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…
Read the full article here