the Round-Up
by Kim Newsome

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Upon arrival to Opportunity House, the first challenge was to gather everyone together to begin the activities for the evening. On a good day where attitudes were positive and restrictions were absent or at least minimal, the round-up took little effort. On these days, when we entered, dinner and chores were completed so it only took a matter of minutes for everyone to gather together in the den.

Below you will find specific problems encountered during round-up followed by ways we dealt with these unique situations.


Scenario #1 - Not finished with dinner and chores

When dinner was still in progress, we would often sit down and have conversations with them while they ate. After dinner, we would assist in finishing chores and adjusting the plan for the evening to include as much as possible without seeming overbearing. One visit with Opportunity House centered around preparing a spaghetti dinner. Residents are not usually a part of making dinner and seemed to enjoy taking part in the process.

At times, dinner was done but it seemed to take an overwhelmingly long time to complete the chores after dinner which include sweeping, mopping, washing the dishes, and taking the trash out. One tactic that worked well was for one of the Public Allies to say, "Okay, guys, let's see if we can get chores done in record time," and really cheer them on. The friendly competition seemed to make them work remarkably faster.

Scenario #2 - Restriction

We faced number of obstacles around the issue of restriction. Many activities were planned with 5 young people in mind and these activities did not always work well with only one or two young people. Over time, we learned to approach each meeting with Opportunity House with two plans. The first was for 3-5 participants and the other was for only 1 or 2. An important point is that it is not fair to punish residents who were not on punishment. Sometimes, our sessions where only one or two participated turned into good "rap sessions" where we talked about a variety of life's concerns. The one-on-one time afforded those who could participate was somewhat of reward in that they do not get significant one-on-on time with staff and other volunteers.

In the beginning, restriction meant absolutely no contact between a resident and Public Allies. Over time, we were able to reach an agreement with the house administrator wherein she would allow those on restriction to participate in check-ins and evaluations as long as they left prior to engaging in the "fun" part of the evening.

Around April, we decided that good behavior was crucial if we were to develop skits for presentation. We, Opportunity House youth and Public Allies, developed and signed a contract which emphasized good behavior, reduced restrictions, mutual respect and a sincere effort to be done with dinner and chores at 7:00 p.m. This contract was beneficial and we would suggest developing a contract or mutual understanding earlier on in the process. A verbal understanding is good but written word on paper serves as a reminded to all involved.

Scenario #3 - All around lack of energy

We all run out of energy some days. When we realized that we were all low on energy, we would regroup and ask the Opportunity House youth what they wanted to do. When they would offer suggestions, we would try them out. When no other suggestions were offered, we would just "hang out" with the youth. When we could predict extremely low energy days early on, we would declare that evening as a "movie night."

It must be noted that the round-up plays an important role in the rest of the evening. Be sure to address issues of concern early on. Some of these concerns might be:


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