"Think Exit at Entry."  This is the new slogan that is ringing through the halls of the Eastman Youth Development Campus, where young male offenders in the custody of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice are busily preparing for their lives after incarceration.  There, the Student Transition Initiative Program helps kids line up employment or enroll in area schools prior to their release back into the community.  With a job or an education to return to, DJJ officials hope that these kids won't wind up back behind bars.

"In our long-term facilities, our main goal is to successfully transition our youth back into the community with the skills they need - academic and work and social skills - to be competitive in society and not recidivate," said Tom O'Rourke, Associate Superintendent for Educational Services for the DJJ. 

The Student Transition Initiative Program began in 2003 with a grant from the United States Department of Labor.  Although it is currently running at only one facility, the program is representative of many changes the DJJ has made since it entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 1997 to improve the agency's juvenile justice services.

Since that time, education is the only piece of the DJJ puzzle that has been released from federal oversight, according to O'Rourke.

"It's something we are very proud of," he said.

While O'Rourke does not credit the Student Transition Initiative Program alone with helping to win back the agency's independence in the area of education, he said that it is an important step in the right direction.

"This program is kind of a capstone of all of the efforts that we [have] put into place," O'Rourke said.  "This is a really critical [move towards] successfully meeting our mission, which is to get kids back into the community with the skills they need to compete in society and become productive [citizens]."

Preparing for Release

The Student Transition Initiative Program focuses on preparing the juvenile offenders at Eastman YDC, a long-term facility for 16-19 year-old males, for their reentry into the community.  From day one of their incarceration, the juveniles are encouraged to think about what they will need to succeed after they are released.

According to O'Rourke, when the offenders arrive at the facility, they see a transition video, which gives them a look at what is in store for them during their stay at Eastman.

The video explains how program staff, including a manager, two developmental instructors, seven part-time career facilitators, a transition specialist and a career education teacher, work with them to prepare them for a job in the community or further education.

The developmental instructors help the juveniles to master the concepts they are learning in the vocational programming courses they take on-site at Eastman.  Through partnerships with various area technical colleges, the juveniles at the YDC can take courses in fields such as horticulture, auto mechanics, collision repair, construction, computer information systems, welding and graphic design.  Students are placed into a particular vocation based on how they score on a pre-release test administered at the facility, O'Rourke said.

The colleges provide instructors for these vocational courses and the program's developmental instructors work closely with the juveniles to help them grasp what they are learning, O'Rourke explained, pointing out that nearly 40 percent of the offenders at Eastman have special educational needs and require this kind of additional attention.

"These developmental instructors serve in the role [of] being almost a tutor or a mentor for these kids to help them [understand] the more difficult [assignments], [which] they have to do [in order] to be successful in that particular job skill," O'Rourke said.  "It's kind of a support to the instructors; these two people work more individually with the kids to help them to understand what the instructor is referring to."

While the juveniles receive academic support from the program's developmental instructors, they also learn how to apply and interview for jobs in the community through the Student Transition Initiative Program.  According to O'Rourke, the program has specialists who teach the kids interviewing skills, how to create resumes and how to maintain a student portfolio, highlighting their credentials, such as vocational certificates, and work experience.  Each child, he said, leaves the YDC with a complete portfolio of what they have accomplished while they were there.

The program does more than just send kids on their way with their portfolios in hand, however.  It also employs a transition specialist and a handful of part-time career facilitators who advocate for the juveniles in the community and help them to obtain stable employment or admittance into an educational program after release.

Creating Community Connections

"The transitional specialist helps bridge the gap between inside of the walls and outside of the walls," said Coy Satterfield, Director of Support Services. 

According to Satterfield, the transition specialist contacts employers and community college and technical school enrollment offices on behalf of the students to ensure that, when they are released from the YDC, they transition directly into either employment or education.

To increase their chances of finding jobs or being admitted into schools, there are seven career facilitators who live in the community and advocate for these juveniles as well.

"We see that person as a scout for the juvenile who actually works on the outside external of the facility with employers and with the schools and even with the parents, in some cases, to help facilitate the transition of the youth," Satterfield said. 

According to O'Rourke, the career facilitators are strategically placed throughout the state so that youth returning to different areas of the state will have people there to support them in finding employment.

These facilitators, Satterfield added, come into the Eastman YDC 30 days prior to a juvenile's release to meet him and review his portfolio so they can match him with an appropriate job or schooling.

According to Satterfield, after the juveniles have obtained employment or started school, program staff check in with them six months, nine months and one year after release.  Based on those follow-ups, he said the nearly 200 juveniles that have participated in the program and have been released are doing well in the community.

"We know that a small percentage of them have recidivated, but, by and large, for the majority of them, they have managed to stay out and stay employed," Satterfield said.  "Many of them are back in school.  Many are reunited with family and are really becoming successful."

While O'Rourke and Satterfield believe that the program is helping these juveniles turn their lives around, the U.S. Department of Labor grant that sustains it ends this June.  But both are hopeful that the DJJ will receive additional funding to keep the program running.

"Our goal is we would hope to renew the grant if there are additional resources and, certainly, use [the program] as a prototype for our other facilities, as well," O'Rourke said.  "We are getting youth employed.  We are getting youth back in school.  We are following up to see how they are doing and working with them in that respect," he added.  "We are optimistic that the things that we are doing are making a difference and giving the youngster a far better opportunity, perhaps, than they have ever had in the past."

Resources:

O'Rourke (404) 508-6592