[From Our Partners] Build-Out of Student Services Report: Findings from the Process Evaluation
Although both men and women returning from incarceration face challenges related to education and employment, women returning from incarceration are more likely to encounter additional, complex challenges, such as serious and repeated trauma in various forms and primary caregiving responsibilities, pointing to a need for specialized and gender-informed reentry programming.
In 2019, College and Community Fellowship (CCF) received CJII funding to launch the Build-Out of Student Services (BOSS) project, which provides reentry programming based in New York City that develops education and career skills specifically among formerly incarcerated women. The BOSS project sought to expand the capacity of CCF’s existing higher-education and workforce-development programs as well as enhance, expand, and improve coordination among CCF’s interventions across a spectrum of outcomes-based reentry services for New York City women.
The services for these women spanned from their pre-release preparation; to their post-release socioeconomic stabilization; to their eventual college graduation, professional advancement, and realization of social capital as civically engaged and socially contributing New Yorkers. CJII also funded the Vera Institute of Justice to conduct a process evaluation of the program from December 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022. The evaluation found that CJII funding
Enhanced CCF’s student services overall.
Launched CAP to provide career exploration, readiness, and placement assistance in gainful career-based employment.
Expanded ASP’s multigenerational components—such as establishing caregiver–child study sessions, holding an annual retreat for children of reentering caregivers, and working with financial institutions to establish savings accounts for these children—that are designed to strengthen families and communities.
Equipped formerly incarcerated women in New York City with the education and career skills they need to be competitive in the labor market
See our blog for an overview of the program, including the impact of its staff.