MCC 180 RAP: The Right Thing to Do
Brian Ayers
Media and Public Relations manager | July 18, 2025
On Chris Vollman’s first night at Community Correctional Center-Omaha, her caseworker, noticing her nerves, gave her an immediate task when she arrived at the work release center — take out the trash.
During Vollman’s 16-year incarceration, several years were spent in administrative segregation, confined to her own cell for 23 hours a day. She had grown accustomed to her movement being limited at her prior facility. To being counted by the guards. To the lights being on during the middle of the night. To all the interrupting sounds of a secure facility being secured.
Vollman was addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs and alcohol when she committed the robbery that led to her incarceration at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York. By the time she qualified for work release, Vollman was so used to being on the inside of a prison that stepping out seemed dangerous.
“The caseworker told me to take the trash out, and I was petrified because there wasn’t a fence around this building. I didn’t feel safe,” Vollman recounted. “That caseworker was so nice. He could see what was going on, so he said, ‘Why don’t I come with you?’ There were guards and workers who went out of their way for me when I didn’t deserve it.”
Breaking the patterns of institutional living can be difficult for people re-entering society after incarceration. Vollman said a little bit of grace during the transition can go a long way — whether coming from someone else or allowing it from within.
No matter the duration of the sentence, system-impacted individuals re-enter a world that has changed. It’s typically not a welcoming return. Finding food, shelter and clothing is not easy. Finding employment will be even harder. Reestablishing a sense of belonging is often the hardest.
Since 2015, the Metropolitan Community College 180 Re-Entry Assistance Program (180 RAP), has strived to be a place of belonging for Vollman and other individuals who are transitioning back into the community. It has developed into the largest college-based re-entry center nationwide.
Situated in the heart of North Omaha inside Building 8 on the Fort Omaha Campus, the program celebrates its 10th anniversary in July. MCC 180 RAP has served more than 11,000 people leaving the corrections system in Nebraska through its holistic re-entry programs and services — education, workforce training, job placement assistance, peer mentoring, transition support, basic needs fulfillment and more.
Diane Good-Collins, director of 180 RAP, said having the support of MCC President Randy Schmailzl from the start, and keeping the intention behind the program at its heart, has been key to its success over the years.
“When I told Randy I was advised we were the largest on-campus re-entry center in the nation, he reminded me, ‘We didn’t start a re-entry program to be the pioneers or be the largest. We did it because it’s the right thing to do,’” Good-Collins recalled.
MCC 180 RAP connects people releasing from jail, prison and treatment centers to its on-site education center, job center and food pantry. Good-Collins and more than 80% of 180 RAP staff share similar lived experiences. Peer support is integrated into every aspect of programming and services.
“We are understanding and welcoming. We get what it takes to break the cycles of addiction, negative behaviors and thinking patterns [that bring people into the corrections system],” Good-Collins said.
She designed the program to provide support and resources that weren’t always available to her when she was released from prison in 2003.
MCC 180 RAP is also the longest-standing prison education program in Nebraska. Staff members provide on-site credit and noncredit classes and services at Nebraska prisons and work release centers, including:
Omaha Correctional Center
- Tecumseh State Correctional Institution
- Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility (Omaha)
- Nebraska Correctional Center for Women (York)
- Community Corrections Center-Omaha
- Community Corrections Center-Lincoln
Through the peer support Vollman found (and now provides) at MCC 180 RAP, her world has changed for the better. Vollman is now several years sober. Sharri Wirth, who is the program manager of MCC 180 RAP, previously worked with Vollman as her sponsor in a 12-step program.
“I didn’t know how to hold a job. I thought that if I was tired, then I could go home. I would just clock out and leave. I didn’t understand why people were getting mad about it,” Vollman said.
Vollman credits the good examples she was surrounded by at 180 RAP for the transformation of her life. When she got out of prison, Vollman said she didn’t have much of a relationship with her son, Bailey. He was raised by his grandparents.
“I saw Sharri and Diane — they have great family lives. They are happy and I wanted that, too,” Vollman said.
Vollman has repaired her relationship with Bailey. She remembers the moment, a year ago, when her mom told her she was proud of her. Now Vollman is enjoying being a grandmother of two.
“I’ve learned how to love myself and others. I’ve learned compassion. I’ve learned how good life is. It’s not always about having a million dollars. I don’t have everything I want, but I have everything I need, and it’s a happiness I’ve never had before,” Vollman said.
CRITICAL SUPPORT VIA CREDIBLE PEERS
Wirth said one of the most valuable things people transitioning out of the criminal justice system see at 180 RAP is their peers living fulfilling lives after incarceration. Having others invested in their success makes a difference.
“It’s life-changing, and it creates a ripple effect. When you get hooked up with a community and your family, it breaks a cycle,” Wirth said.
Vollman draws from her lived experience with the criminal justice system when providing peer support to program participants. Her favorite part of her full-time job is leading orientations with new students because she remembers how she felt when she started showing up to 180 RAP.
“When [people transitioning from the criminal justice system] first come in, 9 out of 10 times, they just look broken. They look so sad. That’s why I love doing orientations,” Vollman said. “First, I smile, shake their hand and tell them my name because they need to know that they are alright — that they are safe, and we can conquer these demons together.”
Brandon Jergensen started taking classes at MCC 180 RAP after having difficulty finding employment while on probation due to the felonies showing up on his background check.
“I’d always been employable, had a really good résumé, so I didn’t think finding a job would be an issue, but it was really difficult — like I never would have imagined,” Jergensen said.
Jergensen, studying to become a chemical dependency counselor, now works full-time as a data specialist with 180 RAP. He provides information and statistics for grant applications and reports — work that gives him a sense of purpose and connection.
“This has been my favorite place to work because I get to serve an underserved population,” Jergensen said. “I’m in Tecumseh [at the state correctional facility] twice a week, and just walking in there, I realize I could easily be there right now.”
Jergensen has come to understand that his individual success in the program is a product of the foundational strength the group has built together through shared experience.
“I know that long-term group therapy is the most effective therapy, especially for people who have a history with drugs and alcohol,” Jergensen said. “It’s a very tight-knit community, and I understand I might be the only person someone else with a similar background may ever meet.”
Successful reintegration can swing on employment and education. Lacking either can be a contributing factor to a decision that leads to an arrest. Gaining either can lead to overcoming past setbacks.
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, people’s earnings on average at the time of incarceration are nearly 45% less than their nonincarcerated peers. The highest level of educational attainment for 64% of people in federal and state prisons is a GED or high school diploma.
THE HIDDEN WORKFORCE
Prison education programs reduce recidivism and help formerly incarcerated individuals find jobs. As several industries in Nebraska face a labor shortage, Good-Collins said the MCC 180 RAP program provides access to a “hidden workforce.”
Nebraska has more job openings than unemployed workers. More than 90% of Nebraska’s 5,800 prison inmates will return to society within three years, the majority of which are in the prime working-age population (25-54) and will reintegrate in Douglas County.
“We’re talented, trained and loyal. We’re part of the answer. We want to support our families and do good,” Good-Collins said.
In today’s employment landscape, more organizations are receptive to hiring people with justice-involved backgrounds. When MCC 180 RAP was founded 10 years ago, five local employers committed to hiring people from the program. Today, more than 390 Omaha-area employers are engaged. The employment rate among MCC 180 RAP participants exceeds 99%.
“When COVID happened, employers started beating down our doors for workers. Now it’s normal business,” Good-Collins said.Employers engaged with the program are discovering that 180 RAP participants represent a pool of job candidates who have something to prove.
Tim Steinbach, executive director of Ooh De Lally, a restaurant that partners with MCC 180 RAP through its Jump Start Culinary Project, developed in collaboration with the MCC Institute for the Culinary Arts. Ooh De Lally, located in the former home of Mark’s in Dundee, provides “a seat at the table for everyone” with a “mission beyond the kitchen.”
The 180 RAP Jump Start Culinary Project provides short-term training in the culinary and hospitality industries with the goal of connecting students to entry-level careers. Steinbach said around half of the restaurant’s staff is employed through the partnership.
“[Ooh De Lally employees from MCC 180 RAP] are the ones who are singing our praises the loudest. They are the ones who are happy to come to work every day,” Steinbach said. “When there’s a special event and we need to ask someone to come in on their day off, the first people to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll be here,’ are the folks who came to us through 180 RAP.”
After about 90 days, participants earn a noncredit certificate in Restaurant Basics. If they choose to enter the culinary workforce, they leave qualified to be a prep cook, line cook or perform hospitality service work. If they want to continue their education, they build upon their earned microcredits at the MCC Institute for the Culinary Arts.
Steinbach said pay for entry-level careers in the restaurant industry is on the rise due to demand.
“There is such need for these workers, so those wages are coming up. If a living wage is $16 to $18 an hour in Nebraska, you can beat that pretty easily with most restaurant jobs today,” Steinbach said.
Steinbach said one of the things he’s come to appreciate most during a career in the industry is the magical ability of a restaurant kitchen to create harmony among an ensemble of personalities who wouldn’t typically pair well. Working shoulder-to-shoulder in the kitchen, “they become artists of the highest quality.”
“Restaurant kitchens have traditionally always been the safe haven for misfits, a refuge for people who have backgrounds,” Steinbach said. “[Ooh De Lally] can be a place where people in our community can get to know [participants in the program] not as people who used to be in prison but as people who are part of our restaurant. The whole idea is successful reintegration. We want to be that soft jumping off spot for folks re-entering the world.”
Steinbach said he felt a calling to create a supportive community for people leaving the justice system. Having Good-Collins’ support and being able to watch her operate has been inspiring.
“Diane really wants to help people get to that stable place in their lives because I imagine it’s got to be terrifying coming out. She’s a champion of the highest caliber, and not just for Ooh De Lally, but for all the people who come through MCC,” Steinbach said. “She knows what it feels like when nobody wants to answer your phone call, and nobody will call you back on the 100 applications you put in because you have a background.”
In addition to the Jump Start Project that serves Ooh De Lally, MCC 180 RAP offers noncredit courses for CDL preparation, a construction academy, digital literacy, financial empowerment, forklift training, OSHA training and more. Employment support services include résumé creation, job referrals and ongoing support.
“The re-entry program is an amazing resource to have in the community. There are thousands of people leaving the justice system in the Omaha area who want and need work. When people have work, they’re less apt to reoffend because they receive the training to get into jobs that have real futures,” Steinbach said.
STANDING IN THE GAP
Wirth said MCC 180 RAP’s ability to help participants navigate overwhelming change keeps many coming back. After serving a 26-year sentence for a second-degree murder conviction, Greg Glass had a lot of change to navigate when he was released last year.
Glass was sentenced in 1998 during the .com boom and re-entered a tech-enabled world on release last March. People do everything on their phones now — on models with all kinds of capabilities that weren’t available when Glass was convicted.
“I’m moving slowly into seeing the world. There’s stuff that I’m just not familiar with. I’m not trying to find myself in situations I don’t understand,” Glass said.
So Glass spends a lot of time at 180 RAP. He is a full-time peer support mentor, working as a liaison for the Jump Start Culinary Project with Ooh De Lally.
On his days off, Glass is often at the Re-Entry Center on campus attending peer support groups and helping out in any way he can. While he acknowledges he is taking on a lot, he’s getting good energy in return.
“I just like being trusted. I’m just trying to work on myself to where I stay being trusted,” Glass said.
Glass recently completed an associate degree in manufacturing, power and process technology. Completing the program fulfilled a promise he made to himself when things weren’t looking as promising — to give school another try if he got the opportunity.
“With a lot of reflection time, I told myself, ‘If I ever get another chance, I don't care if I have to actually do tutoring, or whatever I need to do, I'm seeing it through.’ Once I actually got the chance, and after meeting Diane and Sharri, there were just too many people that had been supporting me, so I couldn't mess this up,” Glass said.
As Glass approaches the end of his first year of involvement on campus with 180 RAP, he still feels like he’s in the right place. He no longer sees himself as the shunned young man he identified with earlier in life.
“I think I've always been a person that sort of wants to stand in the gap, to build bridges and solve problems,” Glass said. “I went to prison one time, but it was for 26 years. Having to sit in timeout inside of a facility where there's not necessarily a lot of good stuff going on, I had to sit and think, ‘How do I help somebody?’ ‘How do I pay this forward?’ Because there was a time that I didn't think that I even deserved to be in society.”
“I had to get into my head and think about, ‘What are the good things about me? What makes me redeemable?’ And then I try to starve those other negative things about myself out,” Glass said.
Glass is still taking things slow and as they come, but he’s moving forward and opening himself to a bigger world with broader horizons than he’s ever seen before.
“I want to see the ocean. I’ve never really left the Midwest,” Glass said.
For Glass and thousands of others who have come through 180 RAP’s doors over the past decade, re-entry is where it starts. Rediscovering what’s possible is where it goes.