Every new PRIDE worker participates in a formal OJT program designed to provide the occupational skills necessary to thrive in a typical manufacturing or service business operation. This condition assures that PRIDE conducts its industry operations with maximum efficiency as well as offering its workers the full benefit of meaningful employment. Training encompasses well-rounded exposure to the basic, technical and job readiness skills required in any modern production operation.

Every OJT program is a complete package and includes a job description, the skill competencies required for program achievement, other qualifying criteria and a training record. Program criteria, for application and process, are certified by a reputable external agency to be up to date and reflective of private sector employer needs. Workers who apply themselves in these work programs are paralleling the working conditions of employees in similar sector businesses in the community.

The uniqueness of PRIDE industry operations is its inmate workers. Since the vast majority of those assigned will leave prison in the relatively short term and resume their place in the free community, the company considers job readiness training a critical element in its OJT program. Training in job readiness skills, which relate to work values and behaviors, is ongoing throughout a worker’s affiliation with the industry. PRIDE integrates these skills, taken from a national survey of employers’ needs, with the other technical and occupational skills identified in the worker’s certified OJT program.

The ultimate goal should be that every PRIDE worker completes the full range of training and becomes accomplished in a new skill (or reaches a new level of competency in a previously learned skill). For those expecting release, this heightened potential and awareness is the best preparation for employment after release. For those workers with long sentences to serve, it promotes a sense of accomplishment and purpose. PRIDE recognizes these achievements with Certificates of Achievement that are at once tangible evidence of goals met and validation of skills learned.

PRIDE conducts certified on-the-job training programs that give inmate workers the opportunity to learn new skills and work habits. OJT is the process of teaching work skills through demonstration, instruction and practice in an actual work setting. PRIDE’s on-the-job training provides workers with meaningful work during incarceration and the skills necessary to find and keep a good job after release. PRIDE training is formal, structured and certified to meet private sector industry or state vocational training standards. PRIDE training programs have been reviewed and certified by agencies such as Clemson Apparel Research of Clemson University, Rolla Coatings Institute of the University of Missouri, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Florida, the Division of Graphic Arts of Florida A & M University, and others.

PRIDE assigns every new worker to a job that has been carefully designed to meet the high training curriculum and validation standards established by the Florida Department of Education. Industry training programs are formal, structured and fully documented. PRIDE’s OJT programs emphasize three types of skills:

BASIC WORK SKILLS - Workers learn communication skills, safety on the job, use of tools, occupational terminology and other behaviors required to find and keep a job.

SPECIFIC WORK SKILLS - These are the specific tasks, operations, experiences and technical skills required to perform the job. Some jobs are more difficult than others and may require more education and training to achieve a high level of proficiency. Depending on these factors, the OJT program may range from a few hundred hours of training to several thousand hours. In addition, there are minimum education standards established for each job skill using Test for Adult Basic Education (T.A.B.E.) score criteria.

JOB READINESS SKILLS - These are the skills, attitudes and understandings essential for success in the world of work. Job readiness training addresses the attitudes and behaviors that employers seek in their employees.

Each OJT program has one or more training units made up of specific job skills called competencies. These competencies are essentially performance standards that the worker must achieve in order to complete the training program. The number of training units and the competencies within each unit varies according to the complexity and technical nature of the job skill. In addition, each OJT program specifies a minimum total training time for program completion and minimum T.A.B.E. scores (Reading, Language and Mathematics).

Upon satisfactory completion of training, PRIDE presents workers with Certificate of Achievement awards in one of two forms:

1. Those workers, whose training program is externally certified and who meet the minimum T.A.B.E. scores, receive a Certificate of Achievement endorsed by a certifying agency, for example, the Department of Education, Clemson Apparel Research, etc.
2. Those workers, whose training program is not externally certified or who do not meet the specified minimum T.A.B.E. scores, receive a PRIDE Enterprises’ sponsored Certificate of Achievement.

PRIDE operates and administers a variety of activities and services that supplement the company’s formal OJT program. Their purpose is to provide opportunities for workers to participate in work-related programs that round out or otherwise assist in making their PRIDE experience more fulfilling and rewarding

PRIDE has long recognized the importance of employment after release. Studies show that it is crucial to successful and sustained reintegration of the former inmate into the free community. PRIDE’s transition program provides a full range of services designed to help returning workers find meaningful employment. Training certificates earned in the industry are valuable credentials to present to employers as part of the job application process.