By Laurel White
Community college programs aimed at supporting formerly incarcerated students often juggle a multitude of needs amid challenging conditions, but there are clear steps states and institutions can take to support the programs and their practitioners, according to a new study by a School of Education doctoral student.
According to previous research, access to high-quality education for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals can reduce recidivism by up to 40 percent, as well as break intergenerational cycles of trauma and poverty. Support programs for formerly incarcerated students in academic settings typically offer academic and career support, mental health counseling, transportation services, legal services, financial aid, book vouchers, and peer support.
The new study, published in the latest edition of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, examined the experiences of staff, faculty, and administrators who work for and with programs built to serve formerly incarcerated students in more than a dozen California community colleges. The qualitative, interview-based study was conducted beginning in 2020 and examined how the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent socio-political upheaval affected the programs, as well as the programs’ longer-standing themes of challenge and opportunity.
Nicole Contreras-García, a doctoral student in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, says her study was aimed at showing ways states and higher education institutions could better support formerly incarcerated students.
“Although incremental nationwide attention is growing, scholarship has yet to learn more about how states’ commitment to formerly incarcerated students can advance collaboration with colleges and influence available resources,” she says. “My study seeks to address this gap by capturing how colleges have developed a statewide network and on-campus programs to serve formerly incarcerated students.”
Contreras-García interviewed staff, faculty, and administrators at 14 community colleges affiliated with the Rising Scholars Network in California. The network, which includes roughly 75 colleges across the state, works to increase access to public higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated students.
The study found that program practitioners’ foundational task was creating a more inclusive campus environment for formerly incarcerated individuals. Practitioners achieved that goal by challenging deficit-perspectives, advocating for students’ needs, and sharing relevant resources, including housing support and advising services.
“Staff often assume a case management role for students,” Contreras-García wrote, noting this was especially true at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also pointed out that many practitioners frequently advocate for a consistent funding stream for their programs, as well as a dedicated physical space for participants to gather, connect, and engage with resources.
Contreras-García said successful programs work to address implicit and explicit biases held toward formerly incarcerated people on campus, develop professional development training with formerly incarcerated students, assume more active roles on campus, allocate funding to develop more comprehensive programs, and collaborate with campus and district leaders to meet students’ needs.
“For education practitioners, this work offers tangible ways to support formerly incarcerated students,” she wrote.
Contreras-García points out the U.S. Department of Education has made education and reentry programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals a top policy priority in recent years. That includes reopening Pell Grant eligibility to confined incarcerated individuals this summer, for the first time since 1994.
Those additional resources intend to increase matriculation and graduation rates for formerly incarcerated individuals. According to a 2018 report from the Prison Policy Initiative, a national criminal justice think tank, less than 4 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals graduate from college, compared to a national average of 29 percent.
“If states and colleges both commit to intentionally supporting formerly incarcerated students, neglected opportunity and completion gaps could be addressed and decreased,” García says.
The full study, “‘Setting Down Roots’—Developing Formerly Incarcerated Student Programs Through Advocacy and Network Building,” is available here.