Program Allows Those Released From California Criminal Justice System Access to Higher Education
SANTA BARBARA – The Foundation for Santa Barbara City College has received a $10,000 grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara to support the College’s Transitions program, a summer series which provides individuals recently released from the California criminal justice system with access to a higher education and aids students who have been incarcerated to create viable opportunities for themselves, the foundation reported in a media release. This is the second year in a row Transitions has received a grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara. The $10,000 grant is the largest amount the Fund for Santa Barbara awards to any one recipient in a grant cycle.
The Transitions program consists of a six-week, full-day summer school program. The curriculum includes a required, specially designed College Success class, enrollment in a for-credit college elective class, and attendance at five field study days that expose students to places of educational, cultural, and historic importance, which open new doors to learning and self-awareness. Transitions students also receive a financial assistance package and a comprehensive program of academic counseling and financial planning.
Of the 700,000 people released from U.S. prisons each year, approximately two-thirds will be re-arrested within three years. The Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard University recently conducted a study to determine what programs have been most successful in preventing recidivism. The one program that had a 100 percent success rate in preventing recidivism was people earning a college degree. In line with this national data, at Santa Barbara City College, students who have been incarcerated and are now part of the Transitions program have a recidivism rate of 0%. For these students education is the only successful intervention, and their experience has shown that their best hope for staying off the streets and in school is working with other students who are making the same transition.
Eighty-five percent of Transitions program participants complete the summer program and 90 percent of these successful participants enroll and attend fall semester at Santa Barbara City College.
About the Fund for Santa Barbara:
THE FUND FOR SANTA BARBARA is a nonprofit community foundation that supports organizations working for social, economic, environmental & political change in Santa Barbara County. This includes grassroots organizing against discrimination of all kinds, supporting the rights & dignity of working people, promoting community self-determination, organizing for peace and nonviolence, working to improve the quality of our environment, and building cross-issue/cross-constituency coalitions and alliances. THE FUND raises money through donations of all sizes in order to provide grants and technical assistance. Since its founding in 1980, THE FUND FOR SANTA BARBARA has awarded more than $4 million to over 800 projects.
About the Foundation for Santa Barbara City College:
The mission of the Foundation for SBCC is to develop philanthropic support to assist the College in providing accessible educational programs that ensure academic and vocational excellence for the students of Santa Barbara City College, and that enrich the cultural, economic and civic life of the South Coast community. For more information, visit www.sbccfoundation.org