The Shining Light Academy is an evidence-based re-entry program that transforms participants and prison environments resulting in lower recidivism, better neighbors, and stronger communities.

  • Focuses on individual’s strengths

  • Helps people discover and develop positive mindsets, tools, and skills

  • Motivates and equips people for success in educational, vocational, and relational opportunities

  • Offers a Continuum of Care - Incarceration through Reentry

  • Facilitated by formerly incarcerated & trained practitioners

The SLA has three phases and is supported by our interactive magazine, “The Loop,” and through Shining Light’s highly acclaimed electronic tablet content.

Evaluations specifically measure indicators that support lower recidivism, including:

Positive Change in Hope, Prosocial Intentions or Self-efficacy - 92%

*+Change in Hope: 75%

*+Change in Self-Efficacy: 70%

*+Change in Prosocial Intentions: 70%

Overall Rating of the program by participants: 4.7/5

*Hope Scale (Snyder, et al., 2007), General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gulley, & Eden, 2001), and the Prosocial Intentions Scale

Comments About The Academy

  • “You start to see the better in people and yourself. We learned…a constructive thought process vs. a destructive process…It is a mindset shift.”

    David / Participant (ND)

  • “It’s teaching me more how to express myself...how to be honest and loving…I’m learning each and every day.”

    Jo’van / Participant (PA)

  • “The sense of hope and community that this program has brought to these men is amazing to have been able to witness.”

    Rebecca / Prison School Principal (ND)

  • “In prison you build up the masks, those walls. You gotta put on that tough face, drop everything you love. Put it in a pit. This class enables us to reach back in that pit and feel human again.”

    Truelove / Participant (NDSP)

  • "My perspective changed a lot on just about everything that had to do with people. The idea of strength spotting made me assess and analyze people positively… My first perspective of a person is not confrontation now."

    Ash / Participant (NDSP)

  • “This is life changing. It is gonna take you out of what you are comfortable doing. Step outside of what you are doing, that’s easy. Muscles grow when you push them. Your perspective is gonna be totally different till you are totally through. The tunnel is gonna be dark when you start but when you get through, the world will look so different.”

    Cornell / Participant (SCI Chester)

Target Audience | Participants are self-selected incarcerated adults (age 18+) of all faiths, backgrounds, ethnicities, and types of crime.

For more information, email Academy Director Travis Bohn - travis@shining-light.com or call 717-867-5472