Velocity - Magazine - Page 20
OPPORTUNITY
MEETS PURPOSE
by Jennifer Snyder
To Dawn-Renee Smith, rehabilitation is a promise. As the
force behind the groundbreaking partnership between the
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Southeast
Community College, she helps incarcerated individuals
imagine a future worth working toward. Where others see an
ending, she sees a beginning.
directly tied to employment, stability,
and purpose after release. That
“Our approach is centered on building
“We had to work through issues like
connection between learning and
opportunity is what makes it impactful.”
the internal and external conditions that
device control, network limitations,
support long-term success,” said Smith,
and ensuring faculty could operate
NDCS deputy director of rehabilitative
effectively within a correctional setting,”
commitment in February 2024,
services. “Education plays a critical role.”
she said. “Security, IT, facility leadership,
becoming the fourth state to join
and SCC all stayed at the table and
the national Reentry 2030 initiative.
focused on solutions rather than
TRANSFORM Nebraska, the
barriers. We built processes that protect
broader framework guiding NDCS’s
security while still allowing the program
rehabilitation efforts, treats the SCC
to function as intended.”
partnership not as an add-on but as
When the federal government
reinstated Pell Grant eligibility for
incarcerated students in July 2023,
it cracked open a door that had
been shut for nearly three decades.
Working alongside SCC, Smith
That kind of collaborative trust
Nebraska formalized that
a cornerstone.
helped bring an accredited college
between a state corrections agency and
education into five southeast Nebraska
a community college doesn’t happen
earning a degree inside a correctional
correctional facilities.
by accident. It’s the result of people on
facility, it sends a message that echoes
both sides choosing partnership over
far beyond the classroom.
Getting there wasn’t simple. Bringing
an outside educational institution into
a secure correctional environment
meant navigating a maze of protocols
When students cross the finish line by
convenience, and believing the outcome
is worth the effort.
“Earning a degree in a correctional
setting is not easy,” said Smith. “As an
“It is not just about earning a
employer, you are overlooking a group
and institutional culture. Smith was
credential, it is about helping people
of people who have demonstrated
in the middle of all of it as a problem-
see themselves differently and
commitment, resilience, and the ability
solver committed to keeping everyone
build a future they believe is worth
to follow through on something
at the table.
working toward,” said Smith. “The
challenging. Those are qualities most
SCC partnership moves education
employers are looking for.”
from something abstract to something
How You Can Help the
UPWARD
Prison Education Program
18
Education has the power to transform
lives and few places prove that more
powerfully than the UPWARD Prison
Education Program.
Here are 3 meaningful ways
you can make a difference today.
•
Donate to UPWARD
•
Become an Employer Partner
•
Teach or Tutor
SCC Velocity
