Oklahoma CareerTech expanding inmate training opportunities
Thanks in part to a nearly $900,000 federal grant, more Oklahoma inmates are being offered a chance to learn skills that will help them rebuild their lives outside prison walls after their release. According to Oklahoma CareerTech Deputy Director Justin Lockwood, those skills will greatly reduce the chance an inmate will return to prison.
“The likelihood of an inmate being reincarcerated after release is much greater if we don’t prepare them for life on the outside,” said Lockwood. “It’s a model that works.”
The model he referred to is CareerTech’s Skills Centers programs, which offer inmate training at 17 sites around the state. Several of those sites have been added since CareerTech received the Department of Justice grant in December 2021, including Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Center in Vinita. CareerTech recently added three instructors at that site to teach welding; transportation, distribution and logistics; and career readiness programs.
Read more on the Oklahoma CareerTech website.
CareerTech, higher ed work together
Oklahoma CareerTech State Director Brent Haken and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Chancellor Allison Garrett recently wrote about how the two systems work together to provide an educated workforce for Oklahoma. The column was published in The Journal Record.
The two wrote about the many pathways students can take to career success, including course transfers and college credit for technology center work through cooperative agreements.
Read more on The Journal Record website.
CareerTech Conversations talks about film industry
Oklahoma CareerTech Conversations recently talked with Justin Siler, adult and career development coordinator in CareerTech’s Workforce and Economic Development Division.
The conversation focused on Oklahoma’s burgeoning film industry, covering the state’s notable film industry moments and how technology centers are responding to the recent uptick in demand for skilled workers.
Watch the video on the Oklahoma CareerTech YouTube channel and learn more about workforce and economic development on the Oklahoma CareerTech website.
CareerTech podcast talks about trade and industrial education
From welding to carpentry, from plumbing to electrical work, trade and industrial education is one of the most diverse divisions at Oklahoma CareerTech.
Until recently, that division was led by John Day, who joined Oklahoma CareerTech Conversations in the studio to give an overview of this wide-reaching division, as well as his insight on where it goes from here.
The podcast is available on the CareerTech Conversations website and your favorite podcasting app.
Keep up with CareerTech Conversations on Twitter and Facebook.
Useful links
Follow us on Twitter at @okcareertech and find us on Facebook at OklahomaCareerTech and on Instagram at oklahomacareertech and read our blog, Oklahoma CareerTech Delivers. Find our podcast at https://www.ctconversations.org/.
For news about Oklahoma’s CareerTech System, subscribe to CareerTech communications.
State Agency Assistance at a Glance
National Center for Research in Career and Technical Education
OK Career Guide Training Opportunities
What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does. - Bill Moyers
