Working closely with the Florida Department of Corrections, the Northeast Florida Builders Association completed another class of youthful offenders at the Dinsmore Correctional Facility near the Duval-Nassau County line last month.
Experienced NEFBA instructor Bruce Miller taught the 120-hour course. The students are taught the basics of construction tools and safety prior to their work-release assignments across Florida.
The program is funded by the Florida Department of Corrections through a grant.
“I really appreciate what this program has taught me. I hope to put what I have learned to good use during my work-release assignment,” said one inmate during the class graduation ceremony.
The program, which has graduated seven classes since being established, trains inmates in basic safety, how to use power and hand tools, grading and surveying and basic wiring, according to NEFBA Training Director Laura Laseman.
Laseman said once the inmates have been transferred to work release centers around the state, employers should look more favorably upon the graduates since they have received some basic construction training.
“Our job is to help the inmates have an easier transition,” said Stan Totman, classification specialist at the Dinsmore Center. “This program has given them a basic understanding of what is required to work in the construction trades. The skills they learned here can help them, if they apply them properly.”
With the construction industry looking for a trained labor force, the course may serve as an introduction to a career that will help prevent the inmates from returning to a correctional institution.
“Many of these young offenders do not have the basic skills necessary. Programs like this help them find something of interest which they can develop into possible careers,” she said.
Projects have includes building a wooden playhouse, swings, benches that were donated to a children’s park, and a wheelchair ramp.
“The students have also done some maintenance around the facility. They also built a pump house,” said Miller.
At the end of February there were 132 prisoners in the Dinsmore facility, according to the Department of Corrections.