In an intimate and boisterous ceremony this week at Portland State University’s Smith Memorial Student Union, nine graduates received Community Safety Worker certificates that represented two years of challenging structured training and applied learning in a first-of-its-kind program to professionalize community safety and create a curriculum that can be shared with similar programs across the country.
The graduation ceremony is the culmination of a partnership between Portland State and POIC (Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center), which provides education, training, and job placement services to disadvantaged and underserved members of the Portland community. POIC and PSU developed and delivered a workforce development training program for frontline community safety and violence prevention workers. The program was designed to support skill development and professional growth, while allowing participants to explore future education options.
“This is a proud moment,” said Joe McFerrin, president and CEO of POIC. “What we are celebrating is not just a graduation, it is a milestone for our community. For our graduates, our community safety workers, this day belongs to you.”
The Community Safety Worker certificate was co-created by POIC, PSU and other community partners and was delivered as a rigorous, two-year non-credit certificate program issued by the Systems of Care Institute at Portland State University.
“If you ever had doubts that you could do undergraduate or graduate-level coursework, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely can,” said Brooke Rizor, who leads PSU’s Systems of Care Institute.
The institute, part of the School of Social Work’s Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services, specializes in developing workforce development programs designed to promote sustainable systems changes across child welfare, mental health, education, juvenile justice and other related systems. Rizor will connect graduates with academic advisors if they are interested in pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees.
“I stand here as a community safety worker — certified!” said Isiah Bailey, a POIC case manager and one of the graduates. “I got excited about this program because it was a challenge. Education hasn’t always been a strong point in my life.”
Rizor worked with Ame Lambert, former PSU Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion, to establish the pilot program and the curriculum was studded with guest lectures from PSU faculty and visiting scholars.
“You do hard things in your community every day,” Lambert told the graduates. “But I hope this program helped you see that you can also do hard educational things.”