It wasn’t a light-bulb moment that prompted Denise Hughes-Conlon to institute a few changes at the Pinellas Ex-offender Re-entry Coalition. It more like a nudge. Specifically, a nudge from Robin Saenger, then vice-mayor of Tarpon Springs, FL, who asked, “What small piece can you bring to Peace for Tarpon?
Hughes-Conlon’s piece? Have her clients – “not always the nicest, kindest people” she says -- fill out the short 10-question version of the 200-question ACE survey.
How can answering a few questions on a survey possibly help ex-offenders or the people who help them?
Hughes-Conlon first thought it might be useful for her staff. “We get a lot of abuse,” she explains. “I thought it might be helpful to understand where they (the ex-offenders) were coming from. I saw it was another thing to give us understanding, a way for us to say: ‘We need to have a little more patience with this person because….’”
Her logic: Anything that helps her clients become more successful keeps them from getting into trouble and going back to prison.
But that small piece – that short survey -- is having a bigger impact than she imagined......
Comments (0)