NCJ Number
167794
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1996) Pages: 104-106
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The Student Transition Education Employment Program (STEEP) was designed to give juveniles supervised under the Ohio Department of Youth Services an opportunity to begin learning the carpentry trade while still in a juvenile facility and to continue learning in an actual carpentry project when released.
Abstract
Program participants were introduced to carpentry through the hands-on learning experience of building and rehabilitating homes for low-income families in Cleveland. The STEEP model provides an opportunity for youths to learn marketable carpentry skills, as well as how to act in a job setting and how to define and pursue educational and employment goals. The correctional facility's building maintenance curriculum included basic carpentry skills and introductory electrical and plumbing installation and repair. When released from the institution, youth were enrolled in school, a GED program or college course during the day, and attended STEEP in the afternoons. The on-site STEEP lab provided skill and safety instruction, work readiness, and life skills. Youth then progressed to off-site work at projects under the supervision of carpentry instructors. Although cumulative statistics show that less than one-third of the youths completed the program, the likelihood of recidivism for those who did was extremely low (8 percent). Unfortunately, surmounting problems inherent in operating any complex, multiagency partnership with various sources of funding led to the decision to discontinue this highly valued program.