MEETING MINUTES OF THE

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:

None

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 21^st 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 21^st 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.