From Young Offenders to Valuable Volunteers

By: Chelsea Bronevitch

They’re labeled young offenders and juvenile delinquents. In most of our minds, the name conjures up images of tough-looking youth with antisocial attitudes and histories of being oppositional and aggressive. Not quite the type of people that one would expect to be making a positive contribution to community life.

Youth crime happens everywhere, from ritzy suburbs to the poorest areas, to rural communities, and it is committed by youth of all different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and neighborhoods. The media eats up youth crime when it happens, but loses interest once these youth begin to turn their lives around. Often we forget that young people are still in the midst of forming their identities and values. The truth is, most are empathetic, enthusiastic, likeable and generally responsible human beings, capable of making positive changes in their own lives and in their communities.

When youth are given community service hours by the courts for a minor crime, and are deemed to need extra support and supervision, they are often referred to agencies that can provide mentors to help youth complete their hours. Many youth are resistant at the beginning, seeing it as forced work and punishment for what they have done. As a mentor, this initial phase can be frustrating. Some youth come in motivated to work and complete their hours, while others resist and test your limits, perhaps making several attempts before being able to finish one whole shift without leaving or being sent home.

The most rewarding transformation to witness in these youth is to watch them begin to change their focus as they go through their hours. Initially, the main goal is to finish as quickly as possible so they can return to their normal lives. Eventually, as coming for shifts becomes more routine, they begin to focus more on the task at hand and become aware, with help from mentors, how their actions are making an impact on others.

Community hours have evolved into much more than picking up garbage or covering up graffiti. While beautifying communities is one way that these youth are able to give back, much more direct and rewarding experiences are available. How exactly are they helping, and who is benefiting? In fact, when it comes to supervised community hours, the impact is two-tiered. The adolescents benefit from the formation of a trusting relationship with the Mentor, who not only provides information about important resources, but also gives praise and guidance as to how the skills they are acquiring can be used throughout their lives. Young people often find it difficult to find part-time employment during their teenage years, and community hours can facilitate their search by providing them with many skills that employers are seeking.

The community also benefits in various ways from the work that these young people do. Youth-led bingo and other weekly recreational activities have been set up in local seniors’ residences. The youth and the seniors thoroughly enjoy being able to interact with one another, bridging the gap that often exists between these two very different generations. Several adolescents form special bonds with the residents as a result. These young people also help the less fortunate. Year-round, they are filling food orders for local food banks. In one four-hour shift, they are able to fill orders that will go out to over 300 people. There is considerable shock when the youth realize just how many people they are able to help with only a few hours of effort. Some of the most heartwarming work that these youth do is with stray and abandoned animals. Local shelters are often overburdened with animals and frequently do not have enough staff to tend to more than their basic needs. The youth are actually able to increase the chances of an animal being adopted by providing training, and a chance to get used to being around people. The youth handle the cats and dogs with extreme care and compassion. Youth who have difficulty forming positive, trusting relationships with other people, often find it easy to form a connection with an animal.

Many youth find the work so rewarding and personally meaningful that they return to do volunteer work with one or more of the organizations. There is so much more beyond the label of “young offender”. These youth demonstrate an eagerness to help, and an extraordinary kindness and dedication, sometimes attending up to four shifts per week. In the end, they too have benefited from their experiences, emerging as more confident and empathetic young people. All of this shows that even the most unlikely of youth can make a positive difference in their community, and improve their own life, when given the opportunity and encouragement to do so.