PARTNER CONNECT - Sheriff's Office...PARTNER CONNECT VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 We are excited to start 2018...
1
PARTNER CONNECT VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 We are excited to start 2018 with the inaugural edition of the Partner Connect. rough this newsletter we hope to share with our volunteers, partners and staff a few of the great things that are happening with Inmate Behavioral Health, Programs and Chaplain Services. You will meet some of our volunteers, learn new things about staff and most importantly see how we are making a difference. ere are several transitions we are making starting the year off. First and most notably is that Beverly Gentle, our longtime volunteer coordinator retired at the end of November. Tiffany Taylor joined our team as a Community Liaison and will take on some of Beverly’s responsibilities. You can learn more about her below. You will also see a new Volunteer Handbook coming out in the next month with an up- dated orientation for volunteers and partners. We are excited that this will provide our volunteers and partners the tools they need to maintain safety and security. We also have a new Psychologist who started with us at the beginning of the year. In the next edition of Partner Connect you will get to hear a little about her. As always thank you for your support and I hope you have a prosperous and peaceful 2018 which is already prom- ising to be a great year. Daniel Smith, Director of Inmate Mental Health and Program Services DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE INMATE CONSPIRARE LEARN MORE On December 15, the third Conspirare Holiday Concert occurred at the Travis County Correctional Complex for incarcerated females and TCSO staff. Audience members were treated to a variety of musical genres from an amazing 28 person choir. Under the direction of Grammy awarded director and composer Craig Hella Johnson, the choir per- formed traditional Christmas songs, original music and non-holiday music. e theme of the concert was love and the audience was certainly moved by it as demonstrated by the feedback we received back from them. “I feel more hopeful and peaceful and in a better place in my heart.” “ey gave us hope and joy, they made us feel important.” We are very grateful to Conspirare for sharing their talent and positive messages with us. RADIO SAFETY TIPS We want all of our volunteers to feel comfortable and remain safe. Radios are issued to you at the beginning of your volunteer shiſt and should remain within arms reach at all times. PACT SANTA VISIT e radio must remain in the on position so that you are always in two-way communication with the Post Officer. Make sure that the radio volume is at a level that can be heard by you. We understand that the radio chatter is distracting, however this is an important safety measure that everyone must follow. VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHT Carol Waid began volunteering at the Travis County Correctional Complex (TCCC) in 2008 with Truth Be Told, a non-profit she co-founded. When she arrived at TCCC, she had already been working with women incarcerated at the Texas De- partment of Criminal Justice. Because incarceration times are shorter at a county jail, she developed a curriculum that would impact women in less time. Carol facilitates a weekly class for women in the People Recognizing the Inherent Dignity of Every- one (PRIDE) program. Discussion topics include forgiveness, love, self-worth and empowerment. She also coordinates several volunteers from Truth Be Told who facilitate classes for women in both minimum/medium security and maximum security settings. In recovery herself, Carol inspires the wom- en to search for the joy in life and take steps to heal their lives. LEARN MORE In 2010, the Parents and Children Together (PACT) program began to with the intention to reduce intergen- erational incarceration. e mission of the PACT pro- gram is to promote bonding and positive interactions between incarcerated parents and their children. is is achieved primarily through weekly knowledge building parenting classes and monthly child friendly contact visitations offered by dedicated staff including Program Coordinator Jennifer Scott and committed community volunteers at the Travis County Correctional Complex (TCCC). ree years ago, Any Baby Can employee and TCCC parent educator Dawn Goetzel worked with Austin High School Capstone class students to create a Christmas party for parents and children in the PACT program. It was so successful that Austin High students have made it a project each year since. is year, the students raised approximately $1,500 on a Go Fund Me page to buy Christmas presents and food for the party held at TCCC on December 10th. e stu- dents were able to provide wonderful giſts for fourteen child caretakers and thirty-three children. ey were also able to provide catered lunches to several officers working that day. TCSO Sergeant William Burt even made a special appearance as Santa for the children. KITTEN CARE PROGRAM Created by Program Coordinator Heather Stan, the Kitten Foster Program has been two years in the making. In 2015, Heather contacted the Austin Animal Center (AAC) with a plan to foster dogs in the jail. Aſter partnering with AAC, she started the 4-week Dogs 101 training class in September 2016. For each class, inmates learned to teach basic obedience like sit, stay and loose leash walking for up to 8 hard to adopt dogs. Aſter the inmates gradu- ated, they had the opportunity to advance to the next phase which involved more hands on training with the dogs. Participating inmates gained confidence and self-worth and learned transferable skills like responsibility, leadership and effective communica- tion skills. READ MORE VOLUNTEER NEWS As noted in the Director’s Message, longme Volunteer Coordinator Beverly Gentle has rered. Going forward her dues will be reassigned and we will provide more details in the near future. For general volunteer quesons, you can contact Tiffany Taylor at either: 512-854-6615 or ff[email protected]. The volunteer inventory form for Programs has been updated. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the new format! SEE EXAMPLE LET’S CONNECT . PROGRAM SERVICES Social Services Manager Angela Blackwell 512-854-1254 [email protected] CHAPLAIN SERVICES 512-854-4190 [email protected] Senior Chaplain Tommy McIntosh [email protected] Chaplain Lamar Claypool [email protected] Chaplain Services Associate James Villegas 2017 was a blessed year as you demonstrated faithful service. We do appreciate each of you and look forward to seeing God utilize your giſts and talents in this ministry. My staff and I are here to serve you, so remember to come by the Chapel for love and laughter. Last year we had several minor incidents regarding volunteers visiting inmates one-on-one. While we do utilize volunteers to assist Chaplain Services visits, we must coordinate this very closely with the help of Chaplain Services Associate, James Villegas. In order to communicate effectively, you must contact us and receive approval to visit an inmate one-on-one. is refers to inmates you have spoken with during Worship Services, Bible Study and 4 C’s as well as any requests from community members. You can find our phone and email contacts at the bottom of this newsletter. Tommy McIntosh, Senior Chaplain CHAPLAIN SERVICES EDUCATION Congratulaons to GED Programs for one GED graduate for the month of December. Del Valle ISD is happy to announce two high school graduates for December. Keep up the good work! We are always looking for volunteer instruc- tors and tutors who have experse in either Math, Science, Social Studies or English. GED Certificate Earned 1 Connect with us on Facebook High School Diplomas Earned 2
Transcript of PARTNER CONNECT - Sheriff's Office...PARTNER CONNECT VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 We are excited to start 2018...
PARTNERCONNECT
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
We are excited to start 2018 with the inaugural edition of the Partner Connect. Through this newsletter we hope to share with our volunteers, partners and staff a few of the great things that are happening with Inmate Behavioral Health, Programs and Chaplain Services. You will meet some of our volunteers, learn new things about staff and most importantly see how we are making a difference. There are several transitions we are making starting the year off. First and most notably is that Beverly Gentle, our longtime volunteer coordinator retired at the end of November. Tiffany Taylor joined our team as a Community Liaison and will take on some of Beverly’s responsibilities. You can learn more about her below. You will also see a new Volunteer Handbook coming out in the next month with an up-dated orientation for volunteers and partners. We are excited that this will provide our volunteers and partners the tools they need to maintain safety and security. We also have a new Psychologist who started with us at the beginning of the year. In the next edition of Partner Connect you will get to hear a little about her. As always thank you for your support and I hope you have a prosperous and peaceful 2018 which is already prom-ising to be a great year.
Daniel Smith, Director of Inmate Mental Health and Program Services
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
INMATECONSPIRARE
LEARN MORE
On December 15, the third Conspirare Holiday Concert occurred at the Travis County Correctional Complex for incarcerated females and TCSO staff. Audience members were treated to a variety of musical genres from an amazing 28 person choir. Under the direction of Grammy awarded director and composer Craig Hella Johnson, the choir per-formed traditional Christmas songs, original music and non-holiday music. The theme of the concert was love and the audience was certainly moved by it as demonstrated by the feedback we received back from them. “I feel more hopeful and peaceful and in a better place in my heart.” “They gave us hope and joy, they made us feel important.” We are very grateful to Conspirare for sharing their talent and positive messages with us.
RADIO SAFETY TIPSWe want all of our volunteers to feel comfortable and remain safe. Radios are issued to you at the beginning of your volunteer shift and should remain within arms reach at all times.
PACT SANTA VISIT
The radio must remain in the on position so that you are always in two-way communication with the Post Officer.
Make sure that the radio volume is at a level that can be heard by you. We understand that the radio chatter is distracting, however this is an important safety measure that everyone must follow.
VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHT Carol Waid began volunteering at the Travis County Correctional Complex (TCCC) in 2008 with Truth Be Told, a non-profit she co-founded. When she arrived at TCCC, she had already been working with women incarcerated at the Texas De-partment of Criminal Justice. Because incarceration times are shorter at a county jail, she developed a curriculum that would impact women in less time. Carol facilitates a weekly class for women in the People Recognizing the Inherent Dignity of Every-one (PRIDE) program. Discussion topics include forgiveness, love, self-worth and empowerment. She also coordinates several volunteers from Truth Be Told who facilitate classes for women in both minimum/medium security and maximum security settings. In recovery herself, Carol inspires the wom-en to search for the joy in life and take steps to heal their lives.
LEARN MORE
In 2010, the Parents and Children Together (PACT) program began to with the intention to reduce intergen-erational incarceration. The mission of the PACT pro-gram is to promote bonding and positive interactions between incarcerated parents and their children. This is achieved primarily through weekly knowledge building parenting classes and monthly child friendly contact visitations offered by dedicated staff including Program Coordinator Jennifer Scott and committed community volunteers at the Travis County Correctional Complex (TCCC). Three years ago, Any Baby Can employee and TCCC parent educator Dawn Goetzel worked with Austin High School Capstone class students to create a Christmas party for parents and children in the PACT program. It was so successful that Austin High students have made it a project each year since. This year, the students raised approximately $1,500 on a Go Fund Me page to buy Christmas presents and food for the party held at TCCC on December 10th. The stu-dents were able to provide wonderful gifts for fourteen child caretakers and thirty-three children. They were also able to provide catered lunches to several officers working that day. TCSO Sergeant William Burt even made a special appearance as Santa for the children.
KITTEN CARE PROGRAM Created by Program Coordinator Heather Stan, the Kitten Foster Program has been two years in the making. In 2015, Heather contacted the Austin Animal Center (AAC) with a plan to foster dogs in the jail. After partnering with AAC, she started the 4-week Dogs 101 training class in September 2016. For each class, inmates learned to teach basic obedience like sit, stay and loose leash walking for up to 8 hard to adopt dogs. After the inmates gradu-ated, they had the opportunity to advance to the next phase which involved more hands on training with the dogs. Participating inmates gained confidence and self-worth and learned transferable skills like responsibility, leadership and effective communica-tion skills.
READ MORE
VOLUNTEER NEWS
As noted in the Director’s Message, longtime Volunteer Coordinator Beverly Gentle has retired. Going forward her duties will be reassigned and we will provide more details in the near future. For general volunteer questions, you can contact Tiffany Taylor at either: 512-854-6615 or [email protected].
The volunteer inventory form for Programs has been updated. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the new format!
SEE EXAMPLE
LET’S CONNECT.PROGRAM SERVICES
Social Services Manager Angela Blackwell512-854-1254
CHAPLAIN SERVICES512-854-4190
[email protected] Chaplain Tommy McIntosh
[email protected] Lamar Claypool
[email protected] Services Associate James Villegas
2017 was a blessed year as you demonstrated faithful service. We do appreciate each of you and look forward to seeing God utilize your gifts and talents in this ministry. My staff and I are here to serve you, so remember to come by the Chapel for love and laughter. Last year we had several minor incidents regarding volunteers visiting inmates one-on-one. While we do utilize volunteers to assist Chaplain Services visits, we must coordinate this very closely with the help of Chaplain Services Associate, James Villegas. In order to communicate effectively, you must contact us and receive approval to visit an inmate one-on-one. This refers to inmates you have spoken with during Worship Services, Bible Study and 4 C’s as well as any requests from community members. You can find our phone and email contacts at the bottom of this newsletter.
Tommy McIntosh, Senior Chaplain
CHAPLAIN SERVICES
EDUCATION Congratulations to GED Programs for one GED graduate for the month of December. Del Valle ISD is happy to announce two high school graduates for December. Keep up the good work! We are always looking for volunteer instruc-tors and tutors who have expertise in either Math, Science, Social Studies or English.
GED Certif icate Earned1
Connect with us on Facebook
High School Diplomas Earned2
