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DARE 2 DREAM

Building Post-Secondary Pathways to College Success for Incarcerated Youth

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.

 

Dare 2 Dream: Pathways to College Success

The mission of Project Rebound at CSUF is to support the higher education and successful reintegration of the formerly incarcerated. Project Rebound works to disrupt the revolving door of mass incarceration and construct life-affirming alternatives to mass incarceration by creating opportunities for formerly incarcerated staff and students—as ambassadors of higher education—to mentor marginalized youth in their local communities as well as in carceral settings, disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and building a pathway to higher education in its place. 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.

Why was "Dare 2 Dream" created?

Dare 2 Dream Logo

DARE 2 DREAM

Led by our Program Director, Juvenile Justice Coordinator, and students, Project Rebound will employ a team of youth empowerment mentors and transfer navigators, each with a lived experience of juvenile incarceration themselves, 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.

Project Rebound

OUR MISSION

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 to those problem. Project Rebound staff and students have faced, and overcome, many of the same challenges as incarcerated youth, and for that reason will serve as ideal mentors, educators, advocates, and transfer navigators to build robust post-secondary pathways and continuity of care for incarcerated and reentering juveniles.

There is a tremendous opportunity for Project Rebound to use our 50 years of experience successfully building a prison-to-college pipeline through seamless prematriculation advising, transfer navigation, and empowerment curricula to inspire and uplift criminally convicted youth to pursue the transformative power of higher education.

Through partnerships with the County Juvenile Justice Court and Project Kinship, Project Rebound will also bring system-involved youth to the CSUF campus and Project Rebound’s community center and housing initiative, the John Irwin House, to immerse them in a collegiate environment surrounded by ambassadors that share their lived experience and can inspire and support them on their post-secondary educational journeys.

Youth participants who complete the college orientation and empowerment curriculum will receive a certificate from CSUF as well as some university paraphernalia to begin to welcome them to the next stages of their collegiate journey. 

STUDENTS GOALS

Project Rebound

Project Rebound Staff

Project Rebound Juvenile Class

Goal #1

To foster a college pathway that leads to a four-year degree and promotes academic success, which helps youth see themselves differently. This leads to enhanced self-efficacy, career goals, and healthy communities.

Goal #2

To create a positive educational experience which will foster stability that offers incarcerated youth an opportunity for designing, planning, and implementation of a focused educational journey.

Goal #3

To engage underserved youth both pre and post juvenile incarceration, which recognizes that a positive educational experience often begins during a period of crisis for youth, which can serve as a catalyst to transformation. 

Goal #4

To foster cooperation with the courts, correctional staff, social workers, teachers and key individuals who will be part of the rehabilitation process.

Goal #5

To intentionally engage compassionate invested community stakeholders and partners to provide college preparation to currently and formerly incarcerated youth by leveraging the power of the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated university students.

Goal #6

To engage youth who are currently incarcerated in on-site college visits, and tours through zoom, etc. Education is a core component of positive programming that promotes youth rehabilitation and transformation.

Learning Objectives

Achieve personal validation and self-efficacy as they identify careers and majors that match their passions, skills, values and interests. This exploration helps chart their academic path and strategies for success through graduation and beyond.

Become actively involved in the campus culture, resources and offerings. Opportunities are provided for social integration with community, faculty, and peers. They learn promising practices for test-taking, studying, communicating, writing, time/financial management, research, civic engagement and leadership.

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.

Students of Dare 2 Dream

Dare 2 Dream Structure

  • Cultivating Buy-In and a Culture of Inclusivity
    • Centering the needs of the students to create a safe space
    • Storytelling and shared experiences
  • Offer a curriculum that centers youth development and fosters a mindset for attending a University
    • Building a foundation for life-long learning
    • Exploring college majors and technical careers
  • Focus on life skills and academic foundations for student success:
    • Writing workshops/journaling prompts
    • Trust and community-building exercises
    • Art and poetry to inspire creativity and critical thinking
    • Tutoring and mentoring with Rebound scholars
  • Certificate of Participation from CSUF Office of Extension and International Program
  • Off-site visit to CSUF campus and John Irwin Transformative Housing Initiative

Project Rebound

J.C. and juvenile students

Lemons Mentoring

Juvenile Students

Project Rebound

Prospect Juvenile Students