I thank you for the contributions you have given us to help utah become the best it can be. Thank you very much. [applause] their annual winter meeting in washington, d. C. , the National Governors association held a discussion on prison reentry, Workforce Development efforts, and occupational licensing reform. This is our next session will explore for Workforce Solutions. To begin todays discussion, we have the arkansas governor, who was the terror of the ngas education and workforce committee. Is leading a discussion on how states can provide workforce beining, and he will joined by Iowa Governor kim reynolds. She will talk about steps her state is taking to improve the states economy. I also want to take this to talk about the new vice chairman of the nga. We took a unanimous vote yesterday. Governor hutchinson will be the next vice chair of the nga. Congratulations to him. [applause] with that, we turn the floor over to you. thank you,chinson Governor Hogan, for your leadership and also for being a Good Campaign manager for me. Youpreciate the direction are taking the nga. Governors face workforce challenges. The governors across the country continue to find the best solutions. To kick off this session highlighting workforce strategies for governors, im going to feature some of the work that we are doing in arkansas to create Second Chances for formerly incarcerated individuals. I am delighted also to hear from ernor reynolds governor reynolds. Governor, i was told that whenever they left prison after how many years they served, they would be given 100 and a bus ticket. Not a chancehat is of success. Comment publicly and have been reminded of that from time to time, because those that are paying their penalty and present, they here in prison, they hear those comments and the listen tentatively. Those that want a Second Chance are looking for that opportunity. And so as a result of that commitment and the need that we have in our state and across the country, we have reinvigorated enhancedry programs, our training for those that are coming out of prison, and enlisted also the help of the private sector. I called it the restoreth Hope Initiative restore Hope Initiative, where i brought faithbased organizations, private organizations together and said the state cant do it all. We can put some funding for reentry bets, but we need your help to give them a chance and also to reenlist the Employer Community so that they will open up their doors and that just eliminate someone because they checked the box because they have a prior offense. And so, and listing them changed the dynamic, increase the numbers of employers are participated, and also helped them to have Health Coverage as a left present. It relieves a burden on them. I have the habit of going to to thecoffee shop there in little rock area. As i go in there, i met this one lady behind the counter, and she whispered to me and said that she had left prison, that she has a job, she had a big smile partr face, and she is an of the Reentry Program that we started. About once a week ago in there and i check on her, so i have my own reentry check system, but it is exciting to see the progress that people make in life, the commitment and how they seek a Second Chance, the struggles that they go through. One final thing we are doing is that we created a twoyear Scholarship Program for particular fields, high need areas of employment. This is for High School Students primarily that are coming out. In nursing, we are paying full tuition and fees for them to go in and get the skill training up to two years in a twoyear college. Thatd, how about someone has been out of the workforce for years and wants to reenter it . A nontraditional student . And they had not thought of that, but we made that program, a two year Free Tuition Program available for nontraditional students, and guess what . That would apply to someone coming out looking for an opportunity to get the training they need. So we are reaching out to a number of different areas. Now i am pleased to introduce the assistant director of community corrections, kerry williams. Their leadership has been critical to the success of our Reentry Program and arkansas. She sits in the governor occupational licensee board, so she brings unique insight to this issue. Thank you for joining us today to tell us more about what is happening in arkansas. What an honor it is to be here to represent the state of arkansas and the reentry efforts that weve done. What we have learned is that reentry is a process, if not a program that someone starts and finishes while they are incarcerated. It starts at intake and is completed on their successful reentry. We have learned it takes more than one or two silver bullets to attack these issues and address these barriers. There is a multitude of issues that must be identified and connected to a resource while in call serrated and after release. We know that well over 80 of inmates incarcerated have a Substance Use issue. We are addressing those intently. We identify the money taken work with them through the program while they are incarcerated. Some experts say have a Mental Health issue. We have also started tackling that at a higher level. We partnered with Mental Health and intake at intake. They are treated while they are incarcerated. Statean across the to assist rural areas in person. We did a huge push from plymouth through the great and Community Grit and community awareness. Under governor hutchinson, we have passed three pieces of legislation that have allowed inmates to be released and allowed to receive a restricted. Icense or id would connect them to sponsors across the state. We use mentor sponsorships. We have enlisted recovery coaches embedded in some of the eight offices across the state. We also ensure that everyone graduates from a Reentry Program that they have a mentor or sponsor. We every entry on the road, a new initiative we just started that takes a small team we have an reentry and go from community to community to educate them on what is going on in our state. The barriers we have faced, and the solutions we have created to overcome them. Governor hutchinson mentioned restore hope. We have been very successful with prisoner reentry and foster care. Thosennecting the dots to two major issues. We have eight reentry facilities which we opened the first one in 2015. It is an 180 day program where we screen individuals about 18 months prior to transfer eligibility. Slowly transition them to 15 hours of programming. Employed,ulltime they get family communication, Substance Abuse, Mental Health. ,hen they complete the program they are to have her liberal. We have a traditional housing application now. It has helped a good push for employment. We have increased efforts. Where inmatesers can apply during incarceration. We have increased our release from 60 days to an imax of seven bes someone to release released be released to a traditional house. Using new medicaid assistant treatment programs in arkansas, which has been very successful to help us attack the opiod addictions. Governor hutchinson also mentioned we have passed legislation to try to deregulate some barriers. That will be an ongoing committee for the next couple of years. As an agency, we have realigned our Risk Assessment so that we apply the resources to highrisk offenders. Thank you for your time and feel free to ask me any questions. Governor hutchinson thank you, carrie. It is the right thing to do at a human level for those genuinely seeking a Second Chance. It is also a practical thing to do, because in every state, we have low unemployment numbers where we are looking to increase those or going into the workforce, and employers need the train workforce trained workforce, even those coming out of incarceration. I am delighted again to be joined by governor reynolds, who has been a National Leader in developing workforce opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals. Where pleased to hear from her today. Governor reynolds, thank you. Governor reynolds thank you for highlighting what you are spear heating in the great state of arkansas. Ofnce recognize the power redemption and believe in Second Chances. That is why its been one of my priorities of my administration to not only focus on eliminating barriers, but to work on rehabilitation. Honestly, it is an overall approach to our Workforce Strategy Initiative and doing everything we can to put talent back to work. I firmly believe prisons should not be one step in a circle that leads back to prison. So we started with present Training Programs like many of the states are doing. In 2015, we implemented statewide Apprenticeship Programs that offer training in all nine of our institutions. We actually have 26 occupations that are a part of the Apprenticeship Program. Were continuing to reevaluate them to make sure we are really aligning with the high demand careers that are available in the state of iowa. 350 registered apprentices taking advantage of the registered Apprenticeship Program. Over 200 apprentices have completed and earned international certification. Logged overnmates 170,000 apprenticeship hours in our correctional facilities across the state. 18 have completed their programs and achieved their status. Iowa is also one of the states that had the opportunity to participate in the Second Chance pell pilot program. I know the administration is looking into expanding that. It i would encourage states to participate in the. In that. 514 inmates that are completing college classes. Inmates currently are enrolled. Here is a great statistic that i love to talk about. The average gpa of those that are participating in the Second Chance pal program is 3. 5. When you compare that to traditional student averages, it is 2. 2. They are taking a serious and they are appreciative of the opportunity to do that. We are expanding those learning opportunities to all nine institutions. We also started a Home Building program and we traveled to south dakota. It is a winwin on many levels. It helps them learn and also upright Apprenticeship Programs to that. Electrician, plumbing, construction across the board. In our first year, working with publicprivate partnerships, they built for homes 4 homes. Especially in some communities impacted by some of the disasters we have experienced in our state. The cost of the homes. This year was 75,000. We hope to get it done 60,000 for a three bedroom home. We think we can do 18 homes next year. Also, we will be bringing another Successful Program to the state of iowa this year. And that is the last mile. Which is an Incredible Program that is helping teach incarcerated individuals how to code and the latest technology available. I did what any other good governor would do. I was welcomed by governor holcombe in indiana. He held a meeting at the womens correction of the city, where the demonstrated last mile that they have incorporated in their. There. Its been in place for 10 years, and they have yet to have one person with any recidivism whatsoever. I am excited to work with my director of corrections and get it implemented in iowa. As i wrap up, one of the things we have just doing less year and will continue to do this year that has been really effective, and that has been the employer reentry roundtables. That we are actually hosting at our correctional facilities across the state. And so, its bringing employers managers and to the facility so they have some idea of the scale that they are learning while their institutionalized they are institutionalized. What a great opportunity it is for them to solve their workforce needs. It offers them a chance to talk to other employers who have hired ex offenders, how successful it has been, some of the challenges, rewarding aspects of doing that is all. We bring individuals that have completed the program and now own their own business, or are successfully employed, so they can talk about their stories and the impact on their life. We also have some of the inmates be part at the roundtable as well. As i leave off than are talking to me about how inspired they are, that there is hope and opportunity out there. That has been just a winwin across the board, and especially for employers to see the opportunities that exist. We have had three roundtables and over 250 attendees. We had great participation. We also are putting together a portal of employers willing to hire ex offenders so that we know where to go to help streamline the process. We are putting mobility teams in our prisons that will have drivers license kits that will go to the prisons and help them get drivers licenses before they leave or start to identify the barriers that are keeping them from doing it. I will just wrap up by saying again iowas economy is growing, andave lower unemployment, again this is part of our overall strategy, whether it is the Iowa Workforce initiative, whether it is investing in workplace lane, registered Apprenticeship Programs, or Second Chances, we are really doing everything that we can to not only help all iowans reach their full potential, but continue to provide a pipeline project creators to continue to see the growth we are seeing in our economy. Thank you. Governor hutchinson thats very encouraging and inspiring, governor reynolds. Thank you for sharing that. With that, i will turn the floor over to the other governors for questions for the panelists, or a comment as to what has happened in your state. Think you very much for your leadership in this program. We are looking at Something Like that. We are looking to work with the Apprenticeship Program and the department of labor and also with the community college. As you were talking, i was what was aout resistance with the employer sector . Was there a lot of challenges that you had to overcome . I liked your roundtable experience. I think that would help us in convincing employers to participate in this program, because if they dont, you would not be successful. And the other question i had is, is there any one industrys sector that employees more of more of the Reentry Program, or is it even across the board . Governor reynolds i will talk about the reentry roundtable. Its been an opportunity its been about the reentry roundtable. They need employees so bad, they are willing to have different opportunities to do that. By giving them the opportunity to hear from other employers that have participated in the program, we spent a lot of time with q a and giving them the opportunity to answer. Notave employers that are only hiring them, but providing housing, paying the first months rent, paying so they are really a Key Partnership in all of this. Welding the vocational is one of the biggest areas that we have seen the most success with, and the traits when it comes to test in the traits when rades wheno the t it comes to Apprenticeship Programs. Governor hutchinson let me ask ms. Williams to add a little bit. In arkansas, we have struggled with the questions when we do our reentry on the road initiative. For the majority of them, they want to hire them, its and an hr issue. We know we have tackle the Substance Abuse and Mental Health issues and give a holistic approach to the employers. Its really because of education. Letting them know what their workforce is. Working harder at getting we are working harder to get the apprenticeships coming out and to get them that trade organizations actually recognize them. Thank alli want to three of you. Constructive and refreshing. I believe criminal Justice Reform, including reentry, is the bipartisan or nonpartisan issue of the day. One where we all need to do better and one where there are so many good ideas out there. My question is, particularly on an area that my state needs to work on, which is provocation of parole revocation of parole and probation. Specifically what changes you all may have made as you develop the Reentry Programs. In my state, the incarceration rate increased 40 since 2000 four. Today, we have more people that go into our institutions based on revocation of parole and probation then in any new crime. Specifically inside of the, we know the recovery is hard. It is very difficult be people often need multiple chances of recove. It is very difficult. People often need multiple chances of recovery. Four of the opportunities inside the system to give people a chance to achieve and set of setting them back for a. Of years period of years . Uniquee is a little bit to every state. It is hard to be very clear and it conversation like this. As you pointed out, some of the violations that could lead to revocation are failing a drug court,n a drug treatment they probably are going to give you another