Middle Georgia Technical College

Middle Georgia Technical College Partners with National Institute of Corrections

As part of a vocational training contract with the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC), Middle Georgia Technical College is helping to provide National Institute of Corrections (NIC) training for the Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) certification at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) in Forsyth. This three-month course will start this month with the help of a $25,000 grant from NIC.

“MGTC and GDC recognize the difficulty that ex-offenders have when seeking stable and fulfilling employment in order to successfully re-enter society upon their release from prison,“ said Tom Wellman, director of Correctional Programs at Middle Georgia Technical College. “An ex-offender΄s successful re-entry into the community depends on appropriate reintegration into the labor market.“

Wellman is an OWDS trainer certified by the NIC. He and several other Georgia OWDS team members received certification by participating in training in San Diego, Calif. in August of 2004. Other members of the Georgia Training team are Edwin Ford, Faye Lattimore and Carolyn White, of New Start Resources; J. R. Henderson, Director with the Georgia Department of Labor; Jenna James, Field Operations Office of the Georgia Pardon and Parole Board; Patricia Lehn, Workforce Development Manager; and Michelle Turpeau, Program Consultant for the Georgia Department of Corrections.

For successful completion of the Georgia OWDS program, 30 students will spend one intensive week each month in classroom study during the three-month course. The curriculum, which is focused on the offender, is relevant for all types of career training, planning and job/employment placement agencies. This includes corrections professionals, counselors, One-Stop Centers, workforce investment staff, and other community job placement and training agencies.

Some of the topics that will be covered during OWDS training include the role of assessment in career planning and job placement, career development, information and computers in career planning, overcoming barriers to employment, transition intervention for the offender population, job seeking and employability skills, and job retention.

Graduates of this program will return to their jobs and train co-workers in their respective agencies. The National Institute of Corrections will do follow-up studies in Georgia over the next several years to determine the effectiveness of the program.

“The ultimate goal of this program is to help make Georgia a safer place to live by training staff members that work with offenders in workforce and society.  Almost every offender is eventually released and this training helps them to come out of prison as better people by giving them a choice other than committing crime.“ Wellman said.