When the late John Irwin emerged from Soledad State Prison in the 1950s, after a stint for an armed robbery, he was determined to lay out a path for formerly incarcerated people to break the prison cycle.

He realized education was the best route and, after earning a doctorate and joining the Cal State San Francisco faculty, Irwin founded Project Rebound in 1967. The program helps those coming out of prison earn college degrees and navigate the often treacherous post-prison world.

The program, now on 14 Cal State campuses, has been a standout success, boasting a zero-recidivism rate, and was named 2021 Nonprofit of the Year for the 65th California Assembly District by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva.

The program has worked primarily with adults leaving the prison system — until now.

This year, thanks to grants from the North Orange County Public Safety Collaborative and the California Wellness Foundation, Project Rebound launched a new program aimed at juveniles.

“It’s an extension of what we do with adults,” said Artist Knox, a Project Rebound graduate of CSUF and the new juvenile justice advocate and outreach coordinator for the program.

Knox said organizers want the program to be available to all who have been jailed and that “the youth is what we were missing.”

The new program, called “Dare to Dream,” seeks to “build educational pathways for juvenile justice system-involved youth.”

“I teach them to dream beyond their cell bars,” Knox said.

Already about 20 teens, most between the ages of 14 and 17, have shown interest in the program, said Knox, who is still making presentations and recruiting students.

This year, CSU schools are poised to graduate a record 151 students from Project Rebound, including 23 masters. Cal State Fullerton expects to graduate 14.

Since 2016, about two-thirds of Project Rebound students systemwide had a 3.0 grade point average or better, and 87% found full-time employment or were admitted to postgraduate programs.

The juvenile program, seeded with a multi-year $250,000 grant from California Wellness and $95,000 from the North OC Collaborative, works with the OC Juvenile Court, County Probation Camps and Project Kinship. The program provides educational opportunities and services aimed at reducing recidivism and improving academic, psychosocial and employment outcomes.

Filling a gap

Along with homeless outreach, another focus area of funding for the Collaborative is to intervene early and divert juveniles from further exposures to violence and get them on track while they are incarcerated. Project Rebound creates “communities of care” for those emerging from incarceration.

According to organizers, Fullerton is uniquely suited to fill the gap locally as the only Cal State campus in Orange County. Since its modest founding, Project Rebound has grown to include more than 560 students.

The issue of juvenile incarceration is particularly acute in the county which, according to Project Rebound’s grant proposal, “has the second largest average of daily juvenile incarcerated population in the state.”

In Orange County, nearly 80% of juveniles incarcerated at the Youth Detention Center recently had earned their GEDs. Research has shown many jailed juveniles aspire to higher education, and yet “only 1% of court school students in California counties were enrolled in post-secondary education within 90 days of being released from juvenile justice confinement,” according to the Youth Justice Law Center.

The youth program, led by Knox, is a new development for Project Rebound, which has primarily worked with adults in the past. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, contributing photographer)

Project Rebound embarked on the juvenile project after a six-month planning process. It addresses both youth violence prevention and intervention as well as providing a system of support, mentorship and education for reentering youth.

Creating a culture

The Rebound program will help juveniles “cultivate a college-going culture.”

Knox says he tells teens that if they have been able to survive and negotiate the tricky waters of incarceration, they can apply many of those skills and perseverance to succeed in college.

“You can do it, you just have to change your approach,” Knox said.

“When you cultivate a culture of belonging and a community of care for our students, excellence is the result,” said Brady Heiner, the Project Rebound founder and executive director at Fullerton and founding chair of the CSU Consortium.

Juveniles in the program build confidence, understand their college readiness and learn from and receive mentorship from formerly incarcerated adults with similar life experiences. This will include a 12-week orientation during which the juveniles get help with applications, admissions and applying for financial aid.

Students that continue through the program and are admitted to college will receive individualized start-up kits that include books, school supplies, parking passes and money to cover application and registration fees.

Other services include help with meals, transportation, academic advising, tutoring and mentoring.

For us, by us

Because Project Rebound’s adult students are all formerly incarcerated, as is much of the staff, incoming youth will have a built-in group of mentors from whom to draw advice and inspiration.

Having peer mentors and advisors is critical to Project Rebound’s mission.

“It’s important to have someone to identify with who’s had the life they had, but who has the life they aspire to,” Knox said.

Mentors are real-life examples that the idea of college is not just a far-fetched fantasy, according to Knox. There is an innate understanding between those who have been in jail, in language, in dialogue and even in non-verbal cues.

As organizers say, “recognizing that many of our students have histories of physical, sexual and/or mental abuse, as well as negative experiences in educational settings, we employ trauma-informed care strategies to respond to students with empathy and understanding.”

“It takes those who have been in the system to change the narrative, the direction and the outcome,” Knox said.

Romarilyn Ralston,  CSUF Project Rebound program director, said the success of Project Rebound students, also called “rebound scholars,” goes beyond GPAs and recidivism rates.

“It’s that these folks are using their educations to change the world,” she said. “They’re setting an example that higher education is transformative.”

Organization

The North Orange County Public Safety Collaborative’s review committee was impressed with the viability and promise of Dare to Dream and Project Rebound’s enthusiasm to work with other community-based partners.

Knox says collaboration with the courts and groups like Santa Ana-based Project Kinship is critical.

“We’re in each other’s environments,” Knox said. “Being connected is something an organization like ours is ecstatic about.”

Knox said Orange County Probation has allowed him access to talk to kids in its camps and judges have given him access to juvenile courtrooms.

Although nonprofits sometimes find themselves vying for the same funding, Knox said, “It’s not a competition, it is a cooperation. We’re all about collaboration. I think it should be a standard to have groups come together.”

Knox adds that once juveniles can develop the college mindset and belief in themselves they will be ready for anything.

“To me that’s the ultimate salvation,” he says.

Related Articles