“It really is restorative justice at its finest.” That’s how Shasta College’s Robert Bowman describes a local collaborative program that is changing lives.
Created in 2013 by California’s Shasta County and Shasta College, the Shasta Technical Education Program-United Partnership (STEP UP) was designed to provide formerly incarcerated individuals with educational opportunities that lead to jobs.
STEP UP offers six different educational and training programs: business and office administration, automotive technology, heavy equipment operation and maintenance, welding and wildfire fighting. The programs stem from an economic survey that examined the local job market and potential employment opportunities.
This article comes from the American Association of Community Colleges’ 21st-Century Center.
The Shasta County Probation Department provides a dedicated staff member who assists in vetting students and ongoing supervision. Probation Liaison Nick Hitchko works closely with the students. Their success is important to him.
“As a team, we can help you get certificates and degrees and employment,” said Hitchko, who spends time regularly on the local college campus to work with the STEP UP students. “And that breaks the cycle of recidivism.”
‘Back on track’
For STEP UP student Christine Mclaughlin, the program gives her an opportunity she hasn’t had before.
“I wanted to get my life back on track … and stop doing the stuff I was doing and this program opened up a lot of doors for me,” she said.
Shasta County Executive Officer Larry Lees supports STEP UP because he has seen how it works.
“We’ve seen some strong success out of the STEP UP program where we’re really changing people’s lives and getting them out of the system,” he said.
Data show that STEP UP students are staying out of the system as the recidivism rate is only about 4.5 percent.
Cost savings
Beyond the positive effects associated with helping individuals become productive members of the community, the program is saving the county millions of dollars. The program costs about $5,000 per student compared to about $40,000 a year to incarcerate an individual.
Beyond the county and local community college, the local nonprofits Good News Rescue Mission and California Heritage YouthBuild Academy are strong partners and advocates of STEP UP.
The California State Association of Counties recently honored the program with a 2018 Challenge Award, but this isn’t the only award STEP UP has received. It was also named the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Student Success Program of the Year for 2017. Based on this success, the state funded the program to expand to two more counties within the community college district.
Student Scot Straits had been in and out of trouble with the law most of his adult life. Now Scot beams with pride when he talks about when he learned he made the Dean’s List. “I shot that right out to my family and said, ‘This is for real’.”
“We’re giving them confidence and training, and we are giving them a second opportunity and a new lease on life,” Bowman says.
Head’s up: This week Vera Institute of Justice and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality will release a report on the economic benefits of reinstating Pell Grant eligibility for inmates.
