INSIDE-OUT

IVC honored for drug studies program

Imperial Valley College’s Alcohol and Drug Studies program has earned recognition in the health sector for the program’s ability to potentially boost participants’ earnings by 128 percent.

The recognition comes from Strong Workforce Stars, a new, annual commendation for career technical education (CTE) programs within California’s 114 community colleges whose students show significant gains in factors important for advancing social mobility — a substantial increase in earnings, attainment of a living wage, and/or employment in a job closely matched with the student’s field of study, a press release from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office stated.

IVC’s Alcohol and Drug studies’ Inside-Out program is a model that has been recognized for its success by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

The college offers courses at a local jail facility and an integrated work-based learning program provides participants direct experience with drug and alcohol counseling.

Dean of Economic and Workforce Development Efrain Silva notes that the faculty “...regularly match students with inmates at the jail. These inmates have been carefully screened and selected for the students. This partnership and workbased learning have increased the quality of the program.”

The program is well regarded by employers, including two state prisons in the Imperial Valley, who often immediately hire graduates with the drug-study certificate. Silva reports, “(Employers) recognize it as a premier program in the field. I think that has been what has allowed for the increases in wages.”

Silva shares that some successes have come from the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, including students who started as inmates, and after being released, returned to the college to become full-time students, the press release stated.

The inmates access the full range of student services, including career counseling, while in the program.

Career education programs can receive Strong Workforce Stars designation when meeting one or more of the following numerical thresholds:

Fifty percent or more increase in student earnings, determined by comparing students’ earnings one year before and one year after exiting the California Community Colleges system.

This data is based on a match to the state’s wage file.

Seventy percent or more of students attain a regional living wage.

This percentage, aligned with a threshold set by the California Workforce Development Board, analyzes the proportion of graduates and skills builders (defined as students whose goal is not to complete a program, but to take classes to increase job skills) who attained the living wage for a single individual in the college’s region.

This analysis is based on a match to the state’s wage file and a comparison with data from the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Ninety percent or more of students report that their current job is close or very close to their field of study.

This is based on responses to the system’s CTE Outcomes Survey, which is sent to community college students after they stop taking courses.

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 114 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.

Community colleges supply workforce training and basic skills education in English and math, and prepare students for transfer to fouryear institutions.