Regional Joint Ventures
Supporting Justice-Involved Students with Educational Opportunities
Project Description
Cost-Free Transcript Access
A shared, cost-free transcript request and sharing process among participating colleges and correctional facilities. Eliminating transcript fees and holds allows students to transfer credits across institutions and continue their education after release, addressing one of the most common practical barriers to reentry enrollment.The Need
Justice-involved students face systemic barriers to education and employment, including financial hardship, limited internet access, transcript holds, and fragmented services across institutions. Four colleges currently teach inside Elmwood Correctional Facility and San Jose Main Jail without shared coordination, resulting in duplicated effort, inconsistent academic advising, and courses that do not reliably articulate between colleges. Students also lack cost-free access to their own academic records, which prevents credit transfer and continued enrollment after release.
Project Purpose
The project provides dedicated regional coordination and counseling capacity, professional development for faculty and staff working in correctional settings, and shared administrative infrastructure so that justice-involved students can earn college credit while incarcerated and continue their education or enter employment upon release.
Measurable Goal
3,200 students are within reach of this project’s impact across four colleges teaching in Santa Clara County correctional facilities, with progress tracked through the Strong Workforce Program Students metric.
Sectors Served
Activities
- Expand access to credit-bearing courses, noncredit workforce training, and CTE pathways in high-demand fields, including Commercial Driver's License training, HVAC, Automotive Technology, and healthcare occupations
- Appoint a Regional Rising Scholars Coordinator/Counselor to provide academic advising, enrollment assistance, financial aid support, and post-release transition planning across participating colleges and facilities
- Deliver ongoing professional development for faculty and counselors in trauma-informed pedagogy, restorative justice practices, and correctional facility protocols
- Establish a cost-free transcript request and sharing process among participating colleges and correctional facilities to enable credit transfer and remove administrative barriers
- Host monthly coordination meetings and an annual regional convening for colleges, correctional education staff, workforce partners, and employers
- Produce annual reporting on course completion, reentry outcomes, and recidivism
Vision 2030 Connection
Action 2 — Increase equitable access, success and support
Specifically aligns with Action 2b: Justice-involved and justice-impacted Californians’ enrollment in degree pathways including the community college baccalaureate.
BACCC Priorities
Subregional Collaboration and Coordination
Supports BACCC Goal A (pathways to employment and family-supporting wages) and Goal C (equity in participation, completion, and employment) by building shared regional infrastructure that allows students to move across colleges and systems without losing credit or continuity of support.