by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Normally the stage for committee meetings of all sorts and varieties, Council Chambers was the venue of a much different and celebratory event Wednesday afternoon: a graduation ceremony.
And while the recipients were decked out in the caps and gowns found among graduating students from high school and college campuses across America, the men receiving their high school diplomas were participants in two City programs housed within the correctional system.
The Developing Adults With Necessary Skills Program (referred to as DAWN) and Jacksonville Youthbuild Program are two of the juvenile justice and offender-based programs housed under the City’s Recreation and Community Services division. The DAWN Program provides life skills and vocational preparation classes for incarcerated men ages 18–23 to reintegrate them into society with a three-part goal of earning a GED, securing a job and staying out of the corrections system. Youthbuild has similar goals for its participants, ages 16–24, and uses on-the-job training and housing rehabilitation projects for hands-on experience through various City and housing partnerships. The combination of securing a GED and real life experience lead to both programs’ high success rates.
“These programs produce productive young men to come back to us in the community,” said Richard McKissick, a DAWN counselor who acted as master of ceremonies for the event.
City Council members Daniel Davis, Clay Yarborough and Reggie Brown as well as City COO Alan Mosley attended the ceremony to show their support.
Davis, in particular, has offered his support to both programs and helped secure 40 textbooks – when only 20 were asked for – for the students.. The gesture was much appreciated and helpful.
“We had no books,” said McKissick, during the ceremony. “We were depending on the knowledge of the teachers and the willingness of the students.”
Between the two programs, 19 men received their diplomas during the ceremony and were given a brief time to speak of their achievement and offer thanks to those who helped them along the way.
One of those who did help was Yvonne Mitchell, a DAWN educational instructor, who was all smiles during the ceremony.
“It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work and good decisions,” said Mitchell. “I’m proud of them for getting an opportunity to have that special moment in their lives that many of us have had by graduating high school.”
The long hours of Mitchell teaching both academic, life and job skills to inmates – who voluntarily participated in the programs – paid off, as she saw a dozen of her students make the walk to accept their diploma.
“I’m just so proud of them,” she said.
With diplomas in hand, the future looks brighter for the students. And, as Rosemary Anderson, Youthbuild Program Supervisor, noted in her address to the students, there are many people out there pulling for them.
“There are far more people in this community that want to see you succeed than don’t,” said Anderson. “Don’t look back, but look ahead.”
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