The Danville Police Department is pleased to announce the largest class of Incarceration Doesn’t Define Us (I.D.D.U.) graduates will be honored during a ceremony at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 12, at 1 Community Way.
On Tuesday, 12 participants in the seventh I.D.D.U. class will receive a certificate of completion following their commitment to attend weekly training and information sessions about job readiness, housing, education opportunities, budgeting and more.
I.D.D.U. provides resources and assistance to citizens who have recently been released from jail ease back into the community over an eight-week period.
After Tuesday’s graduation, 59 people will have completed the I.D.D.U. program.
Since the program’s inception in 2021, Community Relations Liaison Ashtyn Foddrell remains committed to being a reference and resource for all the I.D.D.U. graduates.
The successes of the I.D.D.U. program have been overwhelming, as Foddrell pointed out, because there have been graduates who have returned to school to receive their GED, earn a college degree, and received a commercial driver’s license. Another graduate has also had their CNA license restored to return to nursing full time.
Foddrell was invited to present the I.D.D.U. program at the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in 2022. In addition, other law enforcement agencies have reached out to her to learn how they can implement a similar I.D.D.U. program in their jurisdiction.
During the ceremony Tuesday, graduates will give testimonies about the program’s impact on their lives.
The program will not be livestreamed.
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NOTE: The photograph is from the December 2023 I.D.D.U. graduation, held at the Danville Police Department.