In 2019, Cerro Coso Community College was awarded the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Currently and formerly Incarcerated Students Reentry Program grant (RFA 18-087, Amendment 1, Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Students Reentry Program). This has enabled us to develop a Reentry Program to support our students through their transition back into society.
Our program has a dedicated Reentry Program Coordinator that works with each student to customize the level of support services and material they may need. We provide small-group reentry workshops for upcoming parolees inside the prisons at California City Correctional Facility and the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. At this time, our reentry program services are only available to those who are either current or former Cerro Coso Community College students.
In brief, what our Reentry Program can provide:
- Reentry Resources packet tailored to specific county of release
- Reentry Resources ranging from social services to continuing education at community college, UC/CSU
- In-prison workshops in preparation for parole
- Direct point of contact upon release
- Guidance on where to find information
- Assistance with UC/CSU application process
- Information on financial aid resources
- Connections to on-campus justice-impacted organizations
- Online community of justice-impacted students/alumni and staff of Cerro Coso through a private Facebook group
Additional Resources
Here are some links to other great resources worth checking out:
The Voluntary Contact Form is a resource our program uses to collect information from our students prior to parole.
If you are a local community college looking to start your own reentry program, feel free to use this open source document as an example. Feel free to contact our Reentry Program Coordinator, Krystal Watkins, for any information regarding Cerro Coso’s Reentry Program.
