“This class is more than a technical training; it’s a much-needed tool for reentry preparation.”

- David Heppard, co-trainer with lived experience.

EMPOWERING INCARCERATES:

SKILLS FOR SUCCESS REENTRY TRAINING

This innovative pilot program, funded by the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Board, has three components—some guided by the directives of the grant, and others aligned with DOC goals for individuals in reentry. Some are prioritized by those with lived experience. These components are:

  • IT/Technology training

  • Durable (soft skills) training

  • Navigator/Wrap-around support

We originally had computers for sixteen participants. Twelve qualified, being five months out from release. Due to various circumstances, ten were present at our initial session. Two have already been released.

WHY PAIR SOFT (DURABLE) SKILLS WITH TECH TRAINING?

Tech training—especially in IT—is extremely challenging, even for individuals with a high school or college education who have been exposed to technology for most of their lives.

To succeed in this training, it is essential that participants develop durable skills such as determination, grit, flexibility, adaptability, perseverance, curiosity, and patience.

In fact, no matter how much IT knowledge participants gain and retain during the pilot, it’s even more important that they develop the durable skills needed to overcome future obstacles, solve problems, and maintain the self-discipline and self-belief essential for successful reentry and avoiding recidivism.

Work and Life Ready: Corporate and Lived-Experience Trainers.

Off-screen comments by participants Jones and Davis. At 7:25, when the participant references hanging out with ‘this cat and all his buddies’, he points at trainer Todd, indicating the desire and need for positive, professional association after release.

The durable skills lessons taught in this program are part of a curriculum that has been tested and refined over more than seven years with high school and college students, effectively transforming them into individuals who can contribute from day one in the workplace.

The pilot, which features both corporate trainers and trainers with lived experience, is already making a strong impact on participants. By blending concepts from Apple, Google, Harvard, and Stanford’s soft skills training frameworks with real-world perspectives from those who have navigated reentry themselves, the program delivers high-quality professional and life skills training in a way that resonates and feels authentic.

The goal is clear: equipping participants for successful reentry and reducing recidivism.

“What makes this program stand out from others I’ve seen over the years is that it doesn’t just focus on hard skills. It’s also about soft skills—communication, imagination, creative thinking, collaboration, critical thinking—and the internal shift that happens when someone starts to believe they’re capable of learning, of succeeding, of being more than their past…The early results are clear: this class is working. It’s needed. And it’s already making an impact.

I’m proud to be part of this work.”

-Eugene Youngblod, co-trainer with lived experience.