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MINUTES
WASHINGTON STATE JAIL INDUSTRIES BOARD MEETING
April 20, 2001
10:00 AM–2:00 PM
Criminal Justice Training Commission
Burien, Washington
Board Members Attending:
Mary Boehnke, Andrea Bynum, Doug Jacques, Debra Latimer, Randy Loomans, Jim
Powers, Bruce Thompson, Julie Wilson, Marvin Wolff, Howard Yarbrough, Julie
Beck (staff), Cynthia Sachs (staff), Jill Will (staff)
Proxies Presented:
Curt Lutz, Kent Police Department, for Chief Ed Crawford
Advisory Committee Members Attending:
Guests Attending:
George Hughes, Snohomish County Corrections; Morgan Zantua, Center for Responsible
Driving
Call to Order:
Chair Bruce Thompson welcomed the guests and thanked those attending.He officially
called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
A. Approval of the Minutes, January 19, 2001 Meeting
It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the January 19, 2001 meeting be
approved. The motion carried.
B. Apprenticeship Information Pilot Project Update
Julie Ann Beck presented a progress report on the Apprenticeship Information
Pilot Project (AIPP).Currently, Pierce County Jail and Annex, King County Work
Release, Snohomish County's Indian Ridge Facility, and the Helen B. Radcliff
Work Release facilities are on line.King County Regional Justice Center and the
Kent City Jail are expected to follow suit shortly. Ms. Beck’s project is ongoing
through September. The anticipated outcome of having 12 students complete pre-apprentice
training may not be possible because of timing issues with classes. She is very
confident of achieving her goals on having apprentices indentured by September.
Doug Jacques believes the progress made to date is impressive. He suggested
that a progress report be made to ESD Assistant Commissioner Gary Gallwas and
other key stakeholders.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—set up a progress report meeting for Julie Beck and Randy Loomans
to make an AIPP progress report presentation.The following persons should be in attendance:
ESD:
Paul Trause, Gary Gallwas, Holly Watson, Ross Wiggens, Russ Lidman
successor, Cathy DeJulio
L and I:
Gary Moore, Patrick Woods, Nancy Mason
Washington State Labor Council:
Rick Bender
OTED:
Paul Knox
Jail Industries Board:
Randy Loomans, Doug Jacques, Bruce Thompson, Jill
Will, and Julie Ann Beck.
Ms. Beck discussed her outreach efforts and the overwhelmingly positive response
she has received from everyone. Her marketing efforts have resulted in solid
attendance at her introductory presentations; the more specific follow-up presentations
given by apprenticeship coordinators also have been well attended. Ms. Beck
provided board members with draft copies of apprenticeship marketing packets
which will be mass-produced and distributed throughout the state. The packets
provide an introduction to apprenticeship programs, lists of available programs,
entrance requirements and recommended coursework, wage scale information, and
points of contact.
Ms. Beck discussed the major barriers to inmates becoming involved in apprenticeship,
with driver’s license recovery, lack of a GED, and substance abuse problems
being named as the top three barriers. Doug Jacques questioned the screening
process related to determining an inmate’s reasons for not having a license.
He shared that ESD has an interagency agreement with the Department of Licensing
(DOL) that provides access to information that could help in screening. He suggested
ESD could get factual information on behalf of JIB to assist in the apprenticeship
project’s efforts.
- ACTION ITEM:
Doug Jacques—meet with Morgan Zantua to discuss using ESD’s access to DOL’s
information to expedite driver’s license recovery.
Ms. Beck discussed current efforts by President Bush to ban felons from receiving
Pell Grants, which are one of the few opportunities available for inmates to
receive federal funding for education.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—draft two letters to President Bush: 1) on behalf of the Board indicating
reasons why Pell Grant availability is critical to offenders, and poll members
as to their agreement/disagreement with the language; and 2) provide sample
language which individual Board members can use to draft letters in which specific,
more personalized concerns can be addressed.
It was questioned whether the Department of Corrections (DOC) considers driver’s
license recovery as part one of apprenticeship programs.
- ACTION ITEM:
Howard Yarbrough—Research DOC’s perspective on how driver’s license recovery
affects apprenticeship.
C. Driver's License Recovery Presentation
Morgan Zantua of the Center for Responsible Driving presented her Driver’s Re-licensing Report.
As a tie-in to Ms. Beck’s AIPP discussion, Ms. Zantua’s report covered the importance
of driver’s re-licensing and its effect on AIPP, particularly since most apprenticeship
programs require a valid driver’s license. Ms. Zantua noted that at Indian Ridge
80% of the inmates do not have driver's licenses. She reported that up to 70%
of incarcerated people are in the system due to driver’s-related issues.
Ms. Zantua’s report also analyzed the current status of driver’s re-licensing
and discussed ways for people to recover their licenses; she coaches individuals
in how to do this. Her well-attended classes focus on education, respect, and
attitude adjustment as the key elements to convince judges to allow license
reinstatement. Results of Ms. Zantua’s survey provided to judges and court administrators
indicate judges have a keen interest in receiving statistics that track the
effect driver’s license recovery has on the apprenticeship project. She suggests
that reporting AIPP’s outcomes and results to people in authority would build
credibility of the program within the judicial and apprenticeship communities.
- ACTION ITEM:
Ms. Zantua—forward information about the Driver's Re-Licensing Summit to be
held on May 21st to Jill Will, who will in turn forward the information
to Board members.
Funding sources for driver’s license recovery courses are a concern. Doug Jacques
brought up the possibility of setting aside a percentage of offenders' fine
money and putting it back into grants to support driver’s re-licensing programs.
Howard Yarbrough inquired about the possibility of getting legislators involved
in establishing such a set-aside.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—research how fines and fees are currently distributed between cities,
counties, courts, and the state.
- ACTION ITEM:
ESD (Doug Jacques), Office of Economic Development (Julie Wilson) and DOC
(Howard Yarbrough)—work together to find potential legislative connections
interested in establishing drivers' re-licensing efforts.
D. Apprenticeship Refunding:
Doug Jacques reported that decisions on refunding the Apprenticeship Information
Pilot Project are on hold until the Legislature completes the biennial budget.
He suggested that to sell the program to potential backers, the Board needs
to show the project is going to have tangible outcomes. Funding may have to
come from a variety of sources. ESD’s budget includes Perkins Grant funds which
provide a 1% set-aside of approximately $210,000. If JIB can convince ESD to
continue funding AIPP, some of this money may be available through discretionary
grants. Other funding sources include the Department of Labor and Industries,
which has overall responsibility for apprenticeship programs in Washington,
the Office of Trade and Economic Development, and the Work Force Training and
Education Coordinating Board. It may be helpful to tie the project to larger
issues, including the emerging issue of Washington's "economic vitality"
and President Bush’s initiative to encourage non-custodial parents to pay their child support.
- ACTION ITEM:
Bruce Thompson—Upon Legislative completion of the budget, establish a three-person
team to find AIPP funding opportunities outside of ESD and provide a concrete
list of 6–12 possibilities.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—follow up with the Regional Justice Center (RJC) to determine when
the Apprenticeship Information Project can be started at that site.
E. PIECP Marketing Video
Tabled until the July meeting.
F. Speaker's Package PowerPoint Demo
The demonstration was not given; however, there was discussion about the feedback
received after the first two presentations given at recent Washington State
Association of Counties regional meetings. After revamping the presentation,
Ms. Will will demonstrate the presentation at the July meeting.
- ACTION ITEM:
All JIB members—review the speaker’s package and provide suggestions to Jill.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—revise the presentation to incorporate suggested changes.
G. Executive Director's Report:
Brief discussion included announcing the Executive Director’s salary has been
banded but not yet finalized through the Department of Personnel. Jill Will
introduced Cynthia Sachs, recently hired part-time administrative support to JIB.
H. Other Business:
Marvin Wolff reported that Whatcom County is committed to having a Jail Industries
Program, and that its proposed jail includes space set aside for a jail industries
facility. Whatcom County will be hosting the Board in July.
Doug Jacques passed on words of thanks to the Board from the Juvenile Vocational
Industries Program (JVIP). Its project of providing foster children with duffel
bags—to replace their previous “luggage” of garbage bags—is one of the things
making JVIP a success story. The Program is in line to receive multiple awards.
- ACTION ITEM:
Howard Yarbrough and Doug Jacques—look into donating fabric and other soon-to-be-surplussed
DOC materials to JVIP.
Randy Loomans showed an apprenticeship marketing video targeting middle and
high-school age students. Board members commented that is could also be appropriate
for audiences up to the mid-twenties.
- ACTION ITEM:
Randy Loomans—Provide Board members with information on where to procure the
apprenticeship video.
Adjournment:
It was moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
Summary of Action Items:
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—set up a progress report meeting for Ms. Beck and Randy Loomans to
make an AIPP progress report presentation.
- ACTION ITEM:
Doug Jacques—meet with Morgan Zantua to discuss using ESD’s access to DOL’s
information to expedite driver’s license recovery.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—draft two letters to President Bush: 1) on behalf of the Board indicating
reasons why Pell Grant availability is critical to offenders, and poll members
as to their agreement/disagreement with the language; and 2) provide sample language
which individual Board members can use to draft letters in which specific, more
personalized concerns can be addressed.
- ACTION ITEM:
Howard Yarbrough—Research DOC’s perspective on how driver’s license recovery
affects apprenticeship.
- ACTION ITEM:
Morgan Zantua—forward information about the Driver's Re-Licensing Summit to
be held on May 21st to Jill Will, who will in turn forward the information
to Board members.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—research how fines are fees are currently distributed between cities,
counties, courts, and the state.
- ACTION ITEM:
ESD (Doug Jacques), Office of Economic Development (Julie Wilson) and DOC
(Howard Yarbrough)—work together to find potential legislative connections interested
in establishing drivers' re-licensing efforts.
- ACTION ITEM:
Bruce Thompson—Upon Legislative completion of the budget, establish a three-person
team to find AIPP funding opportunities outside of ESD and provide a concrete
list of 6–12 possibilities.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—follow up with Regional Justice Center (RJC) to determine when the
Apprenticeship Information Project can be started at that site.
- ACTION ITEM:
All JIB members—review the speaker’s package and provide suggestions to Jill.
- ACTION ITEM:
Jill Will—revise the presentation to incorporate suggested changes.
- ACTION ITEM:
Howard Yarbrough and Doug Jacques—look into donating fabric and other soon-to-be-surplussed
DOC materials to JVIP.
- ACTION ITEM:
Randy Loomans—Provide Board members with information on where to procure the
apprenticeship video.