Getting a second chance at life Former incarcerated students get an opportunity at redemption

BY PAMELA KALIDASAN Features Editor

Pierce College’s Academic Affairs extended their Adult Education non-credit program to include previously incarcerated people.

Dean of Academic Affairs and Department head of Rising Scholars Sharon Dalmage, who had been working with formerly incarcerated students for three and a half-years, said that Pierce recognized the need to initiate something like Rising Scholars on campus around two years ago.

“The Adult Education noncredit program at Pierce College saw a need to provide services to individuals who are formerly incarcerated in the San Fernando Valley,” Dalmage said. “So we started to provide them with that career training at no cost. So through that program they’ve been getting training related to obtaining their GED or career training related to various job sectors.”

Rising Scholar student Michael LaCapria, who now works in management at Irish Healing Retreat, spoke about how he took a few classes at Pierce to find his path.

“I just wanted to be enrolled in the college,” LaCapria said. “I didn’t have an objective at the time, and I kept hearing that Pierce has really good classes.”

LaCapria said that he felt instructors cared for his and other students' success. “It was more personal,” LaCapria said. “It was not just a class where we were just learning.

It felt like instructors genuinely cared about our success.”

Dalmage said that the name “Rising Scholars” came from the Rising Scholars grant that she applied for on July 1, 2021.

“We were awarded $130,000 dollars annually for three years to provide specific services to the formerly incarcerated population in the San Fernando Valley,” Dalmage said. “So through that grant, not only we addressed the career training needs of the formerly incarcerated populations but we also provided them with other support services to get themselves reacclimated into society.”

There were needs from Rising Scholars students that differed in comparison to traditional college students or even adult students who enroll into college later for higher education purposes.

“It’s very different. The roadblocks that they encounter because they were incarcerated are vastly different than a mom or dad who had to take a break from school because they helped raise their children. So for example, someone who was formerly incarcerated they’re going to have technology gaps depending on how long the person served in person,” Dalmage said.

“I have students who served 30 years, seven years–but whatever the number of years is–technology changes so quickly that they don’t even know how to use a cellphone,” Dalmage said. “They don’t know how to use a laptop or the Internet to a certain extent. So having that digital gap is going to affect their encouragement, their confidence and they feel embarrassed to let people know that they have these gaps.”

Dalmage further discussed other hurdles Rising Scholars students faced such as lack of access to food, housing, income, opportunities, transportation and a support network. She said that Rising Scholars is currently working to create more partnerships with organizations on and off campus such as the Brahma Pantry and the Los Angeles public defenders who as of last August helped students expunge their records.

Athletic Counselor Joseph Roberson said that he is in favor of having Rising Scholars as a plan of action in reducing recidivism.

“I am in favor of anything that helps humans and especially since

I’ve been formerly incarcerated I know that the first thing you have to find is hope. And the first thing that you need to know is that someone cares, and that there is a concern or pathway that you can follow in order to find your way into being a productive and constructive member of society.”

Dalmage mentioned that the program is focused on creating outreach for its students, such as forming a club so that they can find a support network and a sense of belonging on campus without being afraid of being ostracized because of their prior convictions.

“We are working with a couple of the Rising Scholars to create a Rising Scholars Club on campus and I think that will help with one of our goals which is to make the program more known on campus,” Dalmage said. “Because I think that there are a lot of formerly incarcerated students on campus and they keep that as a secret because they don’t want people to know and so they don’t know that we have this resource where they can get additional support.” pkalidasan.roundupnews@gmail.com

Roberson agrees and he said that the least society can do is understand and give individuals like Rising Scholars students a chance.

“No one can really atone for their sins, but it leaves to try and pay it forward and help other people,” Roberson said.