For women at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, career training can provide more than a skill. Paired with professional credentials, it can provide a sense of accomplishment, purpose, and an opportunity to build a future through education.
Mid-America Technology Center has joined Re-entry Investment / Student Education (R.I.S.E.) Program Inc., the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, and Prov, a testing company, in a partnership creating career pathways for women at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center.
Established in 2017, R.I.S.E. provides cosmetology, barbering and master instructor training, giving incarcerated women the opportunity to earn professional licensure while serving their sentences. Those credentials can create meaningful work opportunities during incarceration and, for participants who are eventually released, provide a pathway to employment and independence in their communities.
Mid-America will serve as the sole administrator of the required written examinations for R.I.S.E. participants. When Oklahoma transitioned cosmetology and barbering testing to Prov two years ago, Mid-America was the first CareerTech center in the state to become an approved Prov testing site. That early partnership positioned Mid-America’s Testing and Assessment Center to now provide this service at Mabel Bassett.
Dr. Amanda Cummings, Program Director at Mid-America, recently administered the first round of examinations and will return quarterly to test participants as they become eligible.
At the center of Mid-America’s role is its Testing and Assessment Center, which provides professional, academic and industry-recognized testing services for students, businesses and community members. The department helps connect education and training with the certifications and credentials individuals need to demonstrate their skills, enter the workforce, advance in their careers or pursue new opportunities.
For Cummings, the first visit to Mabel Bassett brought that mission into sharp focus.
“If you took away the orange jumpsuits, you would never know these women were inmates,” Cummings said. “What stayed with me was their determination. They made choices that brought them to this point, but they are not allowing those choices to define who they are or what they can accomplish.”
That determination is reflected in the program’s outcomes. According to R.I.S.E., participants who have completed the program and been released have maintained a zero percent recidivism rate, meaning none have returned to prison.
For Cummings, the experience was both humbling and inspiring.
“You see women who are doing the work to accomplish something meaningful for themselves,” she said. “Being able to provide one piece of that opportunity is a powerful reminder of what CareerTech is about.”
Through the new partnership, Mid-America will continue administering written examinations at Mabel Bassett each quarter, helping R.I.S.E. participants turn their training into professional credentials and new possibilities.
For Mid-America, this is CareerTech at its core — using education, resources and opportunity to help people build what comes next.