Gold Stevie Award honors Miami-Dade public defender’s creative workforce solution
The project strengthens the PD office's workforce and gives recovering women, most of them mothers, the skills and discipline they need to succeed in life.
Carlos Martinez worked with the Agape Network, Inc., a not-for-profit that supports women in recovery, and Miami-Dade County to establish a remote call center that allows program participants to work while they are in treatment.
In the 1980s, 11th Circuit Public Defender Carlos Martinez was managing an Exxon on 107th Avenue in Miami when a probation officer saw his “Help Wanted” sign and made an offer.
“Of course, at the time, I had no idea what criminal courts were; I had not gone to law school,” Martinez says. “He was very creative. He explained the process of probation to me.”
Martinez couldn’t find dependable workers at a time when most transactions were cash. He reasoned that a probationer would come with extra supervision and every incentive to succeed.
“It went very well,” Martinez said. “He was able to use the experience he had at my gas station in his next job, when he got off probation.”
Three decades later, Martinez is facing another recruitment challenge and another creative solution – based on second chances – is paying dividends.
Last month, his office was named the “Gold Stevie Award” winner in the Corporate Responsibility Category of the 22nd Annual American Business Awards.
More than 300 judges reviewed 3,700 projects across a range of categories to select the winners.
Martinez’s “Resilient Women Working” initiative involves hiring a handful of women in recovery to help with a call center that serves 230 lawyers and a total workforce of 400 employees. Managing some 65,000 cases annually, the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office is the fourth largest in the nation.
Martinez worked with the Agape Network, Inc., a not-for-profit that supports women in recovery, and Miami-Dade County to establish a remote call center that allows program participants to work while they are in treatment.
“The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office has taken its public service mandate to the next level through their partnership with Agape, increasing their effectiveness and impact on people who need their services the most,” noted a Stevie Awards judge.
The project strengthens Martinez’s workforce and gives recovering women, most of them mothers, the skills and discipline they need to succeed in life.
About 10 recovering women have staffed the remote call center in the past year, said Cindy Guerra, executive chief assistant public defender for operations.
Like all call center employees, program participants answer calls from the public, clients, and prospective clients.
“They are answering basic questions like ‘When is my next court date? Who is my judge? Who is my lawyer? Can I make an appointment?’” Guerra said.
Participants receive the same training as other call center employees and learn how to deal with emotional or angry people and how to navigate a case management system.
A few program participants have not been able to keep pace, but not because of relapses, or substance abuse issues, Guerra said. Most excel because they tend to have a calm, professional demeanor, Guerra said.
“They are excellent listeners,” she said.
When the program participants started interviewing, they performed so well Guerra suspected that Agape was coaching them. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, Guerra said, but when she asked, Agape assured her that wasn’t case.
Martinez initially wanted to hire Florida Department of Corrections inmates who were within a year of release. It would give inmates a “nest egg” to help with housing and transportation to ease their transition back into society.
“The information that I found out was that legally, we could not do that. We would actually have had to change Florida law,” he said. “Nobody in state prison is actually earning a living wage.”
So, he went to friends at the Agape Network and the project was born.
Gearing up the program was challenging, Guerra acknowledges. Human resource policies had to be reviewed and supervisors had to learn how to adapt to a different type of employee.
But it was worth the effort, Guerra said. In addition to helping people return to society, she has learned about the strength of the human spirit.
“The point of the award was to put a spotlight on the project, to remind other employers, not just in Miami, but the nation, to emulate what we’re doing, to do the hard work to give these women an opportunity,” she said. “I have grown from this experience.”
