Since 2016, Santiago Canyon College has been committed to supporting currently and formerly incarcerated students as they transition into higher education, equipping them with the skills they need for reentry into the community.
Beginning this fall, SCC will expand that support by offering credit courses and a full associate’s degree program specifically for youth offenders in Orange County Juvenile Hall. This will be possible thanks to a $1.5 million Juvenile Justice Program grant that was awarded to SCC through the California Community Colleges Rising Scholars Network.
In 2018, SCC formalized its support of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students through Project RISE, a bridge program that removes the barriers of higher education for these members of society through credit and noncredit courses, vocational certificate training, education planning and counseling support. The campus has served nearly 3,000 students in the adult jails.
Project RISE also serves juvenile offenders, which in the state of California can include those through age 25. SCC has offered credit courses to that group of students since 2021. California recognized that this specific population has unique needs when it comes to higher education and created the Juvenile Justice Program grant.
SCC will begin receiving disbursement on the five-year grant award this month and will use the funds to build a full credit program that focuses on dual enrollment courses, as well as Career and Technical Education training and the Associate Degree for Transfer.
“With the dual enrollment program, we can get them that dual credit, so when they get their high school diploma, they’re already ahead of the game in college, whether they’re taking the college program inside the juvenile hall or they’ve been paroled and are joining a college outside of the hall,” said SCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Jason Parks, who will oversee the expansion of the program. “The CTE will give them a certificate in training to get a job after they are paroled, and then the ADT program guarantees them a spot in one of the CSUs.”
The students will be provided laptops, and a full suite of course offerings will be available either online or in person, hosted inside the facility. Counselors will guide students in meeting requirements for high school diploma completion, as well as degree advancement. Parks has a background working with the juvenile offender population and feels this approach will spotlight a path that many may not have considered.
“Inside juvenile hall, there is a lot of forced programming, and college is suddenly giving them agency,” Parks said. “We’re going into this space and we’re saying, ‘Tell us what you want to study. Tell us what you’re interested in, and we’re going to come back and provide options that cater to your interests.’ ”
SCC Dean of Instruction and Student Services Joanne Armstrong prepared the Juvenile Justice Program grant application and has seen firsthand how Project RISE can open the minds of the students it serves.
“The entire point (of Project RISE) is exposure and access,” Armstrong said. “It’s hearing them say, ‘I didn’t know I could learn until I learned. I didn’t know I was capable until I was in your class.’ It’s those kind of things where you’re planting a seed somewhere that somebody cared enough to be there to support them, regardless of where they’re at.”
Armstrong also notes the impact of higher education on the family unit and how these opportunities can work toward breaking a cycle.
“Incarceration impacts entire family systems, and so when you change even one degree of somebody’s trajectory, you change the path of their life,” Armstrong said. “We like to call it pivot points. If I catch you at just the right time, it may be a pivot point where we just shifted the direction of your life minutely now, but the trajectory is really going to make an impact on that whole family.”
The program currently serves 20-30 juvenile students with credit courses, but with the Juvenile Justice Program grant, Parks is looking to double that number. SCC will also be providing counselors who are specifically trained in the ins and outs of credits and transfer eligibility to further support these students on their academic journey.
Above all, Parks envisions a future that includes graduation ceremonies where these juveniles are dressed in regalia and able to celebrate their accomplishments and their commitment to a better path.
“We’re working with a population of human beings who didn’t come into life and live their youth with a lot of advantages,” Parks said. “This is an opportunity for them, while they’re paying their time, to find a way back into society and rejoin as productive citizens, without starting over.”
