"When participants are moved to a more responsible level of behavior, it not only improves their lives, it also makes neighborhoods safer and saves the taxpayers thousands of dollars that would have to be spent on incarcerating them repeatedly."
Richard McKissick, DAWN Transition Counselor

The DAWN Program provides GED preparation, life skills training and transitional counseling classes necessary for adult males, ages 18 to 23, sentenced by the county to successfully integrate into society.  Students leave the program with a respect for self and the community.

• Students receive life skills training necessary to prepare them for the work force.
• Students are linked to Jacksonville Re-Entry Center (JREC).
• Classroom instruction is conducted in the Pre-Trail Detention Facility.
• Graduations are held for those students who receive their high school diploma.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
The City of Jacksonville in partnership with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Pre-trial Detention Facility and Florida Community College at Jacksonville has created a program known as DAWN: Developing Adults with Necessary Skills. This program provides GED, life skills and vocational preparation classes necessary for the adult male county sentenced population of 18-23 year olds to successfully reintegrate into society.

PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS:
An integral part of the implementation of Jacksonville's Juvenile Justice Comprehensive Strategy, DAWN works with incarcerated young men to help them achieve three important goals: earning a GED, getting a job, and staying out of the criminal justice system for good.  The youths in the program are predominantly African-American, (approximately 90 percent) and almost without exception come from poor families. A classroom teacher, a transition counselor, a vocational instructor and a liaison officer at the jail work in partnership to help participants earn their Florida high school diplomas and provide them with vocational training and life skills to help them make better choices and improve their chances for success.

Operating from a "one-room schoolhouse" in the Duval County Pretrial Detention Facility, and with a full-time staff of one, DAWN has accomplished great things in its 10-year existence. To date, over 120 participants – an average of more than one per month over the life of the program - have earned GEDs, and the recidivism rate for those completing the program is less than 10 percent, compared to a rate of more than 23 percent for the comparable population.  Several graduates have even gone on to attend college.

DAWN's success and the number of older juveniles in the criminal justice system clearly demonstrate the need for expansion, particularly in the areas of client follow-up and remedial education. Expanded follow-up is important both for statistical evaluation of the program and to assist in the ongoing rehabilitation of former clients. (An example of the latter is a student who failed the GED by one point.  DAWN staff members located the young man - who had completed his sentence - and worked with him on their own time.  The next time he took the test, he passed.) Educational challenges abound. For instance, applicants should function at least at the 9th grade level in order to qualify for the program. Yet very few youths in the jail test higher than the 5th or 6th grade, and most of them need intensive help to improve their chances of GED completion and/or employment.  Adding a remedial component would increase successful completion of the program and the percentage of GEDs earned by participants, in turn enhancing their earning potential and reducing recidivism.

Partners:

• City of Jacksonville, Recreation and Community Services Department, Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender Based Programs
• Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
• Florida Community College at Jacksonville

To request a service or offer a suggestion
You may request a service or notify us of a service problem online now.  Just follow the steps to complete your request.  Otherwise, you may call (904) 630-CITY (2489).

Yvonne Mitchell, 
DAWN GED Instructor
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 150-A
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1212 ext 4232
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: ymitch@coj.net

Richard McKissick, 
DAWN Counselor
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 150-A
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1212 ext 1649
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: rmckiss@coj.net