IMPLEMENTATION OF PHASES

Phase One: Present the concept in narrative. Apply for and receive grants, funding, and a nonprofit status. Funds are required for establishing the training site, transportation, classroom texts and materials, instructor fees, video supervision, inmate counselors and program advisors. Establish a Board of Directors, mission statement, governance policy and gain all necessary licenses and permits to operate. Gather and train staff and volunteers.

Phase Two: In cooperation with WCCW, the Pilot Program begins with a carefully selected team of five incarcerated women who have no less than two years left to serve on their sentences. They will be trained for three months in each of the five major components of furniture and cabinet design. They will receive instruction in computer programming, state-of-the-art CNC building computer, tool handling, and production. During this year-and-a-half of training they will simultaneously receive leadership and social interaction training, recreation, personal counseling, and mentoring from a team of qualified volunteers and professionals.

Phase Three: Two Years into the program on-campus training will expand to include other types of construction finishing work as well as other completely unrelated vocational and educational opportunities. Both hired and volunteer staff will be required. Throughout this Pilot Program, strong community support and awarness will be solicited.

Phase Four: As soon as possible, housing on campus will be built for 150 women. Private bedrooms with shared toilets, community great rooms, kitchens and laundry area are planned. The finishing work on this building and the furniture for it will be completed by New Beginnings women. Housing Supervisors will initially be hired (with trained Pilot Program women in on the selection process). Eventually, women within the program will assume many of these positions. The communal kitchen will be planned by Pilot Program women and used for culinary classes. New Beginnings program students will live in this building while they participate in and complete their selected training programs.

In the last term of stay on campus, opportunities will be made available for tattoo removal, grooming and fashion seminars, financial counseling, and a crash course in technology – from computers to cell phone use. Women living in the housing will share in upkeep and maintenance of the building and grounds. Soon after this facility opens, women in the culinary program will assume much of the food planning and preparations. Landscapers will beautify and maintain grounds.

Since the majority of women in prison are there as a result of drug use, Phase Four requires strong presence of accountability programs among the participants as well as the availability of chaplains, mentors, or counselors.

Phase Five: A small percentage of the housing will be kept open for women who have completed any one of the courses offered by New Beginnings training and have moved on to independence. Experience teaches us to prepare for those occasions when circumstances will create a woman’s need to return to the safety and encouragement of the campus environment rather than resort to familiar but destructive places or relationships. They can return for extended periods of time if relapses or hardship call for further help. A team of trained, former inmates will adjudicate needs and opportunity. We are very aware of how difficult this transition can be and how thoroughly participants need reliable support.

Phase Six: As funds permit, a limited number of duplexes and some housing will be opened to women with young children. Cooperative childcare and preschool opportunities will be provided while mothers complete course of education.

In Conclusion: Within three to six years, with Phase Six well established, New Beginnings campus hopes to be offering as many as 50 courses of study or training. Well in place by this time, among women living on campus, will be a resident-governed discipline system, on-going behavior skills training, a reliable level of trust, and a settled pattern of cooperation.

The goal is to hear music, see gardens sprouting, smell the good foods cooking, marvel at art and designs, read written work, enjoy children playing and face difficulties with hope and intentional solutions. Here, we hope employers will find qualified and responsible women to hire – cobblers, landscapers, bookkeepers, cashiers, cooks, cabinet-makers, shop-managers, mechanics, and so much more. Eventually, we see the addition of college courses, specialized technician and training in various medical fields.

The success of all this will be readily measurable by these two things:

• The rate of recidivism among the women having entered or completed New Beginnings
• The number of the program’s women gainfully employed or otherwise well settled into and occupied by productive tasks of life.

Contact Info:

12300 SW Sidney Road
Port Orchard
Washington 98367
360.895.2426