Innovative Programming Grant Awards

Program Name: Traditional Arts as Restorative Justice

Institution: CAC

The purpose of the Traditional Arts as Restorative Justice (TARJ) is to reconnect participants with their identity, culture, and community in order to seek healing and transformation through traditional arts. The traditional arts are fundamentally rooted in community—they include expressions that are reflective of a community’s shared standards of beauty, values, life experiences, and collective wisdom.

The program will run once a week for 2 hours per session across four concurrent sessions which can operate simultaneously on different yards. The program will run for 16 weeks, and we will program a total of 32 weeks for each 1-year grant term. Classes will include two teachers per session and 24 students. We expect 576 participants to be served by our program through the course of the three-year grant.

Program Name: Awareness Into Domestic Abuse

Institution: CTF

Through the Awareness Into Domestic Violence program, participants learn about the different forms of abuse, intimate partner violence, triggers, resetting negative thinking, the cycle of violence and how to create and foster healthy effective relationships. The benefits of the program to the participants are that they will gain an understanding about what domestic abuse is, learn about the many forms of abuse, the cycle of violence, obsession cycle, triggers and have the opportunity to create a relapse prevention plan. The total number of programing hours required to complete the program is 24 hours. Participants are able to meet this requirement by attending bi-weekly two-hour meetings for 12 weeks total.

Program Name: Mindful Prisons

Institution: SQ

The Boundless Freedom Project (BFP) is wholly non-religious and is taught by volunteers of all beliefs who are trained to teach meditation and mindfulness as a practice for increasing the participants’ well-being. Participants in the Mindful Prison program will be introduced to the underlying principles of mindfulness, yoga, and meditation; the benefits of mindfulness, yoga, and meditation (which include increased self-awareness, focus, calm, impulse control, empathy and resilience, and reduced stress, trauma, anger, and aggression); and instruction on how to practice mindfulness, yoga, and meditation to create positive long lasting personal transformation.

The program includes four cycles of one five-hour class per month to 25 participants per cycle of nine months, with a total of 45 hours of programming per cohort, to a total of 100 participants served.

Program Name: Quest Program

Institution: SOL

Quest is a goal setting and attitude change program founded by an incarcerated leadership team who are now released and serve as the executive leaders of the CROP Organization. The Quest program requires each participant to identify a vision statement (a pro-social goal they want to accomplish) and then provides a combination of expert and peer coaching to support participants in achieving that goal over the program cycle. Quest is currently offered twice per year for a 13-week cycle.

Participants meet weekly for two hours (8 hours monthly and 26 total hours). The program currently serves 40 participants per cycle but has served up to 100 participants per cycle in past years.

Program Name: SEED

Institution: CMF

The SEED curriculum consists of 37 lessons covering Abandonment, Denial & Denial Management, Grief & Loss, Emotional Baggage & Intelligence, Shame & Guilt, Anger &Anger Management, Criminal & Addictive thinking, as well as Trauma & Building Resilience. By helping participants work through their emotions and trauma, while gaining an understanding of their criminogenic needs, the SEED program equips individuals with the tools, insight, and foundation to begin healing and transforming their lives. Each in-person session is 4.5 hours long for a total of 166.5 total hours.

Program Name: Fuller Seminary Developing Leaders Through Educational Opportunities

Institution: CHCF

CARE (Concerned About Recovery Education) is an interactive life-skills development program whose central focus is Accountability. CARE’s mission is to promote positive change in the lives of the participants. The entire CARE curriculum is grounded in biblical studies and reflection. All services and groups provided by CARE are designed to address criminogenic needs (dynamic, changeable needs associated with re-offending behavior). CARE groups are limited to 15-20 clients per breakout group. CARE is approved for Milestone Completion Credits and Rehabilitative Achievement Credits.

Program Name: Council for Insight, Compassion and Resilience (CICR)

Institution: CMF

Counsel for Insight, Compassion and Resilience is a six-month intervention in which participants are trained in council and then meet weekly to practice with the intention of improving insight, compassion and resilience, strengthening communication and conflict-exploration skills, and creating healthier and more productive perspectives and behaviors. Participants develop understanding and accountability for their past behavior and its impact on others, clarity about their goals and values, and skills to navigate successful reentry and reintegration into their communities upon release. CICR utilizes a manualized curriculum and is supported by an initial 16-hour training workshop, followed by 24 weekly council-based practice sessions and trainer follow-up sessions. Each group will begin with up to 25 participants.

Program Name: Beyond Trauma

Institution: CIW

Beyond Trauma (BT) is a 12-session manualized curriculum designed specifically for system-involved women. Complex childhood trauma can have long-term effects on a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes, including impaired self-regulation. The BT program includes the following:

• Understanding what has happened to them by learning what abuse is and how widespread it is throughout their lives.
• Exploring how abuse and trauma have impacted them and their participation in criminal behavior.
• Focusing on safety and learning coping mechanisms, including exercises to help them feel grounded and safe.
• Learning Strategies for symptom reduction and recovery.

Program Name: Get on the Bus

Institution: HDSP

Through family visits, Get On The Bus positively impacts the social-emotional health and wellbeing of incarcerated fathers, as well as their children and immediate family members.GOTB support includes completion of detailed paperwork to obtain prison clearance and organization of safe visits for children to meet with their incarcerated fathers.

• Visit Frequency: once a year per prison
• Location: Institutional Visiting Room(s)
• Duration: Start 7:30-8:30 a.m. / End 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Inmate Participation: Dependent on eligible parents.

Program Name: 32 Reasons

Institution: CCWF

32 Reasons (32R) is a course designed for incarcerated women. Women in custody have a greater prevalence of trauma and mental health needs, and may struggle with feelings of shame and self-doubt, and the loss of their family connections. Therefore, there is a focus on exercises to help participants envision possibilities for their future selves, finding their purpose, so they can begin internalizing the motivation for creating a new version of themselves. The frequency and duration of the course is six 3 1/2 hour modules of in-person learning delivered over a period of 3 to 6 weeks.

Program Name: COSA Full Circle Program

Institution: ASP

The mission of COSA Full Circle is to provide a community of support and reentry preparation for those who have committed sexual harm and/or intimate partner violence. This will be accomplished through an 8 month, 64-hour program that covers various reentry topics allowing participants to develop a comprehensive Wellness Plan and address many of the concerns, anxieties, and challenges they have as they prepare to return to community.

Program Name: Victim Awareness Program

Institution: RJD

Healing Dialogue and Action provides Victim Awareness Classes that are specifically designed to serve individuals serving life- or long-term sentences for violent crimes. Grounded in the tenets of restorative justice, participants will get the chance to dialogue with a family survivor of homicide and explore themes of childhood trauma, healthy coping skills, and accountability.

Program Name: Trauma Talks

Institution: SAC

Trauma Talks is a 12-part video, workbook, and discussion series addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The program provides awareness and education on how childhood trauma impacts our capacity to make healthy decisions. The objective of Trauma Talks is greater self-awareness, accountability, and self-compassion, reduced in-prison and post-prison violence and crime, lower recidivism, and safer communities. Group size varies from as small as five to as large as 100 or more. The program is designed to run 12 weeks with one episode and discussion per week. Discussion circles are scheduled for two hours but do vary by facility requirements and participant engagement.

Program Name: Project Rebound Outreach Program

Institution: PVSP

The Roadmap to Reentry Program is designed to equip inmates to succeed in their transition back to the community and are able to meet their goals of employment, housing, education, family reunification, and financial stability. The program provides reentry-readiness tools, resources, and education across nine areas of civic life: housing, public benefits, parole and probation, education, understanding and cleaning up a criminal record, identification and voting, family and children, court-ordered debt, and employment. The program is a 12-lesson program cycle running twice a year. The program is run by a minimum of two attorneys and a Prison Education Program Coordinator.

Program Name: CEO of Your New Life

Institution: SVSP

The CEO of Your New Life program equips incarcerated individuals to envision a life where they are connected to their loved ones and legally sustaining themselves and their families through meaningful employment or a profitable business. Assignments lead them through the development of a “portfolio” of key deliverables including:

1. Work readiness pieces (resume, references, cover letter, ideas for their future LinkedIn profile, target jobs, career plan);
2. Personal growth pieces (identifying self-limiting beliefs, professional etiquette exercises, writing a meaningful apology, learning the Five Love Languages, conflict resolution and communication techniques);
3. A 20-page, detailed and realistic reentry plan; and
4. Business ideation assignments.

Upon release from prison, participants will have the opportunity to enroll in Defy’s post-release program that provides a bridge for them between prison and their lives on the outside, training them to gain and sustain meaningful employment, incorporate profitable business, and become more engaged with family and community members.

Program Name: Moving Beyond Violence

Institution: PBSP

Moving Beyond Violence (MBV) is a trauma-informed intervention designed for men who have experienced trauma associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The MBV curriculum focuses on three core areas: an understanding of what trauma is, its’ process, and its impact on both the inner self (thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values) and the outer self (behavior and relationships).

The intervention consists of six 2-hour sessions (a total of 12 hours) delivered over a period of no more than 6 weeks (the six sessions can be delivered over a shorter time period if desired). The intervention is designed to be delivered to small groups of 8-10 men and co-led by two specially trained Peer Facilitators.

Program Name: Threshold for Change

Institution: CRC

Threshold to Change (TC) offers engaging content that mitigates negative thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that are associated with criminality, and cultivates a prosocial, growth-oriented mindset that equips participants for long term success. Resilience, mindfulness, empathy, the ability to manage anger and regulate emotions are examples of prosocial intrapersonal dynamics that are developed through class participation.

Classes will be delivered at a frequency of two (2) two-hour classes per week per student group (Tuesday & Thursday), for a duration of 25 weeks, which reflects approximately 100 hours of instruction to complete the 3 volume series. With group sizes ranging from 8-15 participants and 10 cohorts during the 36 month grant period, TC conservatively projects a range of 80-150 offenders will participate in the class.

Program Name: Pathways to Freedom

Institution: CMC

The Freedom to Choose Project’s (FTC) curriculum uses a culturally responsive, multimodal, bilingual model incorporating cognitive behavioral approaches, emotional intelligence skills, resilience cultivation, and trauma/violence reduction skills along with other proven psychological modalities. FTC teaches practical empathetic communication, emotional competency, and self-responsibility skills.

The advanced skills taught cultivate resilience and flexibility helping participants heal past traumatic experiences through updating inaccurate self-beliefs and developing forgiveness and self-compassion practices. Pathways to Freedom (PTF) Workshops are offered twice per year on two consecutive 8-hour days, accommodating up to 250 participants.

Program Name: Hustle 2.0

Institution: COR

Hustle 2.0 utilizes a self-directed, in-cell study program model that allows participants the flexibility to engage with the program at their own pace, on their own time. Hustle 2.0 participants learn tangible skills and practical tools they can confidently apply in a variety of key issue areas, such as employment readiness, criminal thinking, coping skills, relapse prevention, reentry planning, victim awareness, healing from trauma, healthy relationships, and more. Hustle 2.0 is a 14-week program that requires 80 programming hours for completion.

Program Name: Growing Justice

Institution: CCWF

Program Name: Insight Garden Program (IGP) 

Institution: ASP

Insight Garden Program provides both restorative life skills and vocational training to offenders through a robust curriculum and hands-on practice in gardens. The focus of the curriculum is lasting behavioral change, increased responsibility and accountability, and vocational skills development. The program integrates classroom learning with experiential hands-on work in the garden. The transformational learning approach incorporates learning strategies to build emotional intelligence as well as vocation skills. Participants learn to respond rather than react, and are encouraged to become model community leaders both within their prison community and upon release.

Program Name: Creative Expressions

Institution: LAC

The “Creative Expressions” Songwriting Program addresses criminogenic needs which include Antisocial Cognition, or “criminal thinking,” through the introduction of creative, alternative ways of solving problems; Lack of Employment, through introducing skills-based learning that develops knowledge needed for employment in the media and entertainment-based economy; Lack of Education, through the introduction of skills-based learning necessary to thriving and benefiting in an educational setting; and Lack of Pro-Social Leisure & Recreation, by providing a positive, pro-social mode of leisure and recreation.

The act of making music is a proven means of non-confrontational, non-violent expression resulting in contemplative insight, healing of past traumas, and emotional transformation. The class is taught year-round in groups of 25 participants and runs in 8-week cycles or longer. Participants receive 1.5 hours weekly of instruction, totaling 6 hours monthly.

Program Name: Restorative Parenting

Institution: CIM

As a community-based nonprofit organization Just Us 4 Youth seeks to promote better relationships and healthier families for persons affected by incarceration. The “Restorative Parenting” class will provide the following benefits:

1. It will use evidence-based practices to encourage instruction and interventions on parenting topics of particular relevance to incarcerated parents;
2. It will provide skills training and guided role-playing in its restorative circles;
3. It will use a cognitive behavioral approach, positive reinforcement, and motivational interviewing techniques in covering topics relevant to parents; and
4. It will reinforce and encourage future pro-social behavior by using restorative justice professionals as facilitators, whose interactions with those who have been incarcerated for doing harm have the potential to reduce offender recidivism.

The “Restorative Parenting,” program will be provided once a week for two (2) hours per session. The duration of each class will be 16 weeks and the class size will be 15 participants.

Program Name: Uncuffed Music Radio

Institution: SOL

The Uncuffed Music Radio program, will provide participants the opportunity to host and record an hour-long music radio episode, to be played across CDCR via institutional DRP-TV and in-cell tablets. In the show, participants will share their favorite songs, and personal stories that relate to the songs. Participants will develop emotional literacy by talking about the emotions they feel while listening to music. This will foster empathy for their peers, for people they’ve harmed, and for the people who have harmed them. Classes are 2 hours long, and each workshop consists of 10 classes offered weekly. Participants complete the workshop in 20 hours. Over the grant cycle, we can offer 22 workshops. 10 students participate in each workshop, so during the grant cycle a total of 220 students can participate in the program.

Program Name: Puppies Uplifting Prisoners Spirits

Institution: CCWF

The Puppies Uplifting Prisoners Spirits program engages inmates to train and socialize animals to become service dogs. Inmates are paired with dogs for a period of 8 to 18 months under the guidance of a LASD trainer. Inmates learn how to care for, train and socialize the animals for potential placement to assist recipients suffering from seizures, autism, mobility issues and psychological disabilities. By taking on the responsibility of caring for and training an animal, participants are given a sense of purpose and encouraged to develop social skills amongst their peers and correctional officers.

• Frequency/Duration of Program = daily for 12 months
• Group Size: 48 allowable participants
• Projected offenders to participate in program = 79/year
• Program completion = the successful training of one service dog

Program Name: 10P Program

Institution: LAC

The 10P system is a set of seminars, workshops, activities, and groups to optimize the development of self-efficacy, sense of agency, and personal accountability within a group dynamic. Participants become a part of a pro-social network to build a meaningful parole portfolio replete with positive accomplishments, educational milestones, recognition from correctional staff, and self-reflective writings. The program is normally provided twice a week or eight times a month. The 10P program is 24 weeks in duration with group sizes between 15 and 30 people based on institutional adherence to COVID-19 precautions.

Program Name: Pawsitive Change

Institution: CAC

Marley’s Mutts Pawsitive Change Program (MMPCP) is a 14-week program that pairs incarcerated men with rescue dogs for mutual rehabilitation. The MMPCP fosters emotional growth through the human/canine bond. Throughout the training process, participants develop empathy, compassion, and a better understanding of themselves. This program allows participants to work as a team and develop valuable communication skills across racial and cultural lines.

The specific criminogenic needs targeted by MMPCP include antisocial cognition, substance abuse, and poor family relationships. Each MMPCP cycle has 20-25 participants and 8-10 at risk shelter dogs per 14-week program cycle with 3 cycles per year. The program set to begin in early December of 2022.

Program Name: Experience Based Equine

Institution: VSP

The Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) program conducted by New Beginnings at Circle T Ranch (New Beginnings) offers an experience-based equine assisted program that promotes an awareness of body, mind, and spirit in equine-assisted activities, while training participants in follow-up sessions to be equine assistants. Multiple life skills will be built throughout the program, while teaching equine handling skills to the participants.

Participants will earn certificates by completing the seven-week program and will be invited to return as assistants for future classes. New Beginnings staff will visit each facility once per week for 42 weeks and conduct three sessions each visit. EAL will complete six programs per year – each seven weeks long. EAL’s hope is that upon re-introduction, participants will gain employment in equine-assisted learning and therapy programs across the country.

Program Name: K9 Rescue’s First Responder

Institution: CMF

Paws For Life K9 Rescue program provides the opportunity for incarcerated individuals to work with dogs which incentivizes the attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles conducive to personal responsibility and self-control. The ultimate goal is to provide the transformative change necessary for successful reentry back into the community and the resources to help reduce the likelihood of recidivism. The Paws For Life K9 Rescue program runs continuously throughout the year. All programs run seven days a week, approximately 13 hours each day. Program participants work 21 hours each week, culminating in hundreds of therapeutic hours working with program dogs.

Program Name: VIRTUAL Peacemaking Seminars

Institution: CHCF

Peacemakers Alliance’s mission is to increase the human agency, literacy, and nonviolent conflict resolution skills of incarcerated persons. The cornerstone of the program is the focus on supporting participants with educational experiences that increase their awareness of their human agency- their awareness that they can control their destinies. The program offers literacy and peace education classes, ensures that participants receive mentorship, creates opportunities for participants to build leadership and conflict resolution skills, and empowers them to experience what it is like to be an integral part of a community, whether inside of a correctional facility or in their own community.

Program Name: Prison Education Project

Institution: CVSP

By providing academic, life skills, and career development programming, Prison Education Project (PEP) aims to educate, empower, and transform the lives of incarcerated individuals. The goal of PEP is to create a “Prison-to-School Pipeline” and provide in-custody students with the cognitive tools necessary to function as productive citizens. Our multi-layered approach enhances human development, reduces recidivism, saves resources, and allows participants to ultimately contribute to the economic and civic life of California. PEP will be offered once per week for seven weeks during eight semesters in 2022-2025: Fall, Spring, Summer.

Program Name: Yoga and Mindfulness Immersion

Institution: SOL

The Prison Yoga Project provides yoga’s self-awareness practices to assist inmates in learning skills for impulse control and emotional stability. It also exposes them to the ethical principles of yoga that include taking personal responsibility for taking responsibility for their behavior and actions. The classes are facilitated by volunteer certified yoga instructors.

Program Name: Junior Mentors

Institution: ISP

The Junior Mentors program is an intensive class designed for the YOP demographic to promote self-realization and leadership qualities. Participants are able to model new values and behaviors, discover increased personal resilience from past trauma and dysfunction, form new prosocial community, grow into new leadership and decrease criminogenic needs to increase their chance of success upon release, thereby lowering recidivism. The program is designed for 44 new participants per year, 40 Junior Mentors and 4 inside mentors. New classes are started every year with a new group of 44 participants. Each class will take place twice a month with 8 1/2 class hours plus 6 hours of homework each month or a total of 14 ½ hours.

Program Name: Roadmap to Reentry

Institution: FSP

The Roadmap to Reentry Program is designed to equip inmates to succeed in their transition back to the community and are able to meet their goals of employment, housing, education, family reunification, and financial stability. The program provides reentry-readiness tools, resources, and education across nine areas of civic life: housing, public benefits, parole and probation, education, understanding and cleaning up a criminal record, identification and voting, family and children, court-ordered debt, and employment. The program is a 12-lesson program cycle running twice a year. The program is run by a minimum of two attorneys and a Prison Education Program Coordinator.

Program Name: POOCH

Institution: MCSP

Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope (POOCH) is a program in which inmates selected through classification are assigned to a specific dog for the purpose of bonding, training, and care. The purpose of this program is to teach inmates to train dogs for placement as service dogs to individuals with autism and veterans with disabilities. Studies have shown that programs involving training dogs can reduce violent incidents in prison, reduce recidivism, and provide an incentive for rule-compliant behavior during incarceration.

Program Name: The Actors Gang Prison Project

Institution: CCI

The Actors’ Gang Prison Project (TAG PP) program starts as a seven-day, four-hour a day intensive theatrical arts program which transitions into an ongoing weekly peer-led class, managed by the Program Director and overseen by TAG PP Teaching Artist and Alumni. TAG PP uses a highly physical and emotional style of theater, which fosters self-esteem, tolerance, non-violent expression, conflict resolution, and leadership development as tools. The program also creates a supportive space in which the participants can express their fears, choose empathy over anger, overcome gang barriers, reduce behavioral infractions, and prepare for life beyond bars.

Program Name: Creating a Healing Society

Institution: CCI

The Creating a Healing Society Program is a twelve (12) session, classroom-based program centered on the principles of the impact of trauma on individuals, families and society. The program breaks down walls of isolation, hostility, frustration and confusion and brings a powerful sense of clarity and understanding of one’s life-path. Empathy and compassion for oneself and others comes as a result of seeing the root cause of the traumatic reenactment that individual have engaged in. A powerful empathy for others is borne including empathy for the victims of crime. A strong desire to make amends is created in each participant.

Program Name: Peer Support Group

Institution: CMC

The Timelist program will provide in-person facilitation of Peer Support Groups and Training for Facilitators. The objective of the Peer Support Groups is to help participants connect beliefs, emotions, thoughts, and behavior, in order to effect lasting change. Group members develop cognitive-behavioral skills to help end the cycle of violence, crime, poverty, and recidivism. The program will be carried out by Peer Navigators and will provide an opportunity for some participants to become facilitators.

Groups will have a maximum of 30 participants. The program is estimated to take 34 hours over a 12-month period (12 hours in-person; 22 hours homework).

• Frequency of the program: Monthly in-person groups up to 6 yards.
• Duration of the program: 1, 12-month cohort annually
• Total number of offenders projected to participate during grant cycle: 180

Program Name: Second Chances Equine Care Vocational Program

Institution: PVSP

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, in conjunction with (West Hills Community College) WHCC, offer college credit courses incorporating the Groom Elite Program to the student inmates. The Groom Elite programs are designed to prepare individuals without equine care experience for entry level positions. For those with experience, the program enhances the ability of the grooms and other equine care workers to care for their horses. Typically, the program is a 10-lecture, hands on course with a program capacity of 15 students each semester and 30 students per year.

Program Name: Foundations in the Humanities Program

Institution: COR

Foundations in the Humanities is a correspondence study program in literary fiction offered through the University of California, Santa Barbara. The program begins with a site visit by the Program Director and the a faculty instructor, who introduce the program during two-hour meetings on multiple yards that include seminar-style instruction in how to read, analyze, and write about works of literary fiction. Interested inmates write UC Santa Barbara with a request to begin their instruction. They are enrolled and mailed the first learning module accompanied by program guidelines. The participants mail their completed written assignments to the program and the participant’s instructor writes an individualized page of commentary to provide guidance for further study of the works of literary fiction under discussion.

The program office sends the instructor’s comments to the participant along with the next learning module. Following this procedure, the participant completes the six learning modules and thereafter is mailed a certificate and a letter from the program director attesting to the successful completion of the program.