NCJ Number
220155
Date Published
August 2007
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This guide presents an overview of the National Institute of Corrections’ Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) Partnership Training Program, a comprehensive initiative helping communities meet the workforce development needs of its offenders and pretrial defendants.
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections’ Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) Partnership Training Program provides participants with the skills needed to assist offenders with career planning, job placement, job retention, and career development, as well as establishing partnerships where none may have existed before. The objectives of the OWDS are to (1) provide participants with the knowledge and skills required to deliver effective workforce development services, (2) promote collaboration that will result in increased positive employment outcomes, (3) help participant teams develop a plan for delivering OWDS training in their communities, and (4) prepare trainees to be instructors of the OWDS curriculum. The primary sponsoring agency must assemble a team of 12 participants from a variety of settings. The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) provides OWDS Partnership Training through collaboration with the National Career Development Association (NCDA). The OWDS Partnership Training Program addresses essential competencies in the following 11 modules of instruction: Career Development Theory and Application, Understanding and Using Facilitation, the Role of Assessment in Career Planning and Job Placement, Instruction and Group Facilitation, Designing and Implementing Training and Work Development Services, Barriers to Employment, Ethics and the Career Development Facilitator, Transition Interventions for the Offender Population, Job Seeking and Employability Skills, Job Retention, and the Role of Information and Computers in Career Planning. There is compelling evidence that unemployment contributes to an increased rate of parole revocation, which is a major risk factor for recidivism. Partnerships are recommended in preparing offenders for employment. Appendixes A-D