慈善纪事慈善纪事编年史的伊甸·斯蒂夫曼
For years California, Florida, Oregon, Washington, and other states have relied on incarcerated men and women to fight wildfires. They are trained to perform grueling work while earning just a few dollars, sometimes as little as $2 a day.
担任志愿消防员的被监禁工人帮助遏制和打击大火，因为野火变得更加频繁和激烈，而美国森林服务局则努力工作，部分原因是低薪。现在，在基金会和其他人的帮助下，一个非营利组织正在帮助被监禁的人，因为他们离开监狱后接受了该职业的培训。
将障碍导航到稳定的消防工作并不容易。188金博网网址多少布兰登·史密斯（Brandon Smith）亲身了解这些挑战。2012年，他在加利福尼亚州贝克斯菲尔德（Bakersfield）附近的Wasco State监狱中因非暴力指控而判处他判处判处判处判处八个月的判刑，当时他的监狱顾问建议他搬到消防训练营。他将能够住在那里并学会打火，同时获得与加利福尼亚季节性消防员相同的认证。
在河滨县的包蒂斯塔保护营，史密斯喜欢消防。188金博网网址多少这是他第一次出门在本质上，他擅长于自己所做的事情。他成为了手工船员的领导者，在团队的前面挥舞着一条电锯，该团队切断了易燃的刷子和树木，以创建包含火灾的外围。
“When you’re incarcerated, you have this stigma of being a public nuisance, but being a firefighter provided an opportunity for me to give back to the community and also give myself a sense of pride,” Smith said. “It was something that I wanted to continue as a way of giving back to the community once I came home.”
But after completing his sentence in 2014, the pathway to a firefighting job wasn’t clear. The certifications he received while incarcerated didn’t count, and he couldn’t even apply for some positions due to his criminal record.
在一起,史密斯和皇家Ramey成了秘密地e friend in the fire camp, enrolled in a state-run fire academy to re-earn their required certifications. The classes were familiar — they had been through this before — and they graduated as the top two in their class.
Betty Ashe, a now-retired U.S. Forest Service battalion chief, helped them get their first jobs fighting the Lake Fire, which burned more than 31,000 acres in the San Bernardino National Forest in 2015. They both spent several years as wildland firefighters.
Smith and Ramey understood how a lack of access to information or networks could hold their peers back, so they began helping other incarcerated and previously imprisoned firefighters find their way. The two eventually founded the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program and now work there full time.
非营利组织提供培训，以便参与者可以获得某些入门级州，联邦或私人消防工作所需的证书。188金博网网址多少参与者在课堂和野外花费时间进行防火工作，例如在公共土地上稀疏森林以及从人们周围的房屋中去除易燃植被。参与者在培训时每小时赚取$ 17.50。
加利福尼亚州获得了近500,000美元的赠款，帮助该组织从严格的志愿者努力中成长。近年来，基金会开始引起注意。早期的支持者包括Google.org，提供了500,000美元。Venture-Philanthrophopy组织的新利润给了40,000美元，该工人实验室支持使工人更加安全，授予15万美元。
Current foundation donors include the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which gave $304,000; the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which gave $120,000; and the JM Kaplan Fund, which gave $175,000. This year the James Irvine Foundation presented Smith and Ramey with its Leadership Award, which came with a $250,000 prize.
“We really need people who are trained and who can help fight these wildfires,” said Charles Fields, vice president of program implementation at the Irvine Foundation. “At the same time, we have a lot of folks who are coming out of jails and prisons and who are looking for opportunities to become productive citizens in our society. It’s not easy to get back on your feet and find a job with the skills that are going to pay a living wage.”
菲尔兹说，林业和消防计划面临着这两个重要的挑战，并将它们汇集在一起。
该非营利组织现在有340万美元的预算，已经培训了3,000多人，并帮助了140多个获得工作。
通过与南加州大学建立合作伙伴关系，正在学习以获得社会工作的硕士学位的学生作为案例经理，以帮助受训者找到住房，获得驾驶执照，并在需要时获得心理健康服务。
此外，非营利组织与其他合作伙伴合作，帮助参与者浏览法院系统。2020年，加利福尼亚通过了一项法律，该法律允许以前被监禁的消防员向法院申请释放后的信念。如果他们赢得了批准，他们就不必等到假释结束才能在市政和县消防部门申请工作，也不必申请大多数全职，高薪的消防职位所需的EMT证书。188金博网网址多少
With the help of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the fire recruitment program has successfully filed 38 petitions, 12 of which have been granted so far, and 21 of which are pending.
消防训练组织计划继续扩大其工作。一家湾区赠款制造商Tipping Point社区提供了15万美元，以帮助总部位于洛杉矶的团体扩展到奥克兰，在那里它将很快开始与返回湾区的Fire-pamp校友合作。去年，它推出了Buffalo Fire Crew，这是一个包括培训计划的许多毕业生的私人非营利消防小组。188金博网网址多少
“Our program is here to help people … make that 180-degree transition,” Smith says. “To go out and truly be public servants; to go out and prove to the community that my past does not define me.”
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