The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of criminal background checks on the selection of school volunteers as reported by human resource professionals in selected Texas public school districts. Ninety Texas school districts were randomly selected for this study, and results were categorized by the size of the school district based on student population. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A Chi-square analysis was performed to determine if there were significant differences (p ? 0.05) in responses to research questions based on size of the school district. Findings in the study included the following: 1. There was no difference in the school district approach to policy and procedure development based on the size of the school district as it pertained to criminal background checks of school volunteers. 2. There was no difference in response rate based on the size of the school district regarding type of offense, number of offenses, adjudication process, and type of criminal history data search. 3. There was a significant difference (p ? 0.05) in approach between largesized and small-sized school districts regarding the acceptable timeframe concerning recency of offense on a volunteer criminal history record. 4. There was no difference in response rate based on the size of the school district regarding the effectiveness of criminal background check procedures in eliminating potential volunteers who might pose a threat or risk to teachers, staff, and students. The following are recommendations for further study: 1. A similar study could assess the responses from teachers, staff, and/or students to determine if these different education categories possess different perceptions regarding the impact of criminal background checks on school volunteers. 2. A further study could analyze the specific written policies of school districts and determine the decision criteria for each level of offense. 3. This study focused on school volunteers. A research study could specifically focus on the impact of criminal background checks on parent volunteers, or conversely be more general, focusing on the impact of criminal background checks on professional or auxiliary employees.

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<p>Background: Non-profit voluntary organisations are becoming increasingly important and many people are dependent on them in today’s society. These organisations could not work as well as they do or might not even survive without its volunteers, therefore the motivation of volunteers is of great importance. The Red Cross is the largest voluntary organisation in Sweden and also highly valued internationally. We wanted to find out what the employees at the Red Cross do to motivate its volunteers, if they use any guidelines for motivation and if they know what motivates volunteers.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the employees and the management of the Red Cross motivates its voluntary workers, as well as examine what actions can be taken to improve this. </p><p>Method: To investigate human behaviour, such as motivation, a qualitative study is suitable. We have therefore chosen to perform such a study and have made ten personal interviews. In order to get the full picture we decided to do five interviews with volunteers and five with employees at the Red Cross. Some of the interviews were performed at the headquarter in Stockholm, a few at the local office in Jönköping and a couple over the phone. </p><p>Conclusions: The employees at the Red Cross motivate its volunteers by letting them set goals, by offering education, acknowledge contributions among other things. No outspoken guidelines for motivating volunteers are used and we think it should be implemented into the organisation. It has come forth during the study that the voluntary leaders are given large responsibility and we suggest that these responsibilities should be divided and delegated to a larger amount of people. We have also found that there is a difference in motivation between the older and younger generations. To attract younger volunteers it is important to adhere to the differences and be aware of the shift of values in society.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-134). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-134). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-162).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1975. / Typewritten.

Since the 1970s, the United States has witnessed a great expansion of community-based restorative justice programs. These programs serve as alternatives to the traditional court and probation system. Unlike the traditional justice system, restorative justice focuses on repairing harm done by an offense and works toward restoring the offenders to good standing in the community. While there is a significant amount of research which has examined the effectiveness of community-based programs, relatively little research has focused on the community volunteers who participate in these programs. I conducted an ethnographic study (observations and interviews) of community volunteers participating in a juvenile diversion program called. My research shows that NAB members encourage offending youths to make better choices in the future. They explain to the teens that with every choice one makes comes a reward or punishment. Specifically, NAB members encourage youths to obey the law, work hard, and have a good attitude. Yet my findings also indicate that NAB members are aware of environmental factors, such as family and schools, which may limit the choices actually available to youths and influence their decision making. Ultimately, these findings represent a contradiction in which NAB members encourage youths to subscribe to middle-class values despite the fact that there may be structural obstacles which impede youths from doing so.

Youth sport relies on parents to volunteer for positions at all levels of the organization. Among these volunteer positions, the volunteer-coach is often responsible for the creation and delivery of most services in youth sport. The current scope of youth sport would be unattainable without parents’ continuous support; therefore, recruitment and retention of these parent-volunteer-coaches is a critical task for youth sport organizations. Parents, however, do not respond to volunteer service as would be predicted from current volunteer literature (Kim, Chelladurai, & Trail, 2007). Perhaps is the behavior of volunteers in the youth sport setting is due to their identities as parents. The presence of their children in a youth sport setting has always been assumed to be a primary motivator for parents to volunteer as youth sport coaches. This research used narrative analysis (Polkinghorne, 1995), identity theory (Stryker, 1968, 2000) and inductive coding to interpret the experiences of parent-volunteer-coaches in the youth sport setting. The inductive coding analysis yielded two groups of roles available within the youth sport setting: aspirational roles and avoided roles. The narrative analysis yielded seventeen parent stories by identifying the central plot that connected important events to role choices. Five groups of stories--History, Prior Arrangements, Crucible, Right Role, and System--resulted from an examination of the similarities among the plots. Ultimately, the role choices made in response to tension in each plot led to choosing the volunteer-coach role. These results suggest that the experience of youth sport volunteer coaching is not primarily based on a relationship with the organization. These volunteer stories rarely included the organization as the most important influence on their experience; instead, parent volunteer experiences were driven by identities that led to role choices within the parent-child relationship. Role choices were not static throughout the volunteer experience; several parents continued to shift the roles played in response to changes in perceptions of the context. Youth sport organizations that recognize the impact of the parent-child relationship can design volunteer recruitment and retention programs leading to greater satisfaction for parents while at the same time fulfilling the organizational need for dedicated volunteers. / text

The report explores three development alternatives that support and strengthen Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms as a sustainable nonprofit organization and valued member of the community. Each strategy promotes success through improved stability, increased revenue streams and enhanced volunteer support without depleting current resources or funding. Designed as a potential employment plans for Pioneer Farms, benefits and constraints associated with each course of action are compared and contrasted. / text