Grant Program + Community Agency Partnership

Some text as placeholder. In real life you can have the elements you have chosen. Like, text, images, lists, etc.

Transition Program

The federally funded grant, Workplace and Community Transition Training Program for Incarcerated Youth Offenders, is designed to help incarcerated students make a smooth transition back into their community upon release.

Program components include individual career and job employability assessment and professional development classes. A portfolio student will also have essential identification and documents, class and job training certificates, community based support referrals and a personalized plan of action to maximize their potential for success.

In addition to transition classes, students meet with a transition coordinator for individual planning prior to their release that includes a plan for continued mentoring in the community. The intent is to better prepare offenders for release and to reduce recidivism rates.

The Arizona Department of Corrections has partnered with Rio Salado College to provide other transition opportunities for incarcerated women in the local state facilities.

Healthy Options Prevention Education (H.O.P.E.)

Women in Recovery, a 12-month program taught by Rio Salado instructors, is designed to treat women who suffer from substance addictions includes a family reintegration component that facilitates family interaction in a lab setting for both families and students. The students prepare for their reunion with family prior to each lab by participating in weekly classes that teach skills they will practice when meeting with family members. The H.O.P.E. program now accepts women who are not involved in Women in Recovery, thereby increasing the benefit to soon to be released women and their families

Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections

This partnership is a collaborative effort with the Arizona Department of Juvenile Correction (ADJC. Rio Salado provides a Culinary Arts program at Black Canyon School (BCS), an all female detention facility. The program is patterned after the successful program currently in operation at ASPC-Perryville and includes a café to allow skill application. Most recently, girls from BCS were taken to participate in the SkillsUSA competition. “SkillsUSA is an applied method of instruction for preparing America’s high performance workers in public career and technical programs.” The opportunity provided the students a positive learning experience and a chance to put their skills up against other culinary students from area high schools. Rio Salado has also provided culinary instruction to the young men from Adobe Mountain school (a neighboring all boys detention facility) at BCS.