Social Marketing Essay

Christopher Place Employment
Christopher Place Employment Academy (CPEA) is an intensive residential program which offers training and education, in addition to spiritual, emotional and addiction rehabilitation to former homeless men (Catholic Charities, 2009). Basically, the program entails a program of transition which moves the men from being homeless to having a permanent abode as well as equipping them with necessary knowledge to gain meaningful employment which enables them to live a drugs-free life. In light of the current economic crisis and given that a quarter of Baltimore’s population is currently living in poverty; the program is experiencing increasing demand. CP’s ODBEC assists thousands of people annually from unemployment, hunger and homelessness. Also, the program helps formerly homeless men get back into the mainstay population by engaging them in training workshops and classes that aid the transition phase. Additional services such as mental health counseling, case management, referrals to get community based benefits, workshops to impart skills in job hunting and retaining.

In the last year alone, ODBEC helped 343 homeless people get employment and helped 86 homeless men change and gain stable housing, self-sufficiency and employment via CP’s Employment academy (Catholic Charities, 2009). 688 formerly homeless people graduated from the academy’s Work 4 Success program. CP helps needy people meet their most critical needs, for instance serving meals and giving stable to released inmates. Its transition programs helps released offenders to rebuild their lives through a job readiness program, imparts confidence required for interviews, offers resume writing skills and job placement. Successful graduates of the program are provided with other amenities such as vehicle ownership programs, volunteer/donor sponsored programs and savings programs. They also help in supporting new participants in the program. To continue its good work, CP requires financial support.

Target Population
Due to the program’s success in rebuilding homeless people’s lives, the same has been proposed for released inmates to help them transition back into the community. Most of the inmates do not have homes, food and employment opportunities once they are released. They are also likely to start using drug substances out of frustration.

Preliminary Ideas and Strategies
The program intends to introduce a substance abuse recovery support program to help in the rehabilitation of the inmates. Substance programs increase the person’s self-efficacy and decision making capabilities (Helen & Patti, 2001). Qualified substance abuse counselors who will be hired to work one on one with the inmates in order to impart their knowledge and wisdom. Research has indicated that the personal attention which characterizes the one on one approach leads to more success in counseling interventions (Moll et al., 2009). The counselors will be useful in adding to the rehabilitation of the inmates because one of the reasons why people keep coming back is substance abuse related relapse.

Evaluation
Evaluation of the program will involve assessment after every two weeks for both the counselors and the inmates. Counselor Competency will be informally addressed through observation and formally carried out through reviews. Self reporting will be applied and encouraged as a performance review mechanism (Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme, 2003). There will be a monthly assessment to check whether the substance counselors match with the inmates. Success indicators for evaluation plan will include the number of inmates successfully rehabilitated monthly as well as impacts of early re-intervention and sustained performance on the participants. This will involve an assessment of cases of relapse observed every month. The program will also report the prevalence of depression in the next three months after the interventions in order to measure success.

Key Points for Social Marketing Strategic Approach
The program aims to foster sustained behavior as well as quality life for released inmates encountering social problems upon their release (Kotler, Roberto, & Lee, 2002). The promotion of social objectives such as clean and safe housing, provision of meals, drugs-free living and job skills will be achieved through application of principles of market analysis and planning, as well as addressing the problems that are encountered in social change. The program will especially make use of conferences and peer reviewed publications to articulate its principles.

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