I have been working closely with Celeste Blair to create the curriculum for our pilot program, Peer Success Program, at Aliceville so that it can be formally recognized and the participating mentors/leaders of the last year might get recognition for their hard work.
First Celeste and I had to list all the essential parts of the program and then I, over the course of several days, drafted several versions of a curriculum that will have to be evaluated by staff. The curriculum includes elements from our training sessions, a class designed by Michael Santos (Preparing for Success After Prison), our weekly unit seminars, and to ensure the information disseminated is landing correctly, post-tests for participating AICs.
Most programs that are a year long in the BOP can earn 500 credit hrs for program participation but this program is different so we’ve capped it at 250 hrs. If the BOP decides to accredit this program it will be a huge boost for the people who selflessly devoted their time and energy with only a promise of an incentive but prefer to focus on the intangible incentives of helping others in their community. Additionally, a curriculum in the BOP will also mean that the Peer Success Program can then be imported to other compounds. Our intangible incentives increase 1,000% because it is no longer just our local community we’re helping. The work we put in on this compound can be replicated in other places and ultimately we would be helping hundreds of other AICs. If that’s not an incentive to keep up the hard work, I don’t know what is!
It is also hard for me to believe that we’re coming up on that year. This program started in May and we had our first meetings in June. The past year has flown by filled with fun events in the units, goal setting workshops, parenting from prison workshops, training events for the mentors and leaders, meetings with staff and learning to adapt and overcome whenever the compound must deal with changes in the schedule. One of the highlights from the last year was definitely the appearance of Michael Santos at our first training event. His re-entry speech and subsequent attendance at our training event really motivated the mentors to do as much as possible to gear up for re-entry as well as building up Peer Success in their units.
