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In Touch with Tennessee
In Touch with Tennessee
Transforming Lives Through Employment: The Tennessee Office of Reentry's Groundbreaking Initiatives
Can employment be the key to breaking the cycle of recidivism? Join us as we uncover the groundbreaking initiatives led by the Tennessee Office of Reentry, featuring Dr. Andre Temple and Dr. William Arnold Jr. Discover how the nation's first labor-based reentry office is transforming lives by empowering incarcerated individuals with critical manufacturing skills, ensuring they have a chance to rebuild their lives post-incarceration.
In 2021, the rate for recidivism in Tennessee was roughly 46%. This means that almost half of all of those released from jail or prison were estimated to return within three years. A major reason is due to the process of reentry, which is returning to society after incarceration being difficult and, for many, even unfair. Governor Bill Lee's vision to address this led to the creation of the Tennessee Office of Reentry in June of 2021, with the goal of improving reentry efforts statewide through a collaborative, strategic and data driven approach. Collaborative, strategic and data-driven approach. The Skills for Success Manufacturing Program is funded through a grant made available through Governor Lee's Reentry Act of 2021. The act created the Office of Reentry under the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and its aim is to help those serving time in jail to lead productive lives once they're released.
Speaker 1:The Office of Reentry partnered with the Northwest Tennessee Workforce Board, the Southwest Tennessee Workforce Agency and our Center for Industrial Services to provide manufacturing skills training to inmates in several West Tennessee jails. Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee. Joining us today to talk about the manufacturing training is Dr Andre Temple, a solutions consultant with the Center for Industrial Services, and Dr William Arnold Jr, director of the Office of Reentry. Thanks you both for joining us today. Good morning, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:Thanks you both for joining us today. Good morning, Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:So, Dr Arnold, I will start with you. Tell us about the Office of Reentry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure, sure, so well. Again, as I said, thank you for having me today and just giving us this opportunity to talk a bit about this really great work that we're doing. So the Tennessee Office of Reentry started in July of 2021 as part of Governor Bill Lee's vision of what we call true criminal justice reform. Normally you'll hear about offices of reentry and they're normally attached to like a Department of Correction or maybe a sheriff's office, so traditionally they are attached to entities that come with the responsibility of having incarcerated people.
Speaker 3:So our office was intentionally created in a Department of Labor and Workforce Development with the idea of A viewing successful reentry through what we like to call a labor-focused lens and also with the idea that if a person is able to get upskilled, to get in position to get a better job, to get a career, then that person would be more successful upon reentering society because that job or that career will refocus their time, effort and energy and, as a result, it'll reduce recidivism. There are a number of studies that show that employment is key to a person successfully reentering society and not recidivate. So that's how we started as the nation's first labor-based Department of Labor-based office of reentry.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, okay. Uh, labor-based, uh, department of labor-based officer re-entry oh, okay, okay. And how is the particular um skills for success manufacturing program formed?
Speaker 3:how is it? I'm sorry, say it again um the manufacturing program.
Speaker 1:How is that? The skills for success program how is that formed?
Speaker 3:okay, good deal.
Speaker 3:So, um, the first of all, the Office of Reentry is funded totally by state funds, and so, in an effort to expand our reach, we created two different grant-based programs. One was our Community Reentry Reinvestment Grant Program and the other one was our Customer-Focused Government Program. The customer-focused government program focused specifically on 10 rural jails in Tennessee that we chose using a formula of a number of different things, and with that the idea was to allow individuals who were incarcerated in these 10 different county jails to receive some sort of training or certification in a high demand industry in that area. In the case of Southwest and Northwest, it was. It was a manufacturer, and so, as a result, our southwestern board and our northwestern boards and our labor boards actually wrote proposals for this opportunity, and that's how we ended up with this program in the western part of Tennessee.
Speaker 3:Ok, and how did the program? Ideally, we want the subrecipient to identify an in-demand industry in whatever region of the state they're locating in. Then they would work collectively with the jail administrator or the sheriff to select individuals to participate in a program. So it's a collaboration between a labor board and whatever that local jail is.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Upon doing that, then they would that the labor board would identify an entity to perform, whatever the vocation or the educational training is or the certificate that the participants will receive, so that they can then be matched to an employer in the area.
Speaker 3:So let's say, for example, it is manufacturing and there's a high demand for individuals to enter manufacturing in the western part of Tennessee.
Speaker 3:The subrecipients to identify a number of employers who will be willing to give the completers what we call a second chance opportunity or fair chance opportunity. That is, an opportunity for this individual to use that education or their vocational certificate that they've received to go to work for that employer, with the employer understanding that the participant is someone who has had some touch point with the criminal justice system will come with some certain needs that individuals who haven't been connected to the criminal justice system may not have. So the idea is again to give these folks a second chance at life, a second chance through employment. And if let's say, for example, it doesn't work out with that employer, then the idea is that that person is still more employable because they've received some sort of certification or education in what's considered a high need area. So it makes, it gives them a higher probability of being employed and, again, not recidivating, because they have the opportunity to go to work upon release.
Speaker 1:OK, OK. So, Andre, how did the Center for Industrial Services become involved in this program?
Speaker 2:Well again, thank you, susan. Well, just a little background here. We generally do a lot of outreach training, consulting, auditing for industries, outreach training, consulting, auditing for industries, and so we just really want to make sure that as a whole, we create services that make Tennessee companies more valuable in this competitive global environment.
Speaker 2:A couple of years ago I want to say January of 2022,. A couple of years ago, I want to say January of 2022, my team it's like a team of about 15 of us total and we met in Nashville for our annual meeting. It was a two or three day meeting and at the end of the meeting we had a presentation on a new opportunity to serve the community, and they would turn out to be an opportunity to train in the reentry arena, and I remember thinking, wow, this is something totally different. I don't know. It's going to be a really great space for West Tennessee, and I remember sitting there, listening to the information and listening to the curriculum.
Speaker 2:That was really a concept that Tennessee took from the University of Purdue and it was working for them out there, and so our leadership team decided that this would be a good potential opportunity for us as well, and so, actually, about two or three days later, I get a phone call from one of our partners at Northwest Workforce Board asking is this something that was in our arena, something that we could do? And I said, oh my God, I just went through training for this and it was kind of like you can't make this stuff up, but at the time it was perfect and from there we just began to cultivate the relationship and working out all the nuances. And the workforce board was very instrumental as being that initial contact with the jail, the sheriff's department, the sheriff's department, the corrections and the administration. I can't take anything away from Ginger Power and Jennifer Bain. They have been outstanding partners to work with.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. Well, what were some of the and this question could be for either of you what were some of those specific classes that were taught during this 10-day training?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll speak to that. It's a. We call it a 10-day boot camp, but it's actually 11 days. Okay, and I wish I had that in front of me right now. But some of the classes consist of basic math and manufacturing, blueprint drawings, understanding lean principles and continuous improvement, the basics of quality measurements. We also have classes where we have calipers and things of that nature and we teach the participants how to use basic gauges to ensure quality and also the core principles of lean, which, you'll be surprised.
Speaker 2:A lot of companies want to be lean in culture but they haven't gotten there yet. So for potential inmates or participants with those particular mindsets and skillsets is a very valuable asset. So lots of classes like that and even the basic math I have to catch up on at times. Skill set is very valuable asset. So lots of classes like that and you know, even the basic math I have to catch up on at times, you know, but we somehow use calculators and just wonderful things that manufacturers are really looking for in any particular workforce, not just someone who needs a second chance. So we're really excited about the program and the participants.
Speaker 1:And what was? And again, this question is for either or both of you. What was the reception from the class members?
Speaker 2:I can speak to that. Unfortunately we're one day out from Memorial Day was yesterday and some other work conflicts, but I want one of our instructors to come. We have three to four instructors that have worked with us here in West Tennessee and I heard nothing but great things. In fact, at the very last day, class Number 11, there's usually a little informal kind of ceremony where they get these certificates from the Certificates of Participation from the University of Tennessee and they also a week or two later get their OSHA 10 college, which is actually a national certification, and they're so excited because many of these participants have never received any kind of degree or certification, so they're really excited about that. It gives them a lot of hope and uh um been outstanding.
Speaker 2:So I was looking at some data before we uh begin the podcast and I've got some data. Uh, it's a snapshot of data that we took from october of uh last year, in that short time, but we actually started doing it for two years, from October until April, and we had 101 participants and um. You went through the entire program and about and about uh and um actual uh jails and out of those uh, I would say we had a total of only graduate. Unfortunately, sometimes everyone doesn't graduate, but out of the 101 certificates that represented 90% of everyone who started, so we have a 90% graduation completion rate, which is pretty good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sounds like it. And Dr Arnold, are there any talks about bringing this program to other jails in Tennessee?
Speaker 3:government facet of it. But then there's also, as I said, the community reentry reinvestment piece, which is where either a gosh, one of our labor boards, a for-profit, a nonprofit or even a local government could write a proposal and do some of the same things. What's pretty neat about it is that you don't have to be an incarcerated person to participate in it. It's structured where, or at least in the community re-entry, reinvestment grant facet and that is where we focus on people who are justice involved.
Speaker 3:That means a person who may have been arrested, they may have been charged or convicted, they may or may not have served time in jail or in prison, but the understanding is that once a person has that touch point with the criminal justice system, him or her, them or they actually now have a barrier to things like housing, employment, education, voting, et cetera, and so with that, our whole purpose is to create pathways again to jobs that help people overcome these barriers to employment. So, though it may not be necessarily a jail, it could be just a community where there's a pipeline of individuals who have had those touch points with the criminal justice system. Maybe they're in a transitional home or in a youth detention facility, so it's not just limited to jails.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that sounds great. And what is your? You know? Have you had any comments from employers who you've worked with about this re-entry program?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I can definitely speak to what I thought was perhaps one of the more strategic approaches and that was one of the programs that was done in Haywood County Jail.
Speaker 3:As we know, blue Ogle City is, of course, coming to that area and it was a pre-apprenticeship construction certificate program and what was really neat about it was that there were two employers who were involved in the whole administration of the information.
Speaker 3:In other words, employers actually came in and gave some very practical knowledge of what it means to work on a construction site, to speak to the participants about what they look for, what they don't look for, just about the reality of what it means to show up each day at work in that type of capacity. So having employers be a part of that gave it a different twist, in that the individuals who were participating could see the investment being made by the employers, could hear actual stories and good anecdotal information on what it means to utilize this certificate to get to a different place in life, to hear so many employers one of them I listened to him speak to how he actually had had some touch points with the criminal justice system early in life, but how he used his ability to earn through construction, to get past that and rebuild his life for himself and his family.
Speaker 1:That's great. Any other you know where do you see some programs going forward from the Office of Reentry?
Speaker 3:some programs going forward from the Office of Reentry. Well, we are right now in the funding announcement season, if you would, for our CRRG grant. We have about $750,000 up for grabs, if you will, for nonprofits, labor boards, local governments to come up with original proposals that can address labor market areas or labor market needs in our different areas across the state. June 5th is a deadline, so if anybody out there is interested, in writing. We look forward to receiving your proposal. You can actually go to our website and review the funding announcement. So again, it's a great opportunity for entities that have a background in assisting with workforce development but to also come up with creative ways to address labor market needs and their areas of estate.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Well, thank you both for joining us today. I appreciate it. This has been very informative.
Speaker 3:My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Thank you.
Speaker 1:And thank you listeners. Be sure to look for In Touch with Tennessee where you find your favorite podcasts.
