Say can i go back. Because the students are some of the, you know, most intellectually stunning people ive ever had the opportunity to be around. And they so the faculty, you know, has not theyre jumping at it. Yeah, and many instructors ive talked to had the occasion of teach anything prison and outside, you know, talk about the level of focus, commitment, he had dedication, air not distract bid iphon distracted by iphones. How are the Second Chance pilots ensuring they meet labor market demands . This gets to your idea that you distinction between job training and education per se. Any you you can answer this. We are proud and excited, happy, Second Chance pell sight. Im really excited to be coordinating the partnership between the three cuny institutions. For us, we will, in putting the application together, weve looked at what Employment Opportunities there were in new york. We went to the department of labor and looked at where the Growth Industries were. And then we worked with our Community Colleges continuing Ed Department to match what the Growth Opportunity was on the employment side, with the industry recognized credentials that we were already offering at the Community College level that were now folding into the, you know, what were going to expand under Second Chance pell. There have been also National Studies done on surveys with companies that are hiring new employees, and it is not really the type of degree that theyre interested in. Theyre interested in hiring people that can critically think. That can communicate well in writing, and i mean, those are the two major things that theyre looking for. So those are definitely things as fred mentioned earlier that college can provide. Heres a question about entrepreneurship. How can we better incorporate entrepreneurship so individuals can become selfemployed or come out of prison to start a business, using the education they received either before, but more important, sort of during incarceration. The idea here is that this questioner asks, is there an opportunity for job building as is tl is for supporting families. I think it is extraordinarily person. Jackson college in michigan, we were offering a national program, Jackson College was the provider. They did a good thing. They talked to the students about what it is you want to do, what kind of courses, what sort of majors do we have. What bubbled up that was extremely important was being entrepreneurs. Many colleges these days offer courses. Thats what Jackson College did, and i assume as a Second Chance pell site that may be apart of the offense. I know i mentioned the federal agency council, one of the agencies that participates is the Small Business association. As part of the participation, theyre giving out micro loans to formerly incarcerated people. They realize how important it is to start your own business, and fostering and encouraging entrepreneurship. We have in colora californ multiple prisons, the last mile project, and they brick in investors to do a shark tank type experience, and thats been very successful with us. And then we encourage the folks, especially career technical certifications to continue their education, and now get an aa in business. So many of our College Programs are business related. So they can now have that as a backup when they move home. Ive got a ton of questions, but were going to run out of time. One final question here, which is a great audience question. But is there anything we havent covered here that you think is worth talking about to this community about prison education, what is needed in terms of politics, policy, funding, creative thinking . What have we not talked about . I think one of the things i would add to this discussion is if youre trying to change your system and policy and pitch an idea, it is really important to understand what the Research Says and use that, but also, get out and see whats going on around the country. And one of the things that is really inspired california is many of our leaders have gone out, even around world, and looked at oversigther sites. There is a lot of great things happening out there. It is inspirational to us woochlt he hope we can offer the same thing for other people to come see us. So i would add two things. One, i would add that any at every point possible, include the voices of folks who are directly impacted, right. So learn as, you know, as fred was just saying, ask students what theyre interested in, in building programs if there are folks here starting from scratch and building programs. Get the input of folks who will be students in those programs. The other thing that i would add is really i hope that what we can do is take this conversation out of the criminal justice realm and bring this conversation into an educational justice realm, into a realm thats about diversity and Higher Education. So that we recognize that we, you know, can close that gap, the racial gap, socioeconomic gap in Higher Education. I think doing that, and putting our focus there, the criminal justice side will take care of itself. I think people need to go to prisons or jails wails with an and inquisitive mind actually see what theyre like. I think there is a lot of people who have no idea what they look like, what they smell like, what the effect is. I think that means people arent really thinking critically and analytically what criminal Justice Reform looks like on that level. There is a lot of Great Questions im not getting to. Let me end with this one, and ill read it verbatim here. It is great to use data to change peoples minds. The perceptions about people in prison. Well never reach peoples heads without reaching their hearts. How would you, each of you respectfully, reach peoples hearts about the integrity, intelligence, character and courage of people in prison . I can tell you what weve done is you have to take the state senators to the prisons, and have them visit. Then they can see what is happening. Thats from the policy level. But at a real grassroots level, it is one officer at a time. It is having them attend the graduation, and see hear people speak and see the transformation, not just read about it, but see the transformation. And it is one heart at a time and it does work. I think it is that, and i also think it is directly confront, asking individuals a couple of questions. So how would you want your loved one treated. Should he or she be caught up in this system. What do you expect of individual w s when they return, since 95 return home. Lastly, do you want to be judged by the worst that youve ever done the rest of your life and have people concentrate on the answer to those. They begin to see their way as to how we treat people in prison matters and we have to provide hope, opportunity and skills. Shawn . I dont know if i can add anything more. I mean i think it is. I think it is about, you know, i do think it is about hearts, right. Is there let me look at my own life. But i also, i also want justice. I also want the freedom to live my life and i dont necessarily want to wait for people to like me. Before i get what im supposed to have. So yes, committed to changing hearts. Really interested in changing policy. Because i think, you know, there will be some folks who are close to the middle who we can get to come over and there will be other folks who we wont ever get to come over, but still need to demand equity and justice. Yeah there is no good answer. I mean, you have to find the best lever that works. Whether thats for some people, its a fiscal level, fiscal lever, and for other people, it is, you know, we saw the video earlier, you know. And someone who the numbers may not get to, seeing that video might say you know what, you know, ive been demonizing people or thinking about people in the wrong way. Thats going to change it. Using ever lever thats available. Well, thank you to you audience. Thank you to the panelists. Thank you to david sokolow, wayne, class for putting this altogether. I hope this has provided food for thought at the least and maybe some practical ideas for all of you to implement in your daily lives. So thank you. [ applause ] today, three former white house chiefs of staff discuss president ial transitions, and challenges facing the incoming administration. Live coverage begins at 6 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan. We have more now from this conference on inmate job training and education former inmates and analysts talk about academic counseling, barriers associated with reentry into society, and the importance of connecting the criminal Justice System with other Government Agencies. Good afternoon, everyone. All right, so wlielkd e would l transition to our second panel, reentry. Weve had a wonderful afternoon with nick turner setting the stage and giving us the framework. A moment of opportunity to address Justice Reform, to address the intersections of Racial Equity and most importantly, to think about what are the strategies and Power Solutions that we need to ensure that individuals who are formerly incarcerated, individual whose are currently incarcerated have the opportunities they need to thrive and realize their full potential. Were transitioning to the topic of reentry. Youve heard many of the stats already from our speaker and from our first panel. Many young many folks focus on youth approximately see, pols face the consequences of mass incarceration. 40,000 barriers that are documented by the American Bar Association that relegates folks to second class citizenship basically. Barriers to education, housing, licensing, and those are critical areas which we know are very important just be able to thrive economically and contribute to your communities. We also know that education and training matters while behind the walls. There is lots of research. The last panel talk about that research. The return on investment. That was mentioned by fred. But we also know we need to really think about how those things that happen while in prison, actually translate and coordinated when folks are returning home. We started this day off by se seeing a video of young people and children and how incarceration impacts families. And so as we enter into this next panel, before i introduce the panel, you know, lets keep that in mind. This whole work that were talking about is really about not just individuals, but about families and about communities. And so im really pleased today to be able to introduce our panel. First, we have vivian nixon. And vivian and all the information is up there in your packets. She is executive director of the college and Community Fellowship. It is a Nonprofit Organization that helps formerly incarcerated women. Next, we have terry fazaio, director of education at the Pennsylvania Department of corrections. She is responsible for Educational Programming across 26 state correctional institutions in the state. And then we have will heaton, director of policy and Public Affairs at the center for Employment Opportunities, which is a Nonprofit Organization, offers comprehensive employment services, exclusively for people with criminal records. And last but not least, we have deanna hoskins, senior policy advisor for corrections and reentry at the department of justice, bureau of justice assistance division, where she oversees Second Chance act portfolio, which we heard a lot about in the last panel and supports for the departments work, federal inter agency Reentry Council. So join me in welcoming our panel. [ applause ] so what well do is we will have a round of questions that will ask the panelists, well leave a little time for audience questions from you all before we d do our closing session. As always please tweet out questions, please tweet any ahha moments, anything you want to reemphasize to reconnecting justice. Ill start off with you terry. At the state level, so we i mentioned having the need for a strong continuum of education and training while incarcerated, as well as, you know, making sure that those opportunities are coordinated upon reentry. And so in pennsylvania, your department has received an improved reentry education grant. From the u. S. Department of education, which youre using the focus on Career Pathways programs. Can you talk a little bit about how that work is going, and what do you see as some good things happening in some ahha moment as soon as. We at the department have recognized that it is important for us to take our inmates and provide them with some marketable skills to use upon their release. These marketable skills will help them to attain employment, but we dont just mean any job. We want them to gain a Life Sustaining employment where they can help to support their families, have some benefits and things when theyre working with many of the workforce investment boards in pennsylvania, and we have a lot of employers working with our vocational advisory teams. We have regional vocational board meetings and working with employers to tell us what jobs are available, what jobs are out there and what certifications theyre actually looking for. Our goal with this grant is to take our Vocational Programs and tweak the certifications that we are offering so they are matching up whats out there. Many of the employers right now are telling us that they actually have more Jobs Available than they have applicants to fill them and we have the workforce. We just need to make sure they have the correct certification skills upon reentry. They are willing and able to look at hiring exoffenders as part of their workforce. The next year and two years of our grant are going to be focused on taking our curriculum, our textbooks, and our Certification Programs and updating them and bringing them into the type of work that these employees will see and actually do when they are in the field. Many of our programs are old. Some of the equipment is old and thats not whats being used in the field. So, this grant is to help us move that continuum over so that these people are practicing and using the equipment they will be using in the field. Great, great. Well build on that with you vivian to talk post secondary opportunities. We talked a lot in the first panel about the importance of postsecondary and college. Connecting that to the workforce pieces, talk about your work while the women are incarcerated and returning home. Thank you for inviting me to this wonderful event. Im happy to be here with so many colleagues i have worked with throughout the years. We have a continuum of services. When you think about the expansion of opportunity that is now occurring through the Second Chance initiative, we know that there are going to be more people coming out of prison with some exposure to college. It is very unlikely all of those people will have earned degrees while on the inside. The work we do at college and Community Fellowship is becoming ever more important because what we do is create a bridge from postsecondary opportunities presented to people while theyre incarcerated and making sure theyre able to connect to similar opportunities into the community. Many things have to happen so that works. So, the first step in our bridge is our Second Chance mentoring grant where we have staff going into womens prisons in new york state, talking to women about college opportunities, both those who have had some college while incarcerated and those who have or are close to getting a high school equivalency. When they come out, theres a pathway that we have from what we call our Community Sisters program, which is a program that works with people who are not quite ready to enroll in college yet because they have other housekeeping issues they have to take care of upon release, finding housing. Many do need to work at least part time, getting reunified with children, and all of the other stipulations that are demanded of them if they are on parole. Once they move through that phase, they go into a phase we call future fellows. That is the phase during which we help them apply for financial aid, find the right school, help them fill out the application, pay for the applications, help them find other scholarships. We provide various incentives to people. So, if a person doesnt have a laptop, they can get a laptop. If they need books for a semester, well pay for the books. The next phase is called our fellows stage. Thats for people who have successfully completed 12 credits at 2. 5 gpa or higher. They get a little bit more incentives in terms of computers or cash scholarships. We have annual scholarships that range for the person most improved in academic pursuits to the person who has the least debt associated with their academic pursuits to the person who is most community involved. We give about ten scholarships every year at our graduation event. And we also have a graduate program. Thats called college beyond. Many of our students come right all the way through that pathway from Community Sisters up through fellowship and to graduate school. The glue that holds our Work Together is really that its not its not just another door you knock on to get another scholarship. Its not just another form you fill out to g