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Speaker: OTAN. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: So good afternoon, everyone. I know it's been a long day. You have been completely overloaded with information, I bet. So we are going to keep this presentation pretty short and sweet. Again, my name is Dr. Carmen Martinez-Calderon. My colleague Abby, I'm not sure if she's here. I don't believe--

Abby Medina Lewis: I'm here.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Oh, you are. Yay.

Abby Medina Lewis: Good afternoon, everyone.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Thank you, great. OK, and so Abby, I'll let you introduce yourself, and then we'll go ahead and get started.

Abby Medina Lewis: Sure. Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to say save the best for last. This is going to be a very short presentation. My name is Abby Medina Lewis, and I'm a consultant with California Department of Ed. And while I have Contra Costa and Solano and Merced areas, I also have the state agencies that are funded for Section 225, which is corrections education and other institutionalized individuals.

And so we're happy to have you here. And I will turn it over to Carmen.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Thank you, Abby. So yeah, likewise as Abby, I also have correctional institutions under my belt. As a matter of fact, I oversee the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, CDCR WIOA Title II funding. And obviously, there are 35-- soon to be 32 state prisons. And within that, also Orange County and a couple other counties here in the Bay Area. But we won't go into that right now. And we'll go ahead and jump on to the next slide.

So there we go. OK. So you may be asking, what is a correctional institution? All right. And so pretty much as any agency authorized under Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, so Section 225, as we've mentioned, of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. So these include jails or prisons, as I just mentioned. It also includes work farms, detention centers, halfway houses, community-based rehabilitation centers, or any other similar institution designed for the confinement or rehabilitation of criminal offenders.

OK, so as you can see, it's a pretty extensive list that are eligible for this kind of funding. And we do have a variety of these institutions currently servicing this population throughout the state, including, as I mentioned prior or previously, the state prisons. So furthermore, as Abby mentioned, there are adults with disabilities. And so Abby does take care and oversee the Department of Developmental Services. And within that, the two development centers that are located in Porterville and Canyon Springs and the Department of State hospitals.

So the four state hospitals which include Atascadero, Metropolitan, Napa, and Patton. So again, here, you can see a variety of different state institutions that also receive WIOA Title II 225 funding. So with that said, as Abby mentioned and as we promised, this is an extremely short presentation. And pretty much what we like to say is just present what kind of agencies are under Section 225 and pretty much field any questions.

What I will say is that all of these agencies also have to follow the same guidelines that are provided to any other agency receiving our funding. There are a couple of exceptions with regards to the deliverables that they are required to submit to us. But other than that, it's pretty much the same guidelines. So with that, I will pause and say, that's really the last slide, second to last slide. And we will open it up for questions from anybody that may have one.

Questions.

Abby Medina Lewis: So while we're waiting for people to post their questions, I also want to add, Rhonda had indicated in the chat that if you're not sure if you're receiving Section 225 funding, you don't have to do it right now, but at the end of this presentation, you might want to get a hold of your grant award notification, and that's how you can find out if you are funded for Section 225.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Yeah, or you may have--

Jim Shields: --info overload, but there's no questions so far.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Oh, there you go. Julianna.

Jim Shields: We do have a raised hand.

Julianna: Thank you for that, Jim.

Jim Shields: Sure, go ahead.

Julianna: So I would like to know, how do you grade or complement to 25 with CAPE fund?

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Be a grade or complement. So in this case, again, the fact that you have other state funding or even private funding doesn't change the status of our kind of funding, which is supplemental in nature. So always think of your core funding as whatever other funding you may have existing, including CAPE. And this is that cherry on top.

So even within 225, as I've mentioned earlier, it doesn't really change anything or any other criteria that is different from the rest of the-- or 231. Other than some of the deliverables that we cannot collect just based on the fact that there are confined individuals and privacy issues that may arise from collecting certain information that we're not allowed. But other than that, it's the same guidelines. It's still supplemental in nature. And so it can be utilized in the same manner.

Did that answer your question?

Julianna: It did. Thank you, Carmen. But not bad. And it's getting harder and harder to meet the pre- and the post-testing for the classes. And that is a fact, and maybe others are seeing that, too.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Are you specifically referring to jails, or what kind of institutions? OK. Yeah, is it because of custody issues?

Julianna: Yes, correct.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: OK. I know COVID threw everybody for a loop, just given the whole guidelines in terms of distancing and so forth. And it is challenging. I mean, having worked in a jail before as an officer myself, I know it can be very challenging to work with individuals providing services such as educational services, while at the same time also following other mandates that come down from the state level as well with regards to security and health.

So I hear you. I know there's different-- I know at least within the CDCR, they're really relying and working quite a bit on implementing a lot of technology pieces that really help with that aspect. So I know there's different companies that provide like a closed circuit internet where individuals obviously can't sit there and Google everything and anything in the world like if you would out here. But it does have a closed circuit system to where they're able to utilize it for educational purposes.

So you might want to look into that.

Julianna: Thank you.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Great question, though. Other questions.

Abby Medina Lewis: Carmen, there's a question. It was in the chat, so I just happened to be on there. So it's from Peggy asking if that DSH pooling, are receiving money this funding cycle. Peggy, as far as I recall, in the application, they only identified-- in the request for application, they only identified Atascadero, Metropolitan, Napa, and Patton. But don't quote me 100% on that. I would need to double check.

But as far as I know at this moment, those are the four sites that were identified in the application. But I will double check on that.

Jim Shields: And we do have a question. And is it possible to teach them virtually and do not disclose our physical location and address to them?

Carmen Martinez-calderon: That's a great question. Again, I almost feel like that's really a local question, because it'll really depend on your agency. In terms of the security, the FERPA and all those guidelines that you have to follow as individual agencies. And the reason I'm saying that is I do know that there are different guidelines that certain agencies decide to adopt. There may be more than what's the minimal requirements by either policy or law.

So again, I would check with your local agency and just see what their security guidelines and privacy guidelines are. So did that answer the question? Go ahead and feel free to unmute.

Audience: Oh, yeah, hello, Dr. Carmen. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I just was wondering how we can find the local agency. We are in Sacramento, so I know Folsom Prison. But I don't know whether we are to reach them. Or same as the other section that we were talking. They may reach us for something like MOU. Or we have to just go to them?

Carmen Martinez-calderon: So I think you're referring to inmates and you wanting to share your physical location for them--

Audience: Yeah, I was thinking-- yeah, I was thinking to teach prisoners. Or I never have experienced those. But I was thinking because of the security, I know we have to follow the guideline that they have. But for the security of our staff and our personnel, I was thinking how we can reach them. The only prison that they know, it's Folsom Prison. Do they have any office that we can communicate and you know about them to inform me about their contact person?

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Yeah. So again, because you're working with a local prison, you would definitely need to follow their guidelines and their policies. It's a bit of a different setting, right, than, say, your local county jail, just because of the security levels, right? And so that would be one.

But what I do know is that also prisons do connect students with local agencies prior to their release. So if an individual is wanting-- for example, if they're halfway through obtaining their high school diploma and they still have some credits remaining to be able to complete that diploma, that prison will typically provide a list of services of agencies or providers that the individual can seek or go to in order to finish that high school diploma. So it's more, again, I would definitely check with the prison that you're working with and see what their guidelines are. Because again, for security purposes, you definitely need to follow those.

There are different categories or classifications of individuals. And I know that some classifications may have access to a little more information than others. So you really need to be careful on that piece. But like I said, individuals that are ready to be released will get that information and they will know where to find you if need be.

Audience: OK, thank you very much.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: You bet. Other questions.

Jim Shields: None are appearing. So maybe we'll just give folks a few more seconds if somebody has a last minute one, but nothing is cropping up.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Right.

Audience: I just have one more question, if you don't mind. So I know when we wrote the grant, we were not aware of the agency that we have to reach out, like local county jails. So now I'm wondering if just out of this came to my mind, is there any way to request to move some funding that they approve us from one section to other section?

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Any question. So I think I understand your question. Can you move funding from one section to the other? So for example, can you move funding from Section 231 to 225 and vice versa. And the answer is no. Yeah, the answer is no. I mean, think of it like it's two different buckets under the same umbrella.

So it's for the same purpose, but it comes from different buckets. So you cannot transfer funding from those two different buckets.

Audience: Oh, OK. Which means that if you don't use that part of the funding, we will lose it.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Well, it's not that you lose it, it comes back to the state. Whether it's 231 or 225, yeah, it will come back to the state. And then it gets redistributed as-- yeah.

Audience: Oh, OK. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: You're welcome.

Abby Medina Lewis: Peggy, I want to add, I did get a chance to double check on the application. And you are correct, Coalinga is in that application. So they are included. So thank you for correcting that. Appreciate it. If you're still here.

Jim Shields: And we do have-- I think this is maybe more of a comment, but it's in the Q&A. This is from Janice. It says, Plaster School for Adults had a program where we helped to expunge records of first time offenders by coordinating with the parole officer and Plaster County Health Services. We offered resume assistance, workforce readiness, dress for success, and emotional healing, and parenting classes.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Great. Sounds like a very holistic program. All right. Any other questions or comments?

Jim Shields: Janus just said thank you. So. Right, I think that might be it. Last call.

Carmen Martinez-calderon: Going once, going twice. Right. All right. Well, thank you, everyone. I will hand it over back to Jim. Thank you, Abby, my fellow colleague for presenting. I don't know if you have any last thoughts that you want to share with everybody present. So OK. If not, I will say, again, thank you for staying for this presentation.