Alabama’s Reentry Task Force met last week at the Alabama State House to address several priority topics, ranging from housing and barriers to employment to workforce shortages and the need for skilled workers in Alabama’s defense industry.
Chaired by Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles Director Cam Ward, the task force includes cabinet members, legislators, state leaders and nonprofit advocates charged with supporting formerly incarcerated Alabamians as they transition back into their communities. Members examine and recommend the implementation of programming that focuses on job training, education, mental health, drug treatment and soft skills.
The task force also addresses barriers to reentry success as part of its mission to lower recidivism, or reoffending, which reduces crime and helps create safer communities statewide.
As part of Thursday’s meeting, U.S. Navy Maritime Industrial Base, MIB, Director of Strategic Partnerships Lindsay Cline presented information on the U.S. Navy’s mission to accelerate shipbuilding programs. MIB will require 250,000 skilled maritime trades personnel over the next decade. To meet this demand, MIB has embraced innovative partnership opportunities in Alabama. The Alabama Department of Commerce and the Alabama Department of Workforce have played key roles in cultivating these partnerships.
One potential partner is the Alabama Bureau of Pardons & Paroles Perry County PREP Center, which offers a pipeline of highly trained and motivated Alabamians completing the PREP Program. Through its partnership with Ingram State Technical College and the Alabama Community College System, the Bureau offers comprehensive, in-house job training, education, substance use and mental health programming at the PREP Center. Graduates are prepared for success in life after prison or probation. The model has received national recognition for innovation, most recently as a finalist for the State Transformation in Action Recognition from the Council of State Governments.
The Bureau and Ingram State are in the process of increasing PREP’s capabilities for welding and advanced manufacturing training. Plans include construction of a new welding bay at the PREP Center to help meet the state’s growing demand for skilled welders.
“This is a gamechanger for the Alabamians we serve, and it will exponentially increase the success we’re seeing at PREP, where nearly 500 Alabamians have graduated with less than 1 percent recidivating,” Bureau Director Cam Ward said. “We’re excited to provide highly trained welders who can not only help shore up critical skilled manufacturing needs for the state’s workforce but also strengthen our nation’s defense capabilities. These are great-paying jobs that offer excellent benefits and significantly increase the likelihood of reentry success.”
The welding bay will be a 30,000 square feet facility designed to complement PREP’s existing certificate, licensing and training programs. Through its partnership between Ingram State and the Bureau, PREP offers core technical programs like carpentry, electrical training and Skills for Success Training. Skills for Success Training is part of the Alabama Community College System initiative that includes excavator operation, skid steer operation, CDL Class A and Class B training and fiber optics. These short-term credential programs align with high-demand industries and provide marketable skills and certificates for immediate employment.
In addition to the welding bay, PREP recently enhanced its CDL training program with the opening of an innovative driving simulator. The simulator expands access for participants interested in careers in logistics and transportation and allows trainees to prepare for CDL certification exams.
The Bureau also plans to replicate the PREP model by opening a similar facility in Thomasville, Ala., dedicated exclusively to women. Additional plans include leveraging the Bureau’s network of Day Reporting Centers to recruit hundreds of nonviolent parolees and probationers interested in advanced welding training at PREP.
