Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls
Inside the gates of Adobe Mountain School in Phoenix, the path forward for many young people begins with something simple. A connection. A lesson. A moment of belief that their future can look different than their past.
For many of the youth who arrive at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (ADJC), school has not always been a place of success. Some arrive significantly behind in credits. Others have struggled to stay engaged in traditional classrooms. But within the structured environment of secure care, education becomes more than coursework. It becomes a turning point.
Mike Lopez, Secure Care Bureau Administrator at Adobe Mountain School, sees that shift every day.
“When our kids come in, many of them are behind the eight ball academically,” he explains, “But when they have the opportunity to slow down, focus, and work toward something like graduation or a GED, it creates a sense of accomplishment. That success builds confidence they can carry back into the world.”
Education inside the facility is designed to do more than help students catch up. It helps them prepare for life beyond the fence. Programs focus on credit recovery, high school completion, and skill building that supports employment and further education after release.
Increasingly, technology is helping unlock those opportunities.
Through a pilot initiative developed in partnership with Ameelio, a technology nonprofit that builds free communication and educational tools for incarcerated people, ADJC is introducing secure tablets that expand learning beyond the classroom. The technology allows youth to continue coursework inside their housing units, revisit lessons, and engage with educational content outside traditional class hours.
The effort is part of a broader collaboration between Ameelio, ADJC, and Arizona State University to expand digital literacy and learning pathways for youth in Arizona’s juvenile system. The pilot is designed to serve incarcerated youth across the state while helping them build skills that support successful reentry into school, work, and community life.
For Brandon Price, Principal of Adobe Mountain School, the technology represents a shift in how learning happens.
“The goal is to help kids become independent learners,” he says. “In a traditional classroom, the teacher directs everything. But when students can continue learning after class, they begin to take ownership of their education.”
That independence is an important step toward reentry readiness. Digital literacy, self-directed learning, and problem-solving mirror the expectations youth will encounter in school, training programs, and the workplace once they return to their communities.
But the tablets are doing something else that educators and caseworkers say is just as important.
They are helping youth reconnect with family.
Young people adjudicated to ADJC come from all 15 counties across Arizona. For many families, visiting in person can be difficult due to distance, work schedules, or transportation barriers. Video visitation allows parents, siblings, and guardians to stay connected in ways that were previously limited. Before the tablets, video visitation was done one at a time on a single monitor. This new multi-device system has increased the capacity in which these visits can occur, offering more flexibility and convenience to both caseworkers and family members.
“One of the biggest reasons we were interested in the tablets was to expand visitation,” says Caitlin Imholte, Government and Public Affairs Administrator of ADJC. “Some youth have loved ones hours away or even out of state. Being able to see their family through video gives them that connection while they’re here.”
Those moments matter. Family contact can improve behavior, strengthen relationships, and remind young people that they are supported beyond the facility walls.
Across Arizona, programs like this reflect the catalytic role the Arizona Community Foundation plays in advancing education innovation. Through philanthropic investment and partnerships, ACF helps bring organizations together to pilot new solutions that expand opportunities for learners who need it most.
In this case, that collaboration includes a public agency committed to rehabilitation, a nonprofit building technology for correctional education, university researchers helping design learning pathways, and philanthropy working to bring the pieces together.
“Community foundations, such as ACF, can organically bring together service providers and government agencies. Investing through them is a sweet spot where real changes can happen fast,” says April Feng, Chief Executive Officer of Ameelio.
She adds, “Our work necessitates a broad community approach—to provide updated technologies inside correctional facilities means partnering with all those already working with the incarcerated population. This is why our partnership with ACF is so meaningful to us.”
Because sometimes the first step toward a different future begins with access. A lesson practiced after class. A conversation with family. A young person discovering that learning can open doors.
Through the Education Innovation Fund, donors help support programs that expand opportunities across Arizona. From rural classrooms to innovative reentry initiatives like this one, these investments ensure that education remains a bridge to possibility.
Support the Education Innovation Fund at the Arizona Community Foundation and help power the next generation of education solutions across Arizona.