S1: E14 | Credit for Service: Empowering Texas’ Juvenile Justice Workforce

How can education strengthen public service? In this special episode of Gator Bites, President Wendy Elmore sits down with Chris Ellison, Director of Program Development and Training for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, to discuss an innovative partnership transforming the TJJD workforce. Together, they explore how LSCO is helping new hires and long-time employees earn college credit, pursue certificates and associate degrees, and even move toward bachelor’s pathways all through training they've already completed. Discover how collaboration between education and public service is creating career opportunities, improving employee retention, and empowering those who serve Texas youth.

About Lamar State College Orange:
Lamar State College Orange (LSCO) is a two-year, state-supported institution located on the banks of the Sabine River in Orange, Texas. As part of the Texas State University System, LSCO is committed to transforming lives and communities through the continual pursuit of academic, professional, and personal excellence. Serving more than 5,500 students, the College offers associate degrees and certificates in academic, technical, and workforce fields, providing new and unique opportunities for growth and success. With a focus on accessibility, affordability, and innovation, LSCO serves a diverse student population, including a high percentage of first-generation college students. Through strong community partnerships, dedicated faculty and staff, and innovative student support services, LSCO is the bridge connecting those it serves to a bright, Orange future.

Transcript

00;00;07;15 - 00;00;33;25
Daniel McLemore
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Gator Bites, the official podcast of Lamar State College Orange, where we interview faculty, staff and student to give the community an inside look into life here at AE. Today we have a special episode for you. President Elmore sat down with Chris Ellison, director of training for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. AE and TJ ad have partnered together in an innovative training opportunity to talk more about it. Here's President Elmore.

00;00;33;27 - 00;00;43;21
Wendy Elmore
Thank you. Daniel, I really appreciate that. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Wendy Elmore, and I'm the president of Lamar State College orange. And I'd like for our guest to introduce himself.

00;00;43;21 - 00;00;49;15
Chris Ellison
Also, I'm Chris Ellison. I'm the director of program development and training for Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

00;00;49;18 - 00;01;03;12
Wendy Elmore
Well, this is a very exciting day. And so I think we're going to be able to share with our listeners more about how the partnership between Lamar State College, Orange and Texas Juvenile Justice Department started. Can you, tell us what how you recall it starting, Chris?

00;01;03;13 - 00;01;24;15
Chris Ellison
Absolutely. So we were we had in the past done this where our, our new hires could get college credit. And when Covid hit, we kind of went away from it. And so we really decided it's such an important thing, right? It's such a chance for us to build our bench, so to speak, to bring people into the fold, to get them to get college credits.

00;01;24;17 - 00;01;48;27
Chris Ellison
And so, I spoken to someone at TDC and they gave me, obviously, your contact information. And so I was able to reach out to you. And, I mean, we just hit the ground running it. We started this. I look back in March of, of 2025, I guess. Yeah. And we already have a MoU signed. We already have 173 students enrolled and that's growing every month.

00;01;48;27 - 00;01;51;17
Chris Ellison
And it's just been an incredible partnership.

00;01;51;20 - 00;02;03;12
Wendy Elmore
So as you were, identifying this partnership or finding ways to establish a partnership, what was it the challenges that you were seeing at TJ, JD, that led you to explore this where we are today?

00;02;03;16 - 00;02;22;18
Chris Ellison
Well, I think that any time we can get people started on the college track, and that it stops it from just being a job and it moves it into a career. We want people that want to make this a career. I just got through speaking to you, to your some of your staff about how I got in this and didn't think it was going to be a career.

00;02;22;18 - 00;02;39;24
Chris Ellison
And 34 years later, I'm still here and, we want to get more people like that. We're always looking for that next leader. And sometimes people come in and they don't even realize how much they're going to enjoy it and how good they are at the job. And this gives them another chance to continue to grow in that job and grow in this field.

00;02;39;27 - 00;02;40;28
Chris Ellison
Yeah.

00;02;41;01 - 00;02;56;14
Wendy Elmore
I would say that that's probably a really a true statement from what we've seen. How would you describe, the impact to the partnership between Lamar State College, Orange and Texas Juvenile Justice Department with regards to your employment retention efforts?

00;02;56;17 - 00;03;29;09
Chris Ellison
I think it's going to help. I mean, not only are they're getting credit in the new hire training, but they're going to get credit for annual training. There's leadership academies that we're working with to get, college credits in that they can start taking online courses around their schedule. I think that was one of the things that really drew me to Lamar was the ability to take those online courses, the ability to know that our staff work strange schedule sometimes, and they're still able to take these classes in, in their in their days off, can spend a couple hours watching the lectures, taking the classes, reading what they need to.

00;03;29;09 - 00;03;37;08
Chris Ellison
So it's really an opportunity not only for them to gain credits while they sit in our training, but also the y'all schedule able to work around theirs.

00;03;37;09 - 00;03;57;09
Wendy Elmore
Yeah, and I do think that that's a testament to why you think that our partnership is really valuable. You also mentioned how quickly we were able to kind of get the ball rolling and establish the partnership and, you know, do all the things that it took to get it going. Is there anything else that you think makes Lamar State College Orange a good fit or.

00;03;57;15 - 00;04;23;21
Chris Ellison
Well, other than the fact that I'm from orange, I love supporting the local community. I think I think that just y'all's willingness, y'all's willingness to work with us the way that y'all see it as, as an opportunity for our staff. How motivated y'all were even after the MOU got signed to get us up and running to to work with us on the challenges we are having with getting people logged in and all that, and it made it seamless.

00;04;23;21 - 00;04;26;22
Chris Ellison
And for that alone, it's been worth everything.

00;04;26;29 - 00;04;55;09
Wendy Elmore
Great. Thank you. As far as next steps, and I'll just kind of think what I think from Lamar State College Orange's next step, perspective for next steps. We are very excited to have your staff, your employees completing the certificates with us, the associate of applied science degrees with us. But for us, we're also excited to offer them array of opportunities to complete and use those credits that they've completed with AE towards their bachelor's degree.

00;04;55;09 - 00;05;16;06
Wendy Elmore
So that's something that we're really looking forward to give them opportunity from their in-service pre-service training to go all the way up to a baccalaureate degree. And so because we're in the Texas State University system, we've got, some partnerships in place with Sam Houston State University, which, you know, is one of the prom and premier criminal justice programs in the country.

00;05;16;09 - 00;05;27;22
Wendy Elmore
And so that's something that we are excited about. The opportunity then for your employees to have access to those. What are some of the other things that you're thinking of that, will be the next steps for this partnership, our expansion.

00;05;27;27 - 00;05;49;16
Chris Ellison
Well, first off, I want to reiterate what you just said. I think that that is something that I did going into this. I obviously knew of Lamar College, Lamar State College, Orange. I did not know about yours. With Texas State, I did not know about with Sam Houston and the ability for that. Like you're saying, Sam Houston has one of the best criminal justice programs in the country, right?

00;05;49;16 - 00;06;09;26
Chris Ellison
I mean, it's very well known. It's very well respected. Texas State is a very well respected university. And so I think that allowing them to not only get the associate's degree, but to continue on and know that these credits are going to town, account for a B.S. degree and they can get a criminal justice or sociology or can even be electives if they want.

00;06;09;26 - 00;06;31;17
Chris Ellison
Choose to do something else is such a valuable tool for them. I think one, we want to continue to expand this. I would love to see it where, like our local partners are able to come with that for our people that work in the detention facilities. I think that would be good. I think the other thing, too, is I know you're working on this for our youth to get college credits for the vocation.

00;06;31;17 - 00;06;53;17
Chris Ellison
That's going to be huge for our partnership, but for our staff, especially our new hire staff, just giving them an opportunity to start working on classes. And there may be people sitting in this classroom right now that are watching this that already have college credits, and this is just going to add on to those credits. And it could put them one step closer to that associate's degree, one step closer to that bachelor degree.

00;06;53;24 - 00;07;09;09
Chris Ellison
And so anything we can do to help move people through the system. And I bet a lot of times we're going to have first time college people and they're going to be like, hey, I'm already starting with 12 hours, 17 hours, 20 hours, whatever it is, depending on how long they've worked here, is going to be such a huge benefit for them.

00;07;09;11 - 00;07;23;16
Wendy Elmore
Sure. That's exciting. It really gets me excited. So, Chris, if you could leave our listeners, and with one message about the power of collaboration specifically between education and public service, what would that be?

00;07;23;19 - 00;07;48;12
Chris Ellison
I think that the opportunity is there. The opportunity is there to not only serve the public service and the public good, but also further your career. You're not just stuck with, oh, I'm working a job, I now have a career, and I have a chance, with the help of Lamar State College, to move towards that associate's degree, to move towards that certification, to move towards a bachelor's degree.

00;07;48;15 - 00;08;07;11
Chris Ellison
I think that to me just shows how strong the partnership can be. It shows that people are willing to to invest in them and they can invest in themselves and they realize, hey, I'm here working, but I'm also earning college credit. And that is something that I remember when I was back in school, we did not have that opportunity.

00;08;07;19 - 00;08;16;13
Chris Ellison
So the fact that that you guys at Lamar State College have taken this opportunity and given us this opportunity, it's just going to be incredible for our staff.

00;08;16;19 - 00;08;27;22
Wendy Elmore
I would echo those sentiments as well. We're very excited about this partnership and the collaboration that you and your team have have shared with us, and we look for, greater opportunities in the future for it to be expanded.

00;08;27;25 - 00;08;31;03
Chris Ellison
I'm I'm so excited. Thank you so much.

00;08;31;05 - 00;08;48;16
Daniel McLemore
Thank you both for your collaborative spirit and willingness to build partnerships that impact so many to our listeners. Be sure to keep up with the latest Gator Bites podcast episodes on the AE website, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to bringing you another conversation soon.