Members of the College Initiative community believe that education offers the framework essential to personal and societal transformation as well as the means to a sustainable and fulflling life. As such, it should be a primary response of the criminal justice system to those under its control.
The patterns of incarceration in New York City follow closely the patterns of poverty and the limits of access to education. A typical CI student has attended a failing and under-resourced school before their involvement with the criminal justice system. They have typically received a GED while incarcerated or as a condition of an Alternative to Incarceration program. Their postsecondary academic success means that they are able to break the cycle of poverty and low expectations that exists in many poor neighborhoods.
CI students are role models in their communities and as such they offer a viable alternative to the pipeline from failing schools to incarceration and reincarceration.
Here you can read students' stories, watch interviews with CI community members or catch up on CI events.
