Before the sun set Thursday, a group of men cracking jokes and wearing big smiles stood outside of the Napa County Office of Education building.
They were there to greet family and friends who had arrived to watch their graduation from the Napa Community Corrections Service Center, an intensive reentry program designed to reduce recidivism and jail crowding.
GEO Reentry, formally known as BI Incorporated, runs the program in partnership with Napa County Probation Department. On Thursday, 12 men and women received graduation certificates.
Behavior change manager Cesar Estrada explained it usually takes the probationers anywhere from one to three years to reach graduation.
“It’s really up to them on how fast they finish,” Estrada said. “It’s a self-pace program. They do group classes and individual cognitive therapy.
They have a lot of one on one interactions with us and have to test clean throughout the program.”
Being able to test clean for any substances is not an easy task, but it’s a necessary one for potential graduates, Estrada explained.
“Some of them have setbacks, but it’s all part of the program,” he said.
The program currently has around 50 probationers attending the day reporting center and another 50 who check in one to three times a week for a pretrial release program.
In the past seven years of the center’s existence, only 25 percent of graduates have committed another crime, including probation violations and misdemeanors. More than half of graduates exit the program employed.
Program manager Karen Graff explained Thursday that the day’s event was their 13th graduation ceremony.
“The journey for some of them has been very hard and at times seemingly an uphill battle,” Graff said. “They persevered and are here tonight because they never gave up. It’s been an honor to watch them grow and change and become they people they are today.”
After introductions were made, the keynote speech was delivered by Alfredo Pedroza of the Napa County Board of Supervisors.
“When I ran for city council, I was 25 years old,” Pedroza said. “People told me you’re never going to make it, it’s too hard. These are words you guys have heard before, right? But you persevered and you worked hard. You found the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Former program graduate Jenna Bolyarde, whose previous struggles with substance abuse kept her in and out of jail, also gave an encouraging speech before the graduates were honored.
“Each one of you has the possibility of doing anything you want to do with your lives,” Bolyarde said. “All it takes is follow through, faith, and a network of people supporting you.
“For some of you, this program was just something you had to get through. But, for any of you grads who want a new, free life, then I hope you look at this graduation as the beginning of your life instead of the end of the program. It’s up to you now.”
As the graduating probationers accepted their certificates, they had an opportunity to say a few words to the audience. First up was Ryan Brown.
“I’d like to say that I’m really grateful to my family,” Brown said. “I don’t have much to say other than my family has been there for me. And also thank you to my girlfriend. She helps me stay on top of things.”
Other graduates were similarly terse with their microphone time, speaking a few sentences thanking friends, family and the establishment for their support.
When the ceremony was done, pieces of cake were served and people had the chance to mingle before the room cleared out.
“Each one of these graduates persevered through the challenges and made the decision to keep moving forward to a new life,” Graff said. “I often share one of my favorite phrases, ‘You can only hit bottom when you stop digging.’ Well, these 12 graduates made the choice to stop digging and rise to the top.”
