Developing Adults With Necessary Skills (DAWN)
'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 Correctional Services Counselor
The DAWN Program provides GED and Adult Basic Education instruction, life skills training and transitional counseling classes necessary for adult males (ages 18-24) and females (ages 18 and up) sentenced by the county to successfully reintegrate into society. Students leave the program with a respect for self and the community. This program was made possible through a Justice Assistance Grant (JAG).
- Classroom instruction is conducted in the Pre-Trail Detention Facility.
- Students receive life skills training necessary to prepare them for the work force.
- Graduations are held for those students who receive their high school diploma.
- Students are linked to Jacksonville Re-Entry Center (JREC).
Program Description
The City of Jacksonville in partnership with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Pre-trial Detention Facility and Florida State College at Jacksonville has created a program known as DAWN: Developing Adults with Necessary Skills. The program provides GED instruction and remediation, life skills training and transitional counseling necessary for the young adult males (ages 18-24) and females (ages 18 and up) sentenced by the county to successfully reintegrate into society.
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It's a Celebration!!
Family and friends are invited to celebrate the accomplishments of the male and female participants during a full “Pomp and Circumstance” graduation ceremony. Graduation is held twice yearly (summer and winter) in the Jacksonville City Council Chambers.
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Program Achievements
DAWN works with incarcerated young men and women to help them achieve three important goals:
- earning a high school diploma,
- getting a job, and
- Staying out of the criminal justice system for good.
The program is readily available to provide services to participants regardless of their ethnic or socio-economical status. Classroom instructors, transitional counselors and liaison officers, at the jail, work in partnership to help participants earn their Florida high school diplomas and provide them with job readiness 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 12-year existence. To date, over 140 male 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.
The implementation of the DAWN for Female program, in March of 2010, created for the growing population of incarcerated young females an opportunity to earn a high school diploma, receive counseling assistance to advance their academic studies, and life skills training necessary to prepare them for the practicality of obtaining gainful employment and sustaining a life style free of crime. In the first eight months of the female program, nine young women completed the requirements to earn their high school diplomas with a zero percent recidivism rate. Several graduates have enrolled in college and vocational schools.
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 exam 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 young adults 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 high school diplomas 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 State College at Jacksonville
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
Correctional Services Counselor / GED Instructor (DAWN Males)
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 250
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1212 ext 4232
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: ymitch@coj.net
Debra Williams
Correctional Services Counselor / GED Instructor (DAWN Females)
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 250
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1094
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: debrakw@coj.net
Richard McKissick
Correctional Services Counselor (DAWN Males)
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 250
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1212 ext 1649
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: rmckiss@coj.net
Ramona Westfield
Correctional Services Counselor (DAWN Females)
City of Jacksonville Office of Juvenile Justice and Offender-Based Programs
117 West Duval St., Suite 250
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone: (904) 630-1095
Fax: (904) 630-4938
Email: ramonaw@coj.net