By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Officials with three Kentucky Cabinets are joining forces with a multi-national corporation to launch a training and re-entry program for Kentucky inmates.
Education and Workforce Development, Labor, and Justice and Public Safety Cabinet officials along with leadership from Barren County, the Kentucky Department of Corrections and representatives of Johnson Controls will launch a training re-entry program for inmates at the Barren County Corrections Center.
This program will provide the more than 16,000 Kentuckians who are incarcerated each year with the necessary skills and training to successfully re-enter the state’s workforce, once they complete their sentences.
State and local officials meet with Johnson Control representatives in Barren County. (Photo provided)
Johnson Controls will work with county officials to reduce energy costs in county-owned facilities and apply savings to a high-demand job sector skills training program operated by the company at the Barren County Corrections Center. Eligible inmates will have an opportunity to gain extensive HVAC experience and receive a trade certification creating a career pathway to successfully re-integrate into the state’s workforce.
Their goal is to provide employers with a highly skilled, highly qualified workforce, according to Education and Workforce Development Secretary Derrick Ramsey.
“We recognize that the key to Kentucky’s economic growth is through educational and career training programs designed to foster success in the workforce,” he said. “By raising the education and skill level of individuals who are incarcerated, we are able to create a pathway for individuals to successfully re-enter Kentucky’s workforce while lowering recidivism through re-entry training and education.”
The three cabinets will each play an integral part in overseeing this program, said Labor Secretary John A. Dickerson, a former Barren County judge-executive, who played a key role in facilitating this groundbreaking partnership.
“This is the exact type of ‘outside-the-box’ thinking we need to realize Governor Matt Bevin’s vision of making Kentucky a top attraction for economic investment and growth,” Dickerson said. “I am honored to work with so many committed partners toward making this opportunity a reality for this community.”
The partnership is part of an ongoing effort by officials in the Bevin administration to enhance Kentucky’s workforce, by providing training for Kentucky inmates to have skilled jobs as they re-enter society. In 2017, they launched the Justice to Journeymen Apprenticeship program designed to place inmates on track to earn a nationally recognized journeyman credential while in prison.
Founded in 1885 and headquartered in Glendale, Wisconsin, Johnson Controls is a global technology and energy company with customers in more than 150 countries. Through the Johnson Controls Training Institute, they enable attendees to work in today’s industry environment and to prepare for changes and innovations in the future.
