New Clean/Green Energy Training Program is a partnership between Massachusetts DOC & Community Colleges to establish a green technology training at 5 DOC minimum security facilities across the state.

The Second Chance Act Technology Careers Training Demonstration Projects for Incarcerated Adults and Juveniles is designed to provide resources to states, units of local government, and federally recognized tribes for career training in the area of technology for offenders. Grantees must identify a process for assessment and selection of a specific subset of the population of offenders incarcerated in a prison, jail, juvenile facility, juvenile camp, juvenile community-based program, or juvenile residential facility. Offenders must participate in Project activities during the three-year period prior to release into the community. This Program furthers the Department of Justice commitment to providing services and programs to help facilitate the successful integration of offenders as they return to their communities.

The Technology Career Trainings must include a curriculum that helps participants acquire and develop skills needed to build potentially successful careers in technology-related fields. The training curriculum must identify necessary skills and competencies, provide real-world work experience, teach transferable job skills and soft skills to help prepare for post-release reentry and employment, and provide resources to support training in technology areas. The specific type of technology-based job(s) incorporated into the training program is at the discretion of each grantee. However, the grantee must be able to justify the selected training as technology-related. Some examples of technology-based field include, but are not limited, to the following: computer assisted design in engineering; information technology; Braille transcription training and certification; wireless and broadband deployment; technician positions; computer hardware/software; and computer science and programming. Where applicable, the trainings should result in a recognized certificate, degree, or license that indicates a level of mastery and competence in the selected technology focus area. The technology career trainings must restrict access to the Internet by incarcerated persons, as appropriate, to ensure public safety.

The Massachusetts Department of Correction (MDOC) will use the FY 2010 SCA funds to continue the New Clean/Green Energy Training Program. The goal of the Clean/Green Energy Training Program is to provide technology-based vocational education to 160-200 inmates at the following facilities: Pondville Correctional Center (Norfolk, MA); MCI Shirley Minimum (Shirley, MA); Northeast Correctional Center (Concord, MA); Boston Pre-Release Center (Mattapan, MA); and Old Colony Minimum Security (Bridgewater, MA). Inmates who participate in the Clean/Green Energy Training Program will complete the program with a nationally recognized certification from the community college and employment counseling and job readiness programming in an effort to increase their likelihood of obtaining and maintaining employment. The MDOC has a long-standing community-based relationship in all of the major counties in this state, and the applicant intends to work directly with employers to secure possibility of employment for inmates being released back into local communities with the staff assigned to the grant.

Funds will be used to 1) ensure program participants score moderate to high by the assessment on the Criminal Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) risk scale, 2) enroll 160-200 inmates into phase two cycle training by risk score and release date, 3) ensure a minimum of 85 percent complete Phase 1 with their certificate, 5) ensure that released inmates are fimiliar with the community career center in the area to which they will return and 6) track the released inmates to ensure they are gaining employment oppurtunities in a green enviroment.

CA/NCF