Overview:
A six-week pilot carpentry program collaboration between the Franklin County Career & Technical Institute and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office has successfully taught inmates in the pre-release program carpentry skills through classroom and hands-on work.
TURNERS FALLS — Following the success of a six-week pilot carpentry program through a partnership between the Franklin County Career & Technical Institute and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, discussions for continued collaboration are underway.
The program wrapped up in mid-August and helped inmates in the Sheriff’s Office’s pre-release program learn carpentry skills through classroom and hands-on work over a 230-hour accelerated course. Staff from the Career & Technical Institute, a division of Franklin County Technical School dedicated to adult education, led the instruction.
During those six weeks, members of the seven-person cohort put their newfound skills to the test by building two sheds at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction off Elm Street in Greenfield.
Justin Lawrence, adult education coordinator at Franklin Tech, explained the pilot program was a multi-agency collaboration that used remaining grant funding.
“We had one round of carpentry funds left to execute, and we needed to make that happen or we were going to lose the funds,” Lawrence explained.
The Franklin County Career & Technical Institute is a grant-funded program that launched in 2022 and works in partnership with the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Career Center. The institute offers classes in a variety of in-demand trades, and program participants aren’t required to pay for tuition, fees or materials as long as they fall within the eligibility criteria set by the Commonwealth Corporation and the governor’s office.
Jamie Poremba, assistant superintendent of programs at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, said the partnership bolstered interim Sheriff Lori Streeter’s goals for increased vocational and educational opportunities for the inmates, and Lawrence’s proposal was a chance to bring that goal further to fruition.
“When [Lawrence] brought us the parameters about how it’s the [230]-hour program, and by doing the entire program, they will have completed all of the components needed to be eligible to join the … Carpenters Union,” Poremba said, “we just thought, what a great opportunity for the people that we work with, for them to actually have all the requirements needed to possibly be in a union job.”
Poremba said the participants came away from the program with skills in flooring, framing, siding, windows and doors, which can be applied to both non-union and union work.
Additionally, this program provided participants with the opportunity to earn their OSHA 10 (Occupational and Safety Hazard) certifications, which demonstrate that the students learned about workplace safety and hazards.
Since this pilot program wrapped up in August, Poremba said that one of the participants has been released and received a laptop and tool belt provided by the grant. She said this allowed the individual to job hunt and have equipment readily available. Additionally, the partnership with MassHire meant that a line of communication was established with the pilot participants, who now have a point person with MassHire that they can reach out to for assistance in a job search after they are released.
When asked if she believes the program can help break down the stigma for people who are re-entering society and the workforce following incarceration, Poremba said all programs the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office provides are designed to do so.
“I think anytime we do anything that helps them be more employable and more engaged can break the stigmas,” she said, adding that since the pandemic, more agencies and organizations are eager to work with the Sheriff’s Office through the pre-release program.
Notably, Poremba said the program has fostered confidence in the participants, who now want to find ways to improve the infrastructure within the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction and use the skills they learned to create their own carpentry program.
With the success of this pilot, Lawrence and Poremba say the conversation regarding future programs is in progress, with Poremba adding that ideas for creating a course catalog have been floated. Lawrence said dedicated space on-site at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction could benefit this future vision.
“The mission statements of both institutions are shockingly similar,” Lawrence said, “and so, working together with our fairly new adult ed program and their population seems to make a lot of sense.”
