This information was contributed by guest blogger Patricia Doherty who is a Supervising U.S. Probation Officer with the Eastern District of Missouri. 

On March 14, 2008, Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) training was completed in Dublin, California. This training was a national partnership training hosted by the Northern District of California and FCI, Dublin.  The 22 participants included staff from the Northern District of California - probation; Central District of California - pretrial; District of Hawaii - pretrial; District of Nevada - pretrial; local residential reentry centers; local one stops; Bureau of Prisons staff from the Western Regional Office, FCI, Dublin and FCI, Atwater; and Santa Clara County Probation Officers.  Trainers included Pat Doherty, Scott Anders, and Dean Miller who are all from the ED/MO; Melinda Clark and Matt Elvin form the Bureau of Prisons and John Rakis from the National Institute of Corrections.  Congratulations to all of the participants.

 
On April 18, 2008, Master Trainers Pat Doherty and Dean Miller provided OWDS Instructor Training to the following participants:

Elaine Kost, N.Y.S. Department of Labor; Cynthia O. Mendiola, U. S. Probation, Western District of Texas; Janis R. Lasswell, U.S. Probation, Eastern District of Missouri ; Belinda Marie Ashley, U.S. Probation, Eastern District of Missouri; Zaneta Carol Vaughn, Federal Bureau of Prisons - Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina; Evey Wooten, U. S. Probation Office, Middle District of North Carolina; Benjie Pittman, Federal Bureau of Prisons/ Federal Correctional Center, Yazoo City, Mississippi; Mona Horton, Federal Bureau of Prisons/ Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, Federal Correctional Center, Butner, North Carolina; Tracy Longacre, Federal Bureau of Prisons/ Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, New York.  Congratulations to these new instructors who will now join the national training team.

On May 9, 2008, OWDS training was completed in New York, New York.  This training was hosted by the New York Southern District probation and pretrial offices and the Eastern District pretrial office.  The 19 participants included staff from the Southern District of New York's probation and pretrial offices, the Eastern District of New York's pretrial office, Western District of New York, District of New Jersey - pretrial, Bureau of Prisons - MCC New York; and the CASH and Hope programs.  Trainers included Pat Doherty, Ryan Wilke, Quincy Fountain, all from the Eastern District of Missouri; Scott Albert from Western District of Pennsylvania; Kathy Oakar from the Northern District of Ohio and Pamella Harris and Robert Walsh from the Southern District of New York. Congratulations to all of the participants.

To date, Federal Probation's Eastern District of Missouri has completed 13 OWDS trainings.  214 participants have completed the training and 134 of those were federal probation officers, probation officer assistants, or pretrial officers. The 14th training will be held in St. Louis in June and September.