Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Florida Is Leading The Nation In Corrections Innovation

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Florida Is Leading The Nation In Corrections Innovation · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome friends, Third Hour ruminators, Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: males and females only. It is the third Hour Wednesday
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: here on the Morning Show with Preston Scott Show five
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  Speaker 1: four hundred and seventy two. But who's counting. That's Jose
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: over there in Studio one A. I'm here in Studio
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  Speaker 1: one B, and I am joined by a friend, a friend,
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  Speaker 1: a colleague, and someone that I worked with for a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: couple of years with the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: She's the executive director, Erica Averian.
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  Speaker 2: Erica, Hi, Hi, good Mornie. Are you I'm well, I'm well,
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  Speaker 2: happy to be here. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: When you know, it was funny because I've had the
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  Speaker 1: Secretary of Corrections on a few times. You know that
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I've had Joe Winkler, the Assistant Secretary for Community Corrections.
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  Speaker 1: We've talked about on this program quite a bit in
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  Speaker 1: recent years, the correctional system and that it's this kind
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  Speaker 1: of epiphany that's happened inside the industry where they're coming
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  Speaker 1: to grips with the fact that it's not prisons. Prisons
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  Speaker 1: is a function that they have to perform incarcerating people
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  Speaker 1: that the criminal justice system says needs need to be incarcerated,
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  Speaker 1: but corrections really implies the real mission and it's helping
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  Speaker 1: prepare men and women to be part of society. Having
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  Speaker 1: said that, FFCEE the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence, before
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  Speaker 1: we get into what its role is and making sure
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  Speaker 1: that people understand it clearly, how did you get to
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  Speaker 1: this because this is a calling and I'd love for
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  Speaker 1: people to get a little snapshot of your backstory.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, thank you so much, Preston. I appreciate that. So,
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  Speaker 2: Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence in this conversation for short,
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  Speaker 2: we'll reference it as FFSE. Quite a bit was really
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  Speaker 2: born back into SO. We were created to be the
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  Speaker 2: direct support organization for the Florida Department of Corrections, the
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  Speaker 2: largest state agency here in Florida. And how I personally
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  Speaker 2: gravitated to this work was I was actually a volunteer
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  Speaker 2: with the Florida Department of Corrections and at the time,
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  Speaker 2: under the leadership of Secretary Inch and Deputy Secretary Dixon,
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  Speaker 2: now our amazing secretary, they saw something in me as
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  Speaker 2: a contributor to the agency who was seeing the organization
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  Speaker 2: as a correctional system the Department of Corrections, not the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Prisons, and making prison a place of transformation
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  Speaker 2: by bringing the outside world in and sort of being
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  Speaker 2: an untraditional kind of uncanny volunteer. And the backside of
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  Speaker 2: that story of how to becoming a volunteer is I
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  Speaker 2: started my career in child welfare with DCF twenty five
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  Speaker 2: years ago this year, straight out of college. And I
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  Speaker 2: was green and ambitious and woke up every day excited
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  Speaker 2: to give everything I had to that job. I was
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  Speaker 2: in my early twenties, staying up until two o'clock in
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  Speaker 2: the morning reading judicial reviews, sitting in the back of courtrooms.
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  Speaker 2: I was writing along with case managers. I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: understand sort of the why not the what has happened?
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  Speaker 2: Like the what in the heck is wrong with these
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  Speaker 2: people who have lost their child, but what has happened
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  Speaker 2: in their lives to get them here to this point
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  Speaker 2: to have lost their child? And I had a colleague
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  Speaker 2: across the hall from me that had a sign above
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  Speaker 2: her desk we worked in the substance abusewing that said,
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  Speaker 2: help me remember for every client I see my quick
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  Speaker 2: twist of fate could be me. And it always sort
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  Speaker 2: of pierced me, but not so much until it became me.
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  Speaker 2: So four years into that work, my dad caught a
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  Speaker 2: ten year sentence and I got a front row seat personally,
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  Speaker 2: not just for professionally, and I saw things that I
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: couldn't unsee and heard things I couldn't unhear. And my
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  Speaker 2: dad actually ended up being an individual who made prison
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  Speaker 2: a place of transformation. He took inside out dad, he
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  Speaker 2: took fatherhood. He had difficult conversations, he worked to make amends.
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  Speaker 2: He actually got his ged and studied for the very
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  Speaker 2: first time, was given the opportunity to get an education
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  Speaker 2: in his fifties. He was raised by his grandmother. He
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  Speaker 2: grew up just working with his hands. I'm a daughter
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  Speaker 2: of a roofer. I mean, my dad was buying a
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  Speaker 2: car for five thousand and selling it at the front
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  Speaker 2: yard for six sort of a natural born hustler. That
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  Speaker 2: is not the only thing he was selling. And so
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  Speaker 2: I got a perspective to this world that really shaped
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  Speaker 2: my viewpoint of how I wanted to serve in social
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  Speaker 2: impact and social responsibility. And so that is why I
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  Speaker 2: gravitated to the world of serving in corrections.
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  Speaker 1: Erica very in my guests, She'll be with me for
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  Speaker 1: most of the hour, and we're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: the work of FFCEE. We're going to also talk about
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  Speaker 1: the nexus of where many of you listening might find
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  Speaker 1: yourself being part of this effort. We'll explain all of
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  Speaker 1: that and unpack all that here on the Morning Show
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  Speaker 1: with Preston Scott. We were just talking in the break.
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  Speaker 1: You know, friends, as you've listened to me talk about this,
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  Speaker 1: I've gone through my own personal evolution. I've got two
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  Speaker 1: brothers that were in law enforcement, and so I saw
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  Speaker 1: the tough on crime perspective of things and have always
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  Speaker 1: held that view. And then I came across years ago
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  Speaker 1: the pragmatic view up the practical view. And it's one
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  Speaker 1: of the very rare issues in our culture today that
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  Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats, both sides of the owl, can actually
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  Speaker 1: find a lot of ground to work on together because
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  Speaker 1: men and women are getting out. Erica, quantify that statement
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  Speaker 1: for us a little bit in terms of the numbers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so here in Florida, we are releasing upwards of
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  Speaker 2: around twenty twenty five thousand plus individuals a year across
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  Speaker 2: the state that have been incarcerated behind the fence. We
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  Speaker 2: also are supervising on probation or parole one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty five thousand plus, and then that number continues to rise.
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  Speaker 2: When we look at the entire population of the people
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  Speaker 2: in Florida who have a criminal record, we're looking at
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  Speaker 2: around four million plus. So that is the footprint in
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  Speaker 2: its entirety of justice impacted individuals with a criminal record,
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  Speaker 2: and in our system. Annually we are releasing upwards of
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  Speaker 2: twenty five thousand people.
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  Speaker 1: And it doesn't necessarily mean that twenty five thousand are
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  Speaker 1: coming off of probation are not going to need continued assistance,
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  Speaker 1: right exactly. So how does ffce come into the picture here?
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  Speaker 1: What was it that caused either the governor or the
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  Speaker 1: secretary to come to the place of saying we need
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  Speaker 1: some help.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, So FFCEE was created with a simple goal. It
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  Speaker 2: was to turn the opportunity of that second chance, that
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  Speaker 2: third chance, that chance that someone was pursuing into a
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  Speaker 2: real pathway of readiness. Right, these individuals, like you said,
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  Speaker 2: both sides of the aisle, both sides of opinions. Whether
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  Speaker 2: you like it or not, the data is clear, we
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  Speaker 2: are releasing them and so at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: they are coming back into our communities. And so we
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  Speaker 2: were created under the mission and the direction to prepare
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  Speaker 2: those individuals as best we can with an actual training
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  Speaker 2: and skill that we can place them into a job.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: This makes our community safer, This restores families, This creates
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  Speaker 2: economic mobility, and it really meets the need of our workforce.
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  Speaker 2: So we have leaders across the states in this country
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  Speaker 2: who are really centered around evidence based training, or they're
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  Speaker 2: centered around mental health. You know, our governor back in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty and still today is focused on you know,
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  Speaker 2: workforce here in Florida. Sure, and we saw an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: at Florida Department of Corrections to really take an untapped
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  Speaker 2: talent force right, individuals who want to transform, who are
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  Speaker 2: being rehabilitated, who want it, who need it. We're talking
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  Speaker 2: about individuals who are on a pathway to betterment after
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  Speaker 2: their worst day and their worst mistake. We're talking about
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  Speaker 2: people who maybe they're not seeking their second chance, maybe
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  Speaker 2: they never had a first chance, maybe the opportunity they
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  Speaker 2: can't read, they don't have that basic you know, when
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  Speaker 2: you know better, you do better. Right, And so we
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  Speaker 2: were created to take that particular population and subset of
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  Speaker 2: people and really prepare them with a strong opportunity to
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  Speaker 2: go back into our communities in Florida meaningfully occupied with
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  Speaker 2: the job and employment and a skill and trade that
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  Speaker 2: can be a gainful pathway to really really transform their lives.
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  Speaker 1: Real short version answer to this question is this, I've
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  Speaker 1: I view this right now as one of the best
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  Speaker 1: job markets in years for returning citizens.
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  Speaker 2: Is at fair Absolutely absolutely. I saw something on Instagram
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  Speaker 2: a couple of days ago that said, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: wealthiest guy in your neighborhood's not going to be the
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  Speaker 2: tech guy. It's going to be the welder. It's going
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  Speaker 2: to be the plumber with six trucks. It's going to
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  Speaker 2: be the handyman. It's going to be the small appliants repair,
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be the trades. And that is what
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  Speaker 2: we are training these individuals in.
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  Speaker 1: I was not aware until I went through what's called
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  Speaker 1: a re entry simulation, how difficult it can be, no
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  Speaker 1: matter how focused, no matter how intentional you want to
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  Speaker 1: be at being out and making your way and becoming
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  Speaker 1: successful Erica, the hurdles can be not just difficult, they
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  Speaker 1: can be defeating, overwhelming. When I went through that simulation,
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  Speaker 1: I literally said, put me back in jail. Yep. And fortunately,
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  Speaker 1: in one way, shape or form, that's what a lot
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  Speaker 1: of these men and women end up doing because the
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  Speaker 1: challenges are so great. Explain the challenges and what is
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  Speaker 1: being done to address them.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so, one of my colleagues calls them constant fireballs, right,
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  Speaker 2: the headwinds that come at you when you are releasing.
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  Speaker 2: So when you look at an individual who has been
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  Speaker 2: in the care and custody of the Florida Department of
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  Speaker 2: Corrections for really any length of time, we do have,
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  Speaker 2: you know, short sentence individuals. But for the most part,
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  Speaker 2: we're talking about state prisons. We're talking about lengthy sentences here.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about people who are, you know, going through
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  Speaker 2: a transition of getting back out into a world that
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  Speaker 2: they probably did not come from. Right, these for the
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  Speaker 2: majority of the people, this is kind of pre COVID.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about kind of the landscape around
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  Speaker 2: workforce technology as we've socially evolved in a culture, just
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  Speaker 2: in the past five years. Let's look at the landscape
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  Speaker 2: of technology. We're talking about accessibility, transportation, infrastructure, the growth
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  Speaker 2: of our state. Right just from a very high level,
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  Speaker 2: just think about the basic needs we're going to talk
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  Speaker 2: about transportation, We're going to talk about housing, to talk
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  Speaker 2: about a job, We're going to talk about ID readiness.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these individuals, for the most part, without the
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  Speaker 2: support of a family, really leave with, you know, fifty
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  Speaker 2: dollars and a bus ticket and a readiness plan that
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  Speaker 2: the amazing brave souls at the Florida Department of Corrections
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  Speaker 2: work tiresly to create as strong and best as they can.
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  Speaker 2: But it's best day with everything firing on all cylinders,
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  Speaker 2: even if there's the greatest referral and the tightest paperwork
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  Speaker 2: around ID readiness and the DMV and social Security and
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  Speaker 2: the clerk a court and the health department and career source.
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  Speaker 1: And just think about that list she's going through right now, friends,
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  Speaker 1: And that's what these men and women are dealing.
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  Speaker 2: With, Yes, from a bus ticket to ID readiness, to
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  Speaker 2: interviews with employers that are there and second chance friendly. Right,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this isn't just any job to somebody who
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  Speaker 2: will hire someone with the criminal record. And so these
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  Speaker 2: barriers start to stack up, even on its best day,
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  Speaker 2: even with everything firing, even with the strongest plan, right,
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  Speaker 2: these headwinds, these fireballs start to come and so we
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  Speaker 2: work with the Florida Department of Corrections to prepare these
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  Speaker 2: people the best that we can, and then they may
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  Speaker 2: have supervision. They may be at a transitional house that
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  Speaker 2: has a great solid foundation, maybe a faith based halfway house.
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  Speaker 2: It may be a recovery house. It may have its
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  Speaker 2: own set of rules, and then those rules have to
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  Speaker 2: coincide with the rules of their supervision, right their probation
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  Speaker 2: and parole, and then that's another set of guardrails and structure.
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  Speaker 2: And so they're navigating this re entry with a lot
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  Speaker 2: of different things, and I think the best way that
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  Speaker 2: I can kind of summarize this is we can talk
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  Speaker 2: all day about what's coming at them and sort of
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  Speaker 2: what we're doing to help them navigate it, with our
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  Speaker 2: partnerships with community resources, with providers, with the referral network,
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  Speaker 2: with our release officers, creating the strongest readiness plan, with
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: all the credentials, with all the certificates, with all the referrals,
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  Speaker 2: with all the things. Is that about five years ago,
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  Speaker 2: I was at a facility visiting with the board members
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  Speaker 2: of Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence, and this brave student
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  Speaker 2: in a carpentry class stood up and He thanked us
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  Speaker 2: for coming, and he said, I appreciate you coming to
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  Speaker 2: our neighborhood, in our community to see what we're doing
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  Speaker 2: every day. I am not going to pretend that I
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  Speaker 2: have anything meaningful to contribute to the conversation of why
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  Speaker 2: you're here. I heard something about re entry and recidivism,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't have the answers. This is my second
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  Speaker 2: time here, he said, bet I'll tell you this. I
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: didn't need work boots, I had brand new ones. I
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: didn't need a bus ticket, I didn't need food, and
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  Speaker 2: I didn't even need a job. I needed one person
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  Speaker 2: I could call, he said. I was at the bus
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  Speaker 2: stop after going to the DNB for the third time
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  Speaker 2: with everything I thought I needed, and I lost my
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  Speaker 2: pool and made a split second mistake that got me
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  Speaker 2: back here. And I'll never forget that, because when we
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: talk about what are the needs of these individuals, this
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  Speaker 2: person said I needed one person I could call in
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  Speaker 2: that moment, right, What is that one line? What is
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: that lifeline are So we're building systems around our faith communities,
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  Speaker 2: our nonprofits. We're building that warmer handoff from pre release.
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  Speaker 1: To post release, trying to find that one person.
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  Speaker 2: Trying to find that one person.
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  Speaker 1: That each inmate knows where to go when they are
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  Speaker 1: striking out.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It tied in friends to a discussion I had last
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: month with Joe Winkler. You might recall the Mobile re
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Entry Unit. These are things that FFCE is helping provide
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  Speaker 1: corrections to make it easier for men and women to
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  Speaker 1: be successful. We're going to talk more about all that
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  Speaker 1: next here on the Morning Show with Preston Scott. I
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: warned her Erica Varian is with me Florida Foundation for
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Correctional Excellence. She is the executive director. And as I
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: told a buddy of mine, sal Newsoh, he and I
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: had lunch last week and we got to talking about
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  Speaker 1: FFCE and if there's a better person suited for this
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: work and this job, I don't know who that person
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: could possibly be. Eric is incredibly gifted. She's very very bright,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: intuitive and has a heart. And I think that this
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: job working in this world and in this realm, I
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: don't think it's a job, it's a calling. Would you
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: agree with that? Summery?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Oh for sure. I mean maybe even a conviction, maybe
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: even a nagging and gnawing that won't let up.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Right, right, and you've explained a little bit why one
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: of the things that I've tried to do and maybe
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: successfully in some ways and maybe not so very successfully,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and you can help. I want this to transmit now
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to our listeners. There are people out there right now
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: that own businesses. There are people that man businesses. There
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: are people that just are you know, just folks that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: are out there retired and they're curious as to this
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: way of approaching corrections that's a little bit different. What
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: should people know about what FFCE has done, the types
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: of relationships Already you've linked up with what we're doing.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Sure, so, as I mentioned earlier, just to recap for
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: folks who just might be dialing in, our real goal
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: and mission is to bridge the gap between correctional excellence
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and employment, so connecting skills that people are getting behind
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  Speaker 2: the fence to actual real labor market needs and jobs.
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  Speaker 2: So I think what I want to start by sharing
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: is that what people may not know, which is that
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: our compounds are turning into campuses for the majority of
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: our facilities, fifty plus facilities across the entire state of Florida.
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  Speaker 2: If you walk on to one of our yards and
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: compounds from centergate forward. You are going to see everything
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: from HVAC to carpentry, to electrical to irrigation, to digital design,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: to literacy to basic education, all the way up to
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: almost one hundred plus different crafts in career clusters and
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: focuses that directly aligned with a need in our workforce
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: and our labor market. And so what we've done is
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: we've looked at labor markets that are signaling the biggest need. Okay,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: so we're looking at construction.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: That perfect storm of jobs we talked about it.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, we're looking at manufacturing. And what we've tried to
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: do at FFC is to build relationships with the small
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: modmon pops all the way to the big employers that
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: are statewide in those sectors to create pipelines. I mean,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: this is really sophisticated matchmaking here. We're looking at our assets.
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  Speaker 2: We're unique because we're on both sides of the pipeline.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: We have the talent that's skilled and trained. And so
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: what we've done is we built relationships with over one
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: hundred plus employer partners across the state in all four regions,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: and we're bringing them in to understand that footprint of
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: education and real industry excellence. If you ask me, I
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: mean you're looking at a facility that really rivals a
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: technical college, right, and if you look at a manufacturing
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: and logistics and supply chain course and then a coding
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: lab and then a heavy equipment operator lab. And so
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I'll give just one example. A few years back, the
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: labor market here in Florida was signaling that they were
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: hiring women in the construction industry at unprecedented rates. I
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: mean you look at sort of the interest of women
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: wanting to get into that field. I mean, we think
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: that they may want to learn the vocation or the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: credential of cosmotology. But maybe that's.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, I watch HGTV and Magnolia, I know better.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Right, Okay. And so we had piloted a program and
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: the population and the students and learners had gravitated to
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: it in such a meaningful way. We saw potential and
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: opportunity there, and so we at FFSE really looked at
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: what would it what would it unfold and be if
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: we invested in a heavy equipment operator program where we
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: train these women and every single one of them was
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: work release eligible, meaning before they are released from prison,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: they are out in the community, working for employers in
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: that field, and then continuing to supplement and compliment training
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: right that creates an even larger economic mobility around workforce
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: CDL SO class B, class A. I mean, I'm proud
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: to say that every single one of those women in
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: that initial cohort have gone to work release and also
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: continue not just employment in the field, but also training
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: that is advancing them in real, livable wage careers. These
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: are not just jobs. These are careers that are going
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: to help them stay on the patchory entry and not rectivate.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Ericavarian with me final segment here, as we're talking about
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence, I know you're all
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: about networking, partnering, finding those mom and pop businesses large
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and small that want to link arms. Because we were
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: just talking in the break Erica. Having a job waiting
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: is everything. Yes to these men and women. Yes, What
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: should a business owner, a manager, somebody that's you've peaued
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: their curiosity would what should they know?
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Well, they should know that they have an invitation for
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: me to come into our campuses and our compounds and
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: look at the sophisticated level of industry credential and training
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: that we are doing that will meet the needs of
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: their employment. I mean, essentially, at the end of the day,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: what we're doing at FCS, we're building these employment partner showcases.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: These are not job fairs, these are not tours, these
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: are not resource fairs. These are an invitation for business owners,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: HR managers, recruiters, middle management, hiring managers to come and
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: see the talent that they may not know exist in
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the level in which it exists. And so we're hosting
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: these all across the state. Our next one coming up
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: is going to be on November fifth at Jefferson CI
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: so here in Region one. Yep, we have one coming
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: up into some in South Florida at Everglades re Entry
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: and they're going to be popping up all over the state.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: So if you're interested in coming, please visit our website
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: FL correctionalexcellence dot com and on the homepage it'll take
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: you right to the upcoming ones where you can RSVP
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: and all the clearance will be done very easily through
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: one form. So again that's Flcorrectionalexcellence dot com. Or let's
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: say you can't make the date to come in and
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: see what I'm talking about, you can reach out to
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: us at any time. And what we do is we
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: essentially build a catered, surveyed, vetted list of job seekers
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: that would match the needs that you have as an employer.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: And let's say you don't have a ton of needs
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: right now, but you have a project coming up, or
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: you're building a manufacturing facility and you know you're going
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: to need this many welds or this many specific people.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: What we can do is we can look at the
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: landscape of our entire state, of all the individuals in
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: our care that are being trained, and we can even
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: work with their release plans or their supervision and see
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: if perhaps transferring a different release area based on an
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: actual livable wage job that would turn into a career.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: And so we work with employers to really seek out
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: specific things they need. They're like, Okay, here are no
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: goes for us. We can't have these individuals or here
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: are the specific types of things we need. Right. We
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: have a you know, marine program that the shipyards need
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: this particular type of welder, right, And so we work
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: with people to try to cater specifically to their needs,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and we can even allow them to meet the candidates
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: pre release through virtual technology, through secure Zoom that we
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: had all said in stuff. Yeah, so these employers can
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: meet these candidates on a screen, just like you and
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I get on teams in Zoom every day.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: What's neat about this opportunity that for those of you
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: that are employers in businesses? She mentioned at the very
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: outset of this, there's one hundred some odd programs here
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: inside of the Department of Corrections where they are offering
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: training and skills development. And you talk about some of
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: these people, Man, they've never been given the opportunity to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: do something useful, and now they've acquired these skills, They've
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: made the decision to be different, and this is an
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: opportunity because they are coming out. That's the I think
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that to me is the bottom line here is these
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: men and women are coming out and we can either
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: help them be successful or we can hinder their success.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, and I'd like to speak on that really quickly.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: So I've been in this work for a really long
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: time and people are like, well, you're so pro re entry,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: you know, what are your thoughts on the other side
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: of this? My thoughts are very clear. Behind every crime,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: there is a victim period, there's no victimless crime. But
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, the most dangerous person
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: we can release is someone who has nothing right, absolutely
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: no training, no skill, no preparation, no release plan. And
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: what do they they have? They have absolutely nothing, and
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: so they are even more dangerous if we don't do
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: this right. So, if we are really serious about public
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: say you're really serious about law and order, then we
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: have to be serious about this part two. And so
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: for me, I have found that these folks become some
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: of the most dedicated, loyal They get a taste of success. Yeah,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: they don't want to lose it. They're grateful, right, They're loyal,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: They're dedicated, and they end up being actually some of
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: the greatest employees that our partners have.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: You ask some of the people that employ these men
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and women, they will tell you exactly those words, because
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I've heard those words spoken. Let me also throw a
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: line out to those of you that are lobbyists. You
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: lobby for large organizations, you represent a lot of big
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: businesses or associations, reach out because those are some of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the best links that FFCE comes across. Yes, you introduce
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: us to the people that you lobby on, behalf of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: because you might have a solution to your labor problem.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Sitting right here in front of me in the microphone. Erica,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: thanks for all you're doing and what you and Noel.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Noel Monasco is the associate director of FFCEE. You two
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: are amazing. Thank you, Preston, and and thanks for the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: time today. Yeah, thank you Eric Varian f f C.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: And again, if you want to learn more of the website,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I've got it pulled up. You can pull it up
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: really easily. It is FL Correctional Excellence dot com. FL
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Correctional Excellence dot com.