MONROEVILLE &8212; For the third year in a row, Alabama Southern Community College received a nomination for the National Bellwether Award, officials announced last week.

According to Angelia Mance, campus director for the Demopolis campus, the award is one of the most prestigious awards given to community colleges in Alabama.

The nomination is in recognition of the LifeTech Institute, a training program for parolees, which helps to reduce recidivism by preparing parolees to transition from the prison system into local communities. The program itself, which is based out of the Thomasville campus, is conducted in partnership with Governor Bob Riley and the Alabama Department of Pardons and Paroles.

Although the nomination does not specifically imply the Demopolis campus, Mance said it is significant for the whole system.

LifeTech opened in April 2006 and Alabama Southern provides all the educational training for the participants, who also receive an 11-week intensive training period.

The program includes life skills training, technical skills and vocational training.

If the college receives the award, it will be its second time recognized. In 2005, Alabama Southern Community College received the National Bellwether Award for Instructional Excellence to recognize their Teaching and Learning Initiative entitled, &8220;Commitment to Student Achievement Through Customized Instruction: A Model for Re-Creating America&8217;s Community College.&8221;

In 2006, they were recognized in the Top 10 for the 2006 National Bellwether Award for Workforce Development.