The Road to Success is Always Under Construction

By Carly Barnes


New Program at Dozier Gives Back to Community

The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys is a state operated, staff and hardware secure, level eight training school for males. It has been in existence for 108 years. The facility is divided into two components: Dozier High-Risk and Dozier Sexual Offender Program.
The stated goal of Dozier School is to rehabilitate its young residents in order for them to eventually return to the community as productive members of society. Each resident is offered the opportunity to receive job training in masonry, horticulture, auto mechanics, and other services. Also offered at the facility is the FETCH program, which teaches the boys how to care for and train young dogs before the animals are adopted. Additionally, Dozier is now housing a new program, Home Builders Institute, the workforce development arm of the National Association of Home Builders.
Home Builders Institute has been housed at Dozier for only three weeks, but has promising goals designed to benefit the community and the residents. This Dozier program is the first time that HBI has been housed at a high-risk facility.
The program will train 48 students annually, with 16 students in each of the three trades being taught: plumbing, carpentry, and facility maintenance. Christina Kuhn is the Project Coordinator for HBI and is looking forward to implementing the program’s goal of training the boys to be qualified for gainful employment in the construction industry. The specific HBI program to be offered at Dozier is Project CRAFT (Community, Restitution, Apprenticeship-Focused Training), which has been recognized by the U.S. Congress for its goals to empower youth through education, life-long career building skills, and employment in the nation’s home building industry.
The students must first apply to be part of the HBI program and then have to follow a process in order to be admitted. Each boy is recommended by referral, must be suitable for vocational training, and receives training for six months, usually towards the end of their time at Dozier. The students take classes in the morning or afternoon with HBI in their specific trade and then spend the rest of the day working towards their high school diploma or GED from the Washington County School Program at Dozier. Through this training, the boys learn employability and safety skills, and when they meet the curriculum for their trade, the students earn a Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate from the National Association of Home Builders.
HBI also follows up on its graduate students for six months, and helps them to find a job and enrollment in a school. HBI’s entry-level graduates earn an average $8.50 to $12.00 an hour on their first job after graduation.
Out of over 300 residential facilities in Florida, only four house Home Builders Institute programs. All of the programs in North Florida have been established for less than one year. The slogan of the Dozier HBI program is “The road to success is always under construction.” This very appropriate slogan is displayed on the back of the students’ uniform t-shirts.
Home Builders Institute has partnered with PANDAPP (Panhandle Drug & Alcohol Abuse Prevention Coalition, Inc.) to begin a community service project. The HBI students will provide all of the labor needed to construct wooden benches that will display anti-drug slogans. Dozier will host a facility-wide art contest for the boys to create the anti-drug slogans, and the winning slogans will be painted on the benches.
The bench project is still in the development stage, but the project plans are to display the benches throughout the community to spread drug and alcohol abuse awareness. HBI will also provide the labor for other upcoming PANDAAP projects. All HBI community service projects must be done inside the Dozier facility.
As Complex Superintendent Mary Zahasky said, “All of our students have victimized their own communities in some way, and they now have a chance to give back to our community through these projects.” HBI is open to suggestions regarding community service projects related to the boys’ training, where the students can provide free labor.
In order for HBI to construct the anti-drug benches and other projects, the materials needed must be donated. We can help these boys give back to the community and learn the importance of serving others by supporting their cause. If you or your business can donate lumber or other building materials, please contact Christina Kuhn at (850) 573-2224 or CKuhn@hbi.org.