Sarnia-Lambton Rebound
February 28, 2005
By Nicole Zummach
SARNIA, ON // If you have ever lived with a teenager (or have been
one yourself), you will know it can be a challenge even at the best
of times. On the flipside, their enthusiasm and energy can often fill
a room and all the people in it. The employees and volunteers at Sarnia-Lambton
Rebound know all about this. For 21 years, they have worked with
at-risk young people, helping them to develop the skills that promote
a positive response to self, others, and community. "We're in the business
of empowering youth and providing skill development in areas that are
critical for young people in order for them to grow up and achieve their
dreams and be the best they can be," says executive director Mary
Ellen Warren.
The Rebound Social Skills Program is the primary service offered to
the community. It brings together at-risk young people and volunteer
'coaches' for weekly group sessions that focus on the development of
interpersonal and social skills. Using a combination of role-plays,
group discussions, videos, and guest speakers, the young people gain
skills and learn how to apply them in various situations. Topics covered
include decision making, teamwork, freedom and responsibility, conflict
resolution, respect for self and others, etc.
Another unique Rebound program is the youth justice circle, which provides
a practical, cost-effective method of resolving a criminal incident.
The circle includes the young offender and their supporters, the victim
and their supporters, the justice facilitator, and community volunteers.
Together, members of the circle decide how the young offender can repair
the harm that has been done. This process also helps the young offender
develop a deeper sense of empathy for the victim - one of the most critical
social skills lacking in youth who commit crimes.
Aside from its ongoing success working with youth, Sarnia-Lambton Rebound
is also being recognized for its performance as a nonprofit organization.
In 2004, it received the Donner Canadian Foundation's Award for Nonprofit
Excellence in the Delivery Of Social Services, as well as the Donner
Award for Crisis Intervention and the Peter F. Drucker Award
for Nonprofit Management. CharityVillage spoke with Warren about the impact of receiving the Donner awards and what it takes to succeed in the social services sector.
CharityVillage: What has winning these awards meant for your organization?
Mary Ellen Warren: It's meant a lot. We are in a relatively small community - a city of 75,000 - and we tend to be overlooked by government in our own province. To win the awards has brought a sense of pride to the community. We're not in Toronto, Edmonton, or Vancouver; we're here in little ol' Sarnia doing some pretty amazing work.
CV: Is there anything you are doing differently now than you were a year ago, particularly in light of the evaluation you received from the Donner Foundation?
MEW: We've been winning Donner awards for about six or seven years now and their report is always quite interesting. So if we see that we are getting an average score in the area of strategic management, for example, then we are asking 'How come? What are we missing?' We would do some research on the net and ask people how they do strategic management to make sure that we are current. Every agency can improve in an area so we use that report to target which area we will look at for the year.
In the beginning it was our reliance on bingo funds, so we really looked
at diversifying our income base. About five years ago we did a whole
lot around board governance; that was a big one. We had other agencies
give us their manuals, we went on workshops, we brought in some experts
from the field to look at our agency, and we started a whole process
to train board members and switch over to a board governance model.
CV: What would you say is the key to your success as an organization?
MEW: This might sound kind of hokey, but I think it's because
we are real people and we believe in real people. We don't try to have
our volunteers be anything other than who they really are. We don't
expect the youth to be anything other than who they are, except to act
in a pro-social manner. We care about people and give them room to stretch
out and grow. We're also very current in the latest research on what
is effective in developing programs for youth. We've been really strong
evaluators of the results of our programs, tracking kids for years and
years. So we balance our professionalism with a real down-to-earth,
grassroots approach. I think that's what makes us unique. We're as professional
as an institution but it doesn't feel like an institution.
CV: Describe some of the innovations in your approach to the delivery of your programs.
MEW: Everybody uses volunteers, but we use volunteers as the
main service deliverer. We have trained staff at every session but volunteers
are the ones leading the sessions. They are involved in program design
along with the experts, and they are treated as if they are staff. And
there are hundreds of them. When I look around at other programs, a
lot of times they are staff-heavy and there is the odd person who might
come in and kind of help. In this agency, the volunteers are on the
front line. That is who the youth have the relationship with, and secondarily
with staff. We work with the volunteers in such a way that there is
professional work being done. We have 'manualized' everything so they
can't get off track, and yet the youth know the volunteers are there
because they care. We give our volunteers all the support they need
so that they can be really effective service deliverers.
CV: What advice would you give to other organizations working to achieve excellence in their own programs?
MEW: Don't be afraid to find out the truth. We receive a lot
of feedback. We have parents tells what they like and don't like, and
whether they are seeing a difference in their children. We have the
young people tell us what was boring and what wasn't. We have volunteers
telling us, community members, etc. We are seeking feedback left, right
and centre. When you are seeking feedback you can get your feelings
hurt, but you can also learn an awful lot about what is really going
to make your programs more effective. That's what drives our changes.
We're not afraid of the truth.
For more information about Sarnia-Lambton Rebound, visit: www.reboundonline.com.
To learn more about the Donner Awards, visit: www.fraserinstitute.ca/donner/index.asp.
