Higher Education as a Public Safety Strategy
Youth in custody in Orange County, California currently have no access to face-to-face, classroom-based post-secondary instruction, and there is limited post-secondary outreach, engagement, or orientation activities occurring in the county's juvenile justice systems. Higher education remains a severely underutilized public safety strategy.
For years, Project Rebound has partnered with community organizations and local agencies to provide mentorship and college preparation to currently and formerly incarcerated people, leveraging the lived experience of formerly incarcerated university students—many of whom had their educational journeys as youths violently disrupted by the school-to-prison pipeline—to inspire and serve as mentors, forging a pathway for currently and formerly incarcerated people to access higher education and fostering a culture of belonging.
Our Mission Statement
“ To support the higher education and successful reintegration of the at-risk and current or formerly incarcerated youth through mentorship and the living example of other formerly incarcerated students, graduates, faculty, and staff.
Ambition. Persistence. Community.
Two voices that frame the work — one from the program's roots, one from the ancestors who remind us none of this can be done alone.
Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.— Billy Bradley
It takes a village to raise a child.— African Proverb
A Continuum of Care from Custody to Campus
Led by our Program Director, Juvenile Justice Coordinator, and students, Project Rebound employs a team of youth empowerment mentors and transfer navigators — each with lived experience of juvenile incarceration — to provide system-involved youth with a comprehensive, structured college orientation and empowerment curriculum while they are in custody, and a continuum of care and mentorship post-release.
What We Stand For
Fifty years of lived experience building a prison-to-college pipeline — and applying that same blueprint to lift up the next generation.
Closest to the Problem, Closest to the Solution
For over 50 years, Project Rebound has operated with the philosophy that formerly incarcerated people who are closest to the problems of mass incarceration are best poised to devise effective and holistic solutions. Our staff and students have faced, and overcome, many of the same challenges as incarcerated youth — making them ideal mentors, educators, advocates, and transfer navigators.
Immersion Inside a Collegiate Environment
Through partnerships with the County Juvenile Justice Court and Project Kinship, Project Rebound brings system-involved youth to the CSUF campus and the John Irwin House to immerse them in a collegiate environment surrounded by ambassadors that share their lived experience. Youth who complete the curriculum receive a certificate from CSUF and university paraphernalia to welcome them to the next stages of their journey.
The Pathway Forward
Six interlocking goals — from promoting college access to engaging the full rehabilitation ecosystem — that guide every decision we make.
Promote College Pathways
Our program supports youth in pursuing four-year degrees to build academic success, self-efficacy, and stronger communities.
Foster Educational Stability
We provide incarcerated youth with opportunities to design and follow a focused, goal-oriented educational plan.
Support Transformation Through Education
We consistently engage with underserved youth, both pre- and post-incarceration, using education as a catalyst for personal growth and change.
Collaborate for Rehabilitation
We foster cooperation with the courts, correctional staff, social workers, teachers, and key individuals who will be part of the rehabilitation process.
Leverage Lived Experience
We intentionally engage compassionate community stakeholders and formerly incarcerated university students to provide college preparation to currently and formerly incarcerated youth.
Provide Educational Access
We engage incarcerated youth through on-site college visits and virtual tours. Education is a core component of positive programming that promotes rehabilitation and transformation.
In Their Own Words
The program lives through the people it reaches. These reflections come straight from the youth we serve.
Giving the youth a second chance is where our future begins to become greater than ever imagined.— J
All it takes is one.— E
Your life is either easy now and hard later, or hard now and easy later.— D
Learning Objectives
What every participant walks away with — a clear path, a campus network, and a stronger sense of self.
Validation & Self-Efficacy
Achieve personal validation and self-efficacy by identifying careers and majors that match their passions, skills, values, and interests — charting an academic path with strategies for success through graduation and beyond.
Campus Integration
Become actively involved in the campus culture, resources, and offerings. Students learn promising practices for test-taking, studying, communication, writing, time and financial management, research, civic engagement, and leadership.
Meaning, Purpose & Belonging
Develop a sense of meaning and purpose with a focus on self-awareness and belonging in a diverse world. Actively participate in learning by critically examining and synthesizing information and making wise choices through metacognition.
Campus Tours & Community
From Anaheim High School presentations to full CSUF campus tours — a look at the program in motion.
Inspired Mentors. Proven Results.
Project Rebound at CSUF is committed to disrupting the cycle of mass incarceration by building educational pathways that replace the school-to-prison pipeline with opportunities for growth and empowerment. Through mentorship and community engagement, formerly incarcerated students and staff serve as ambassadors of higher education — guiding marginalized youth toward college and personal transformation.
Partner With Us
Whether you're an educator, a court partner, a community stakeholder, or a student ready to take the next step — there's a place for you in the Dare 2 Dream mission. Reach out and help build the next chapter.