
content of their character, and helping
achieve and empower the youth, to reaching
their full potential.