CSU Student FAQ

CSU Sacramento and other campuses have a class or two that require students to contact programs and ask certain questions. Since individual emails answering the questions take too much time, we post the answers here. They may be of interest to others. If we have missed anything, let us know and we will add to the page.

What are your program’s objectives?
To assist the churches with their ministry of reconciliation by training community volunteers to bring together victims and offenders so that they can recognize the injustices created by the offense, restore the equity between them and be clear about their future intentions. VORP follows up to insure successful completion of agreements.

Do you have people that work for you that can speak several languages, and/or do you have info/brochures in different languages also?
We have materials in English, Spanish and Hmong, and have volunteers or staff who speak all the languages we encounter. Over 100 languages are spoken by children entering school in Fresno.

How many clients do you get, and what types of people?
See our statistics page on the Web for a graph of our yearly case load. Our offenders are almost all juveniles. Our clients come from all ethnic groups and socio-economic strata. In 2004 we only had 127 cases, the lowest since inception. Through March 2006 we have 450 or so, and expect 2000 this year. Yes, this freaks us out.

Established 1982.

What are your sources of funding?
2/3 Gifts from individuals and churches, 1/3 Probation Department starting January 2006. In 2005 it was 7% Probation. We just received a large individual grant, so that proportion shifts back to a very small Probation percentage.

What are the challenges that you face?
Getting volunteers and money to pay staff to assist the volunteers. After that the biggest problem is public education and continual training and resourcing of new probation officers, deputy district attorneys and deputy public defenders.

What is your diversity statement?
Fresnans speak over 100 languages. Our board is minority white. Everything we do is cross-cultural. We don't have a diversity statement.

What do you consider your major achievements?
In business since 1982, over 7,000 cases, two or three dozen other programs established through our assistance. Influence worldwide.

Updated 4/25/2006 by Webmaster.

For additional information please contact:

Victim Offender Reconciliation Program
of the Central Valley, Inc.
4882 E. Townsend Ave., Fresno, CA 93727
(559) 455-9803 Fax: (559) 252-4800
E-Mail: VORP