Throughout their time in the academy, cadets work with mentors to provide additional support during their journey toward self-discipline and academic success.

"When they’re here on the ground for the five-and-a-half-month program, they’re constantly speaking to their mentors," she said. "They kind of give them that ongoing motivation, and it’s a different, or added, perspective than what their family give them or what we give them."

Alongside their mentors, instructors actively contribute to molding the cadets, playing a pivotal role in their development.

“Our teachers from the San Joaquin County Office of Education are just amazing with how they run their classrooms, how they connect with students and how involved they are," Elias said. "They just enhance it all.”

Elias explained that upon completing the 22-week residential program, cadets continue to benefit from the robust support system, ensuring the momentum of their positive trajectory.

“After the 5-month program, they still have a 12-month post-residential program where they work with their mentor to get back in school, get jobs, go to college, or join the military,” she said. “After they leave us, they’re positively placed somewhere after meeting all the core components of our program.”

The constant collaboration among the cadre, instructors, case managers, and mentors ensures that cadets receive the maximum benefit from DCA.

“We’re able to see the progress of the graduate and assess their progress, or maybe not so much progress, and then we adjust the resources they need," she said.

"At the end of the day, they have that foundation; they have the basis of what they need to succeed and move forward," Elias said. “Here, we’re not changing lives, we're transforming them.”