Big Machines, Bigger Opportunities - Oregon DOC Heavy Equipment Training, Certification, and Wraparound Employment Services Program

The Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) proposes implementing the “Big Machines, Bigger Opportunities” project.  The purpose is to provide a heavy-equipment training academy that not only provides industry-recognized certifications but also a continuum of pre- through post-release wraparound reentry-preparation and employment services designed to increase fair-chance opportunities for individuals being released from Oregon prisons. 

Project activities include completing comprehensive risk and needs assessments during a 30-day intake process; developing a case plan; providing comprehensive case management and interventions to address criminogenic risk needs; developing a rotation schedule to relocate the mobile classroom from institution to institution, providing heavy-equipment operator training and certifications using classroom virtual-reality simulators and (where possible) hands-on equipment experience (“land lab”); providing replacement birth certificates and social security cards at no cost to participants; providing reentry/transition needs assessments; providing reentry-preparation education and release planning; providing assistance in enrolling in the Oregon Health Plan and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ensure medical coverage and SNAP benefits are in place before release; providing release-preparation legal services that reduce or eliminate barriers to housing and employment after release (e.g., criminal record expungements, eviction expungements, reduced court fines and fees); and establishing Oregon Employment Department WorkSource Centers inside each prison providing career guidance and mapping, employment needs assessments, resume preparation, job search and application assistance, and other employment services and connections starting pre-release and continuing post-release through a warm hand-off from the prison WorkSource Center staff to the local staff in each person’s county of release. 

Expected outcomes include increased number of people enrolled in ODOC vocational training and successfully receiving industry-recognized certifications, provision of evidence-based services, increased fair-chance employment opportunities, increased positive employment outcomes, and reduction in recidivism for program participants. 

The service area will initially be located in the ODOC westside men’s prisons, but during participants’ post-release/reentry period will expand to include all 36 Oregon counties.  The primary intended beneficiaries are men in ODOC westside prisons, and secondary beneficiaries are their families and the employers who will benefit from having already trained, qualified, and certified heavy-equipment operators to fill their vacancies. 

Subrecipient activities include delivery of the vocational training and certification services, career planning, continuing career center services post-release, and pre-release legal services. 

This program proposes equipping 132 participants with the education, skills, credentials, and supports necessary to increase opportunities to not only attain, but also maintain meaningful employment and lead productive lives after release.