“Nothing about you or where you’re at should dictate your access to education,” Lewis-Clark State College Career & Technical Education Transition Coordinator Liz Weldy says. Weldy plays a lead role in the college’s partnership with Idaho’s Juvenile Corrections Centers in Lewiston, Nampa, and St. Anthony, Idaho.
The partnership, formally known as LC State’s Juvenile Corrections Educational Program, was born out of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the college and the State of Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections in August of 2022. It offers students within the three correctional facilities the opportunity to complete both dual credit and collegiate courses online through LC State. Weldy said these students study year-around and have a structured school schedule from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday-Friday. As a foundational member of the team, she oversees logistics and works with students in transitioning to life beyond the correctional center.
Weldy and her team have seen 147 students participate over the last three years, ranging in age from 12-21.
“These, of course, are students who are neglected,” Weldy said. “A lot of them come from single-parent homes, the foster system, and/or poverty."
The program and partnership seek to help students overcome negative past experiences and create positive future outcomes.
“The overwhelming goal is to just make sure that these students have help because they obviously were incarcerated for a reason, and where they were at wasn’t very beneficial to their schooling and education,” Weldy said. “Being in the facility provides them with a very structured environment to have all of their needs met; however unique they are, mentally, but also educationally.”
An Approach to Education
Education is where LC State comes in. With federal funding provided by the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act to supplement CTE education, and federal funding from the Title I, Part D of the Every Student Succeeds Act for non-CTE coursework, LC State is proud to offer courses and support to these students.
Weldy said this funding is aimed to ensure “That there are people to help them get better grades and help them realize that they can do this, that they can get an education.” She says the goal is being realized.
One CTE program area offered is hospitality management. At one facility, students can even gain hands-on, practical, internship credits in this program.
“The St. Anthony facility has a canteen restaurant within the facility, and we offer our internship for hospitality down there,” Weldy said. “They have four workers that are working in that restaurant and they’re getting internship credits for hospitality.”
Weldy said that 75% of each course offered through the partnership is hands-on. This fulfills its required standards as an Idaho CTE program. For some courses, hands-on delivery is met through virtual technology.
The credits students earn from LC State while incarcerated are transferable college credits that can be used to further their education with LC State or other technical programs. Once they are transitioning out of the facility, Weldy sits down with each student to talk about what’s next. She shows the possible degree pathways, scholarships they can apply for, and more.
One student recently wrote home saying, “As you know I’m not really happy to be incarcerated AGAIN but I love the fact that I am getting all kinds of college, certificates, and experience that will help me get a job when I’m released."
LC State administrators tour Lewiston Juvenile Corrections Center
Beyond the Classroom
Weldy says that the students’ time within the program becomes larger than just education; rather it’s the integral role of changing their trajectory, way of thinking, and ability to reenter society.
“The juvenile corrections educational program is a partnership effort to meet students where they are, in realizing their true potential through education,” said Weldy. “This leads to becoming productive members of their communities and it’s a combined effort to reduce recidivism through education collaboration.”
To help accomplish this, professionals are brought in to help students work through their former struggles.
“They have a counselor not just for mental health but for working through addiction issues, working through family issues, and they also take classes in regard to victims and how to relate better to the victims of the crimes they’ve committed,” said Weldy.
A key to LC State’s approach, according to her, is treating the students the same way it treats all its students. For example, juveniles are mailed acceptance letters and are given LC State CTE shirts they can wear within the facility. Weldy said, these simple steps have become a talking point for many.
“We’ve seen quite a few letters to their family members that are showing pictures of them wearing the shirt, and their admissions letters, saying ‘hey, I can do this. I never thought I could do this before, now I can.’”
Weldy explained that within the facility, students don’t get to pick what they wear, but they do get to choose when they wear their LC State t-shirt. When worn, other juveniles in the correctional centers notice it and begin to ask questions about how to get involved.
A Better Tomorrow
With one t-shirt, one acceptance letter, 10 instructors, 16 courses, and 147 students served, LC State is making an immeasurable difference in these students and Idaho.
One student wrote home saying, “I know when you get this letter you will be proud, but I love the fact that I can finally genuinely be proud of myself.”