The Importance of a Work Community

Howdy Sunday Morning Coffee-ites! Let’s talk about something that doesn't get nearly enough attention in correctional education: community.

You know, that thing public school teachers get handed in professional learning communities, team meetings, back-to-school PD days, and—if they're lucky—a fully stocked teachers' lounge with coffee that doesn’t taste like regret.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Public school teachers face all kinds of challenges too. But when it comes to opportunities for collaboration, connection, and professional development? Correctional educators are often out here like lone wolves—brilliant, dedicated, and exhausted wolves, but alone nonetheless.

So, what do we do when the system doesn’t hand us a ready-made professional community?

We build one.

Why Work Community Matters (Especially in Corrections)

Let’s face it. Correctional education is a calling and a crucible. You’re balancing education with security. Navigating bureaucracy while trying to be innovative. Walking into classrooms behind locked doors, sometimes unsure if anyone else understands what you’re trying to do.

That’s isolating work. And isolation isn’t just hard—it’s harmful. It can lead to burnout, high turnover, and a creeping feeling that what you're doing doesn’t matter.

But when we find our people—even if it’s just a few colleagues who get it—everything shifts.

A healthy, supportive work community provides:

☕ Validation: A space to say, “This was hard,” and hear, “Yeah, me too.”
☕ Encouragement: On the days when your energy is low and your patience is thinner than prison-issued toilet paper.
☕ Growth: Professional conversations spark ideas. Even informal ones can help you rethink a lesson, approach a behavior differently, or finally figure out that one student’s learning style.
☕ Retention: People don’t leave jobs—they leave environments. A supportive community can make you stay when everything else is telling you to quit.
☕ Joy: Yes, joy. Even in corrections. Especially in corrections.

So How Do We Build It?

You don’t need a giant team or an annual conference in Vegas (although let’s be honest, we’d all say yes to that). Here’s what community-building can look like—especially in our world:

Start Small and Start Local
Find one or two coworkers who are open to connecting beyond surface-level stuff. Maybe it’s a weekly lunch in the library. Maybe it’s 10 minutes after class to debrief. Don’t underestimate the power of informal, consistent connection.

Create a Space for Professional Exchange
Start a monthly coffee talk or brown-bag lunch where staff share strategies, challenges, or wins. It doesn’t have to be formal. In fact, informal is often better. Create a culture where knowledge-sharing is part of the norm.

Make PD Your Own
If conferences and formal trainings aren’t available, start a book club with other educators. Read about trauma-informed teaching or restorative practices and discuss how it applies behind the fence. Turn necessity into innovation.

Use Technology (When You Can)
If your facility allows email or intranet use, start a digital newsletter, chat group, or resource hub. Even a group text (if allowed) can make a difference. No tech? Go analog: bulletin boards, flyers, or a printed monthly digest of good ideas.

Reach Outside the Fence
Join national organizations like the Correctional Education Association (CEA) or Coalition of Adult Basic Education (COABE). Connect with correctional educators on LinkedIn. You're not as alone as you think. Other folks are doing this work across the country—and they’re looking for community too.

Administrators, Take Note
If you’re in leadership, you have the power to make community a priority. Set time aside for collaboration. Recognize team efforts. Celebrate growth. Create structures that make connection possible, not just optional.

Community Is a Verb

Community isn’t just a noun—it’s something you do. It’s built in the passing “you okay?” in the hallway. In the shared snacks on a tough day. In the brainstorming sessions after hours. In the handwritten thank-you note. In the “I’ve been there too.”

Correctional education is too important—and too difficult—to do in isolation. We need each other. For support. For sanity. For sustainability.

And when we build that community—imperfectly, intentionally, and often on our own time—it changes everything.

So if you’ve been feeling like a team of one, know this:
Your people are out there. Some of them might already be right down the hall.

Bring the coffee. Open the door. Let’s build the community we wish we had.

Your Turn
Are you part of a strong work community? How did you build it? What do you wish you had? Leave a comment or send me a message—I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next Sunday,

Cheers! ☕