‘A Chance To Succeed’ Was All They Needed

by Devin Malone

Making it through college is a challenge for just about anyone, but for students like Ashley Fisher, who was formerly incarcerated, earning a degree can be an incredibly daunting task.

“We have no place to stay, we have no form of identification, we have no job, and now we have this mark on our record that says ‘We are bad. We had to be kept away from society’, and it’s like a scarlet letter on you,” Fisher said. “So you go from that to saying, ‘I wanna change my life. I wanna enroll in college.’ That's like beyond for most of us.”

Fisher is just one of over a thousand former inmates that are estimated to be enrolled in colleges across California, all facing an uphill battle to better their lives. But a small community of students and staff are helping formerly incarcerated people earn bachelor’s degrees at CSUN.

Revolutionary Scholars is a student-led organization at CSUN that helps formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students in their journey through higher education.

Their goal — to help people reintegrate into society and stay out of prison.

A System Impacted

In 2022, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimated that the incarcerated population within the state was expected to be around 102,945 inmates by June.

The previous year, a study by The Possibility Report estimated that over a thousand former inmates in California were enrolled in some higher education institutions, such as California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) campuses, or were attending California Community Colleges (CCC).

In California, efforts to reintegrate formerly incarcerated people into society through higher education have existed for decades. Project Rebound was established as far back as 1967 by the late John Irwin, a professor of sociology and criminology at California State University, San Francisco. It was designed to give people who had spent time behind bars another chance at life via a college education, much like Irwin had been given after robbing a liquor store 15 years prior.

Project Rebound has expanded to other CSU’s (like Bakersfield, Fullerton and San Diego) within the following decades, but prior to its implementation here at CSUN, formerly incarcerated students were left without much support.

Students decided that something needed to be done to fill this void, and created Revolutionary Scholars, an organization and support group for those impacted by the Criminal Justice System.

The History of Revolutionary Scholars and Project Rebound at CSUN

Lily Gonzalez, the coordinator for Project Rebound at CSUN, recalled her time setting up Revolutionary Scholars with John Czifra, another formerly incarcerated student, before Project Rebound worked with the campus.

“We knew Underground Scholars had just started at the UC system, which is modeled after Project Rebound,” Gonzalez said. “So once I was here at Northridge, I was like, ‘How do we bring something like this to here?’"

According to Gonzalez, the group that would eventually become Revolutionary Scholars came about through collaboration with groups like the CSUN’s Asian American Studies Pathways Project, the Chicano House and the Black House.

Gonzalez and Czifra would regularly meet at the Chicano House and brainstorm ways to get their club off the ground.

“We were also collaborating with the community colleges to help them start their student orgs,” said Gonzalez. “So I will say that when it comes to Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge, our Project Rebounds started because of student organization through the student clubs.”

Eventually, Revolutionary Scholars started to make themselves known on campus through teach-ins, or by giving formerly incarcerated students a voice when it came to research about them. Revolutionary Scholars oversaw the creation of new resources that provided alternatives to relying on the police, all done in an effort to aid students impacted by the criminal justice system.

Project Rebound would later be integrated into CSUN, and currently works with Revolutionary Scholars through hosting events on campus and by informing currently incarcerated people about their potential academic options once released from prison.

Sergio Munoz, the current vice president of Revolutionary Scholars, first heard of Project Rebound while still serving time himself.

“I heard about Project Rebound while I was incarcerated,” Munoz said. “Somebody that knew about Project Rebound was like, ‘All right, you're getting ready to be released. Here's some information about Project Rebound and connect with them.”

Munoz states that the journey into higher education isn’t particularly easy for people just coming out of prison, as they now have to get familiarized with resources that many students take for granted.

“Even what many students might consider something that's kind of simple to know, like for instance, your FAFSA,” said Munoz. “When I first started, I didn't know what FAFSA was. I didn't even know I had to fill any of that stuff out. And I had to learn everything as I went along.”

But it was through Project Rebound that Munoz was later able to get connected with Revolutionary Scholars, who provided the support he needed to deal with similar obstacles.

Revolutionary Scholars Now

Revolutionary Scholars is still working towards aiding a community of students who are often overlooked and deprived of the resources needed to succeed.

“A chance to succeed" is something that Garret Eiferman, President of Revolutionary Scholars, has been trying to provide for other students like himself. Having spent time in prison, Eiferman is someone who is aware that higher education is a major opportunity and a privilege that many in his situation aren’t afforded.

“I have a thought in my mind that it's never a straight trajectory for higher education,” Eiferman said. “Okay, some kids are fortunate enough to get their high school diploma and come right into college. It's not like that for everybody.”

Before Revolutionary Scholars and Project Rebound, reintegrating into the education system was a struggle for those who had spent time in prison.

“We were never really afforded the opportunity to go to college, it was outpriced,” said Eiferman. “If you could pay, you can go to school and you could try to better your life. So that's why I think we were mired in that one or two or three people coming back [to prison] every two or three years.”

Fisher, the social chairperson of Revolutionary Scholars, believes that the feeling of shame is something that many formerly incarcerated students face, even in spaces like CSUN that are typically more accepting. However, Fisher also believes that spaces like Revolutionary Scholars can serve as a haven for those with similar struggles.

“You know everybody in here understands that we've been through what we've been through. We can be ourselves here, we can share our stories. So that’s really important,” Fisher said.

LIfe On the Outside

Thanks to the work of Revolutionary Scholars and Project Rebound, the importance of higher education for the formerly incarcerated has garnered a lot more attention in recent years. This past March, Project Rebound was able to raise $90,990 in donations during CSUN’s Giving Day event.

Through hosting educational events like the Anti-Recidivism Policy Info Session and the Justice and Wellness Resource Fair, or by just providing a space for people to meet with others like themselves, Project Rebound and Revolutionary Scholars are giving people the second chance they need.

“My life is completely different now. I was in and out of jails and prisons for 15 years. Now all of a sudden, I'm not at risk of that anymore,” Fisher said. “I know my kids don't have to worry about their mom going back to jail because our needs are getting met. Slowly but surely.”