NCWorks hosts federal dignitary
Apr. 17—HENDERSON — The NCWorks Career Center had a special guest Wednesday afternoon — U.S. Department of Labor Deputy Assistant Secretary Lenita Jacobs-Simmons — for a special presentation on the PROWD program.
That's Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development. It rolled out in October and services inmates at the Federal Medical Center in Butner.
Three workforce development boards — Kerr-Tar, Capital Area and Durham — administer the program. Their respective directors Lou Grillo, Pat Sturdivant and Adria Scott delivered the presentation.
All three are acting as one board, essentially, to make the program as easy on inmates as possible — so that they aren't tasked with figuring out which board to look to.
Speaking of which — as the adage goes, "give a man to fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for the rest of his life."
Though, it never hurts to keep an eye on the aspiring angler and ensure he's got a bite.
That's a roundabout explanation. The program has three phases for each of its enrollees — the first is pre-release. One of the three advisors gets them prepared for post-release life by teaching them job readiness, helping them explore career options, and getting them registered with NCWorks.
For many years, the work stopped there. Once released, ex-convicts would be on their own. The recidivism rate for them was around 70%, said Chris McClellan, director of education at FMC Butner.
Sometimes, inmates act up and earn extra time in their final weeks in prison out of fear and stress of entering an unfamiliar world, McClellan pointed out. Many federal prisoners have been there for a decade or more.
That's why the next two phases are important. Phase two which kicks in when they get into a "residential reentry center," or colloquially, a halfway house. One of the three boards directs the newly released workers to career fairs, employment opportunity, digital literacy classes, occupational training — anything to help them
Phase three continues for the next year and allows the program to keep an eye on its wards and provide follow-up services.
Workers who turn to NCWorks are generally in need of services like childcare. The COVID-19 pandemic left workers in very high demand — they're "commodities," said Jacobs-Simmons, and workforce development boards nationwide ought to market them as such.
Don't settle for jobs with livable wages — aim for good careers, she implored attendees. One said she was preaching to the choir.
Federal First Step Act funds are used in those two phases. The trio of workforce development boards administering the project received $9.9 million in FSA cash last year.
The program is by enrollment only — 108 have done so since October, an impressive number in that time frame, said Jacobs-Simmons. So far, there has been a 0% recidivism rate.
Mind, this program is only available to prisoners at FMC Butner. It's the only federal prison in the 11 counties those three workforce developments cover.
Jacobs-Simmons said the program, given its performance at this level, would be a big help to inmates in county and state prisons. Gov. Roy Cooper signed executive order 303 back in January and created the Joint Reentry Council, which first met in February.
The JRC's goal is to increase second chance employers by 30%, Pell Grant partners by 50%, reducing the number of people released into homelessness by 50%, among other goals. It's all to ease the reentry process.
After the PROWD presentation, students at Kittrell Job Corps' culinary and facility maintenance talked for a spell about their experiences with the program and demonstrated the Career Center's career exploration virtual reality programs.
