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Breaking the Chains

Written by Michelle Leverett

Thursday, 25 September 2008 08:58 PM

Social work senior Felicia Moore assists a job-hunting client Thursday at the Texas Reentry Services office in Fort Worth. Moore likes to help people with problem backgrounds find employment because of her upbringing. (The Shorthorn: Jacob Adkisson)

Felicia Moore used to be biased against people with criminal records. Not anymore, the social work senior said — not since her intern experience in the Texas ReEntry Services Agency.

The agency helps previously incarcerated persons re-entering civlian life in Tarrant County. Services include social and educational support, housing and vocational services.

“It is not my place to judge any person with a criminal record,” Moore said. “I have learned to embrace these people with sympathy rather than to perceive them as bad people just because they have broken a law.”

Elena Murphy, Social Work Field Instruction director, said the School of Social Work has tried to expand the agency for the last few years.

Kay Smith, the agency’s CEO and Founder, built the agency from the ground up.

“She saw a need to start a re-entry agency for ex-cons and responded by building her non-profit organization,” Murphy said.

Several internships are offered through the School of Social Work and are required for completion of semester credit hours — 400 hours for undergraduates and 500 for graduates, she said.

“I believe this particular internship is a fabulous opportunity and experience in terms of working with a population who are in desperate need of services,” Murphy said. “Re-entering the community, after a period of incarceration, is difficult for obvious reasons, and these students understand that.”

She said the internship is valuable because every once in a while, students at the Master’s level want to start their own agency.

“Smith can offer them insight into what goes into developing a 501c3 not-for-profit social service agency,” Murphy said about training people to get a non-profit license. “Not only do they want that generalist experience, they want to interact with clients, do case management, link with resources, but also get to see the other side of the workings of a non-profit agency.”

The internships are important to the university because the agency can accommodate two to three interns a semester who get hands-on experience.

“That’s a time commitment on her part because she is required to give an hour of one-on-one supervision to one student each week where she helps them develop a learning contract,” Murphy said. “She evaluates their progress by asking questions — how they are progressing and if they need help with anything. It is a give and take process.”

Holli Slater, social work graduate student, said she started the internship hoping to gain insight on how to run an agency.

“Managing the everyday workings of the agency, while continuing to expand, was an invaluable experience,” she said. “Being able to actively participate in activities that contribute to progress with the agency and with the client population was more than I could have hoped for as well as participating in community advocacy.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 December 2008 02:23 PM )

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