The program we are facilitating is called Transitional Employment Program (TEP). It is a job readiness program adapted from two other employment programs: Florida Works and Homeless Employment Program. TEP participants meet twice per week for one hour and 15 minutes, and the program is four weeks long. The curriculum includes communication skills, job searching and retention strategies, employment outlook, networking, goal setting, dealing with job stress, resume formation, interview practice, and resource referral.
We formed and are facilitating TEP in conjunction with the Fathers Support Center, a nonprofit organization focused on improving parenting skills for fathers. We facilitate TEP at the Medium Security Institution (MSI) in St. Louis city, one of two city jails. Participants in the trial run of the program are incarcerated males between 18 and 25 years old and were chosen from the jail population based on interest in job readiness and employment skills. Once the program is officially up and running, our participants will be incarcerated fathers in the same age range.
Our goal is to help men become better fathers by helping them learn how to find and retain employment. The challenge of facilitating this program in a jail setting is that we cannot be sure when participants will go to court and what the outcomes of their trial will be. A participant may have a court date during the second week of the program and be released, and we cannot continue programming with them in the community. This is why the referral aspect of our curriculum is so important. If participants are unable to complete the program, we want to prepare them for reentry with resources to help them continue with their search for employment.
As we receive the results from program evaluation and participant feedback, we will continue to update this page.
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