WP2 Transformative Volunteering: Challenging Stereotypes and Empowering Communities

My father works at one of the most dangerous prisons in California. Since the day I was born, I’ve heard countless of his stories depicting the roughness he encounters daily. I feel that it’s important to note this because, for 18 years of my life, my only exposure to prison has been through his lens. So, for my entire life, I’ve had the idea engrained the idea that prisons are a viscous and cruel place.

Additionally, within these 18 years, I’ve also never been exposed to any form of community service. Because of this, I’ve once more been prone to assuming one-sided stereotypes of groups like the food insecure or unhoused, who require forms of community service to get by. This lack of firsthand experience has sometimes led me to oversimplify why individuals volunteer in the first place and its impact on both beneficiaries and society. However, volunteering at the Francisco Homes Organization has led me to redefine why volunteering is important, as I’ve built relationships with formerly incarcerated inmates and gotten to know them from a personal perspective. As a result, I’ve learned how to conduct good service, which is by connecting with people on an individual level and educating them on important skills that are crucial in our society. Two strategies that will equip struggling individuals with the skills to thrive independently, so they can later achieve success.

As I’ve stated previously, I’ve never truly been inspired to volunteer for a form of community service. In high school, I had only seen volunteering for community service as a way to get an extra boost on your college application. Other than that, no one that I knew who ended up volunteering felt passionate about their program, nor received personal benefits from volunteering. My belief was especially reinforced by many of my closest friends who dreaded giving up their time for these community service programs, as it meant not going out on a lively Saturday night, or not being able to finally relax after a long week of homework and exams. While studies have found that “youth volunteering has also been associated with personal social benefits and boosts in self-esteem” It’s certainly not difficult to imagine a group of selfish teenagers who just care about themselves complaining about some program that inhibits them from doing what they want to do. This was my group’s perception of community service. Furthermore, being people blessed with proper necessities, we hadn’t ever dealt with or begun to comprehend the issues such as food insecurity or homelessness that these communities required us to help fix. Due to this, I didn’t see the point in volunteering. I feel I’ve also been significantly influenced by the media’s portrayal of community service beneficiaries. Media pieces such as The Soloist (2009) a movie I viewed at a young age especially swayed my view of the homeless community negatively, as Jamie Fox’s character (who is homeless) is initially portrayed as mentally unstable and unclean within the film. Similarly, video games such as Grand Theft Auto 5, which I played religiously as a child portray individuals from low-income backgrounds constantly engaging in illegal and violent behavior such as theft, drug dealing, and other illicit activities. As a result, these items exemplify the negative way my opinion of community service recipients was shaped, which made me want to distance myself from engaging in forms of service.

This semester, I took a writing class entitled “Community Engagement” because I was intrigued to finally involve myself with community service. Here, I enrolled in a community service group called the “Francisco Homes Organization”, which helps rehabilitate and house formerly incarcerated inmates. I was initially drawn to this organization because of my upbringing, and hearing so many stories about prison from my father. Because, of these stories I was at first quite nervous about finally interacting with this group of people, as I had been raised believing negative pre-existing notions that inmates were dangerous. However, what I found is that these were some of the most friendly people I had ever met in my life. Realizing this was a completely eye-opening experience, as for my entire life I had held these preconceived notions to be true; yet, meeting and interacting with these people challenged me to question my beliefs and come to my own conclusions. As a result, I learned to eliminate these “single stories” that I held evident.

Eliminating these “single stories” is a major factor in being in the right mindset to volunteer. For those who are unfamiliar with the term “single story”, these are “narratives or perspectives that have been repeatedly utilized in media to the point where we subsequently pass judgment or make assumptions based on only that information”. This phenomenon is extremely dangerous when providing some form of community service work, because it may inhibit one’s productivity, approaching service through an entirely different angle than the one you should be taking. For example, I noticed some of my fellow volunteers interact with Francisco Homes members nervously, walking on eggshells with what to say because they assumed the single story that ex-inmates are dangerous. This was extremely painful to watch and overall not beneficial at all for anyone involved, as the volunteers would struggle to connect with these ex-inmates, and the ex-inmates would feel uncomfortable because of the way they were being treated. Instead, I approached these members just as I would a normal person, treating them as equals or a new friend I had just made. This was ultimately extremely beneficial because I was able to connect with them and their interests on a far more personal level, which led our conversations to flow extremely smoothly. One of these conversations I had with a member of the program was about technology.

When I was helping lead a tour at a museum for the program, I noticed a member named Jesse, who had been incarcerated for 20+ years struggling to maneuver through the Spotify app on his phone. I interjected and asked him if he minded if I showed him some tips on how to use the app more efficiently and he was instantly blown away by what I was able to show him. Simple things that children could do like add songs to a playlist or search for an album seemed completely foreign and new to him, and when I showed him how to do these things he thanked me profusely. Here he then talked about how since re-integrating back into society, struggling with technology has been a major issue, along with other tools like using a GPS and navigating a far more technologically advanced city than what he had been used to before being incarcerated. We then talked for hours only about using the Spotify app and what different things the app can do, because this was such a new and foreign aspect of life for him and he required a lot of help to understand it. This experience was extremely important in reshaping the way I define good service because I noticed the disconnect that exists between technology and ex-inmates. In an essay by Lifewire.com, Sascha Brodsky notes that “Getting a job is one of the biggest hurdles former prisoners face upon their release and not having tech skills makes it even harder, experts say”. As a result, while accessing and maneuvering through simple apps such as Spotify may not be the end of the world, the fact that ex-inmates are unable to secure jobs because of their lack of tech proficiency is an extremely important issue that needs to be addressed. Therefore, being able to help teach at least one ex-inmate an in-demand skill such as standard tech proficiency would be especially beneficial for these people, especially to prevent growing issues among ex-inmates such as homelessness.

For many volunteers, it may seem to be a daunting task to go out of their comfort zone and meet someone new, then teach them important skills. However, I argue that doing this shouldn’t be revered as a difficult job, but more just meeting someone and being as genuine as possible. Instead of envisioning one as someone who needs your service, instead, see them as a new friend that you’re interested in learning more about. Doing this means asking questions about simple things like their day-to-day life and new differences in the outside world. Many of these individuals have been incarcerated for years due to California’s Three Strike Law which sentenced individuals such as Curtis Wilkerson to “25 years to life, meaning that his first chance for a parole hearing would be in 25 years” for shoplifting. So it’s extremely important to be mindful and careful to not go overboard with these questions, as when worded wrong can come off as offensive and insensitive. These questions should serve as a gateway to open the door and identify what these ex-inmates need to be more successful when reintegrating into society.

In the end, it’s important when volunteering to be aware of single stories and to look past these stories and view the people you will be working with as equals. Doing this will ultimately be extremely beneficial for both you and the individuals in your program because it will allow them to finally be heard and express themselves instead of fearing being labeled the same stereotypes they’ve endured their entire lives. Finally, pairing equitable treatment with education would be greatly successful in preparing ex-inmates such as Jesse from the Francisco Homes to achieve greatness in their life. This would permit them to use and take advantage of opportunities like technology which can accelerate their job search and allow them to learn how to use applications like Google, which will allow them to research how to get their life back on track. In the end, volunteering is an extremely important task, and as a volunteer, you hold immense responsibility to make sure that the individuals you are working with feel accepted and on the right page, meaning that any job you perform requires a large amount of care.