Complete Story
10/21/2026
Second Chance Optical Training
If you are anything like me, you can’t count the number of second chances you’ve had in life. Whether it’s for when you messed up in school, screwed up at work, or just flat out made a bad decision, most of us have been afforded the grace of second chances. It was in this spirit that the Second Chance Optical Training Program was created.
Early in 2025, Ohio Penal Industries (OPI), in coordination with the Ohio Reformatory for Women, contacted the Opticians Association of Ohio (OAO) for assistance in helping female inmates to become licensed opticians. Initially, they had approached the Ohio Vision Professionals Board (VPB), but because of current laws regarding licensure for Ohio opticians, and the fact that the women have felony records, it was determined that licensure was not an option for these ladies seeking to reenter society as opticians.
Not wanting to give up on the hope of having these determined women being able to one day work in the optical field, OPI invited Executive Director of the OAO, Shirley Earley, and I to visit the on-site optical lab at the reformatory in Marysville, Ohio. We were stunned by what these women are accomplishing, on a daily basis, with basic machinery and instruments.
