It's always good to hear that an offender serving a Community Work sentence has found a job or work experience as a result of their sentence.
In many cases Community Work provides exposure to skills that might help secure employment for offenders while also providing benefit to community groups who would otherwise not be able to complete many important projects.
Recently in Kawakawa an offender assigned to a train restoration project worked so well during his Community Work the trust offered him six months paid employment.
When that ended, he chose to stay on as a volunteer.
Many in the Kawakawa community appreciate that the man in question served his sentence through work on one of the town's most important tourist attractions.
That's the purpose of Community Work: to ensure offenders make reparation through the work they do in their community.
Community Work can be done throughout the community and can involve painting, gardening, building, graffiti cleaning, restoration, recycling, and more.
Towns, cities, rural areas, voluntary groups, charities, schools, churches and marae throughout New Zealand benefit hugely from Community Work assistance but other organisations may not know how to access this valuable resource.
To help people do so we have a story this month titled Community Work – what is it and how can organisations benefit? The article explains application criteria and what assistance may be able to be provided by offenders on Community Work.
If you know of other groups whose projects may be eligible for Community Work assistance, we encourage you to talk to staff at your nearest Probation Service Centre.
Katrina Casey
General Manager
Community Probation & Psychological Services
Got a good story for Community Works or want to request the print edition
Email commdesk@corrections.govt.nz or phone (04) 460 3365
Got a story for Community Works or want to request the print edition?
Email commdesk@corrections.govt.nz or phone (04) 460 3365.
Community Works is published quarterly by the Department of Corrections. Contact details for Community Probation & Psychological Services can be found here or by looking under C for Corrections in the Government listings of the Telecom White Pages.
ISSN 1178-1327