Positively Reinforcing Opportunities in Technology (PRO-Tech)

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to communities. The Second Chance Act will help ensure that the transition individuals make from prison, jail, or juvenile residential facilities to the community is successful and promotes public safety. Section 115 of the Second Chance Act authorizes federal awards to states, units of local government, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes to provide technology career training to persons confined in state prisons, local jails, and juvenile residential facilities.

The goal of the Second Chance Act Technology Careers Training Demonstration Projects for Incarcerated Adults and Juveniles is to increase the post-release employability of offenders in related technology-based jobs and career fields. The objective of the program is to support the education, training, mentoring, support services, and job placement for incarcerated/detained adults and juveniles in a technology field.

This grant will fund the Positively Reinforcing Opportunities in Technology (PRO-Tech) Program to demonstrate a reduction in the recidivism rates for juvenile offenders who are detained at the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) residential facilities by providing them with an array of professional computer technology courses that lead to industry-recognized certificates (Microsoft Office Specialist, CompTIA A+, and Certified Web Internet Professional), a Pre-Apprenticeship program in preparation for Apprenticeship training, and community-based services, to include mentoring and social skills training. The proposed PRO-Tech Program will target approximately 82 juvenile offenders including both males and females between the ages of thirteen to nineteen years old.

CA/NCF