By Dennis Bone, Executive Vice President
One of the core values of Solutions for Change is personal accountability. To grow, develop, and build healthy interpersonal relationships, one must own their own actions. They must take responsibility for their behavior and the commitments they make by admitting and correcting mistakes and shortcomings, without making excuses or looking for someone to blame.
We firmly believe that accountability is a gift, and an opportunity to take feedback and get better. We actively practice it as a staff, and as such, teach and model it to our students in the Solutions Academy.
Accountability is one of the essential Servant Leadership behaviors that form the foundation for our curriculum. Students come to our Academy vulnerable and at risk, having experienced a variety of difficult situations, such as addiction, mental illness, homelessness, broken relationships and incarceration. These things have led to dependency, chaos and lack of self-worth. These moms and dads seek structure, purpose and guidance in their lives. They seek compassion and love, and with it, the gift of accountability. In Solutions Academy, students receive an accountability that many have not had in their lives.
Today, in many sectors of our society and local communities, accountability is no longer valued or practiced. Too many of our politicians and government policy makers make excuses for the most vulnerable in our society, and do more harm than good by dismissing accountability and creating dependency models that do not address or solve root causes. The individuals and families, who come to Solutions for Change, have been stuck in this churn of dependency and lack of accountability. They are looking for and needing true compassion, real hope, and a positive way to overcome their addictions, trauma and losses. They come to a place where people care about them and their future. We don’t write them off as victims or as people who need to be controlled and given free stuff in order to survive. In fact, not only do they need accountability, they want it. Their lives have spiraled out of control, but with accountability, and in a community of loving, caring and other accountable people, they will thrive.
Solutions for Change offers a safe haven from a government system that not only lacks accountability, but also lacks true compassion. Policies that allow people to sleep in the streets, use drugs, live in shelters without requirements and increasingly taking more of our tax dollars with little or no interest in actually finding solutions hurts the entire community, especially the most vulnerable among us. In contrast, the Solutions for Change model comes alongside those who are hurting and struggling, and provides them with the opportunity to be supported and empowered to transform their lives. Solutions for Change offers permanent solutions through compassion, hope, opportunity and the gift of accountability.
