Lighting the Path to Reentry: The SHINE Correctional IET Program
by Marjorie Lampkin and Tracy Elliott, Regional Program Managers
The first graduating class of Rappahannock Community College’s Adult Education Solar Panel Technician Integrated Education and Training (IET) program—known as SHINE—represented a powerful example of innovation in action. Held at Haynesville Correctional Center, the program stood behind each graduate as a model designed not only to teach technical skills, but also to create meaningful pathways to employment and successful reentry.
The success of SHINE can be understood through four key principles: creativity, flexibility, strong partnerships, and open communication.
Expanding the Model: Replicating Success
Building on these strong principles, RCC Adult Education partnered with Middle Peninsula Regional Adult and Career Education to extend the SHINE model across regions through a 2024-2025 Innovation Challenge Grant. This next phase focused on scaling what works through intentional collaboration:
- A cross-regional partnership between Adult Education Regions 17 and 18
- Expanded collaboration with RCC Workforce Development
- Replication of a proven, effective IET model within correctional facilities
- Expansion to advanced credentials by including a Photovoltaic Associate certification through the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners
- Partnerships with two local jails, Northern Neck Regional Jail and Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center, to initially offer Customer Service IET programs with plans to expand into Solar IET programs moving forward
This effort demonstrates how creative partnerships can broaden impact, increase access to high-demand training, and strengthen workforce pipelines across multiple regions.
Results That Matter: Impactful Outcomes
Across the initial five cohorts during 2022-2023, 45 students enrolled in the first SHINE IET program. Of those, 41 participants (91%) earned at least one industry-recognized credential, establishing a strong foundation for program success.
Building on this momentum, cumulative results from 2023 through May 2026 demonstrate both growth and sustained impact across programs. In customer service IET cohorts, 105 students enrolled, with 93 earning a certificate—an 89% completion rate. Within the SHINE IET program, 242 students participated, resulting in 239 entry-level solar installation certifications—an exceptional 99% credential attainment rate—and 104 advanced solar certifications, reflecting continued skill advancement beyond entry-level training.
Additional outcomes include:
- Correctional IET participants being enrolled as community college students with a VCCS ID, enabling seamless transition to continued education upon release
- Strong employment pathways for certified participants post-release
- Increased measurable skill gains for the adult education program
- Formal graduation ceremonies that reinforce achievement and motivation
Together, these results reinforce the effectiveness of corrections-based IET programming, demonstrating high completion rates, strong credential attainment, and clear pathways to workforce entry and advancement.
Conclusion
The RCC Adult Education and Middle Peninsula R.A.C.E. partnership demonstrates what is possible when innovation meets collaboration. Corrections IET programs do more than deliver training–they create pathways to employment, stability, and successful reentry. In doing so, they illuminate a powerful truth: when adult education aligns with workforce needs and community partnerships, lives–and futures–can change. By focusing on creativity, flexibility, partnerships, and communication, the program achieves strong outcomes in a complex environment.
With an overall 95% industry recognized credential attainment rate—and a proven strategy to expand regionally—the answer is clear: the effort was not only worthwhile, it is sustainable and scalable.