Resources

Sample agreement between participating students and Project Rebound at Sac State, outlining expectations and minimum requirements.

Unlocking the Bar: Expanding Access to the Legal Profession for People with Criminal Records in California by Caroline Cohn, Debbie A. Mukamal, and Robert Weisberg identifies and examines the barriers to joining the California State Bar for individuals with criminal records and provides recommendations for expanding access for qualified applicants. This study is a joint project of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School.

This memorandum provides information regarding available funds for colleges teaching students that are currently incarcerated in state prisons. A total of $3 million is available to colleges to provide textbooks or digital course content to students under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) who are enrolled in one or more California community college course.

This legal advisory provides a survey of applicable laws and suggests an approach to employment decisions that will help community colleges comply with their legal obligations.

The Chancellor for the California Community Colleges issued policy guidance intended to expand hiring for qualified students, faculty and staff with criminal records. The policy guidance accompanies the legal advisory issued on December 31, 2018.

On February 8th, the California Community Colleges Chancellor issued guidance on Fair Chance Hiring Best Practices (Policy Guidance) following the December 2018 Chancellor’s legal advisory (Office of General Counsel Advisory 2018-04) regarding the use of criminal history records in hiring, promotion and retention decisions by the community colleges and districts. The policy guidance and legal advisory together pave the way for California’s higher education system to expand employment opportunities for people with arrest and conviction records.

The FAQs were developed for community college students with an arrest or conviction record to learn about their rights and responsibilities when seeking employment with a local California community college.

This is a toolkit for formerly incarcerated students in California Community Colleges. It was created based on input from formerly incarcerated students throughout California.

Equity and Excellence in Practice: A Guide for Higher Education in Prison by Tanya Erzen, Mary R. Gould, and Jody Lewen documents the key characteristics of high-quality prison higher education programs, and informs stakeholders in the field, including new and experienced practitioners seeking to achieve equity and excellence in their work, policy leaders, philanthropy, and others. This study is a joint project of the Prison University Project and the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison.

The course catalog is organized by college and lists the institution, course offering, class meeting time, number of students enrolled, whether the course leads toward a degree, and whether the course units are transferable.