Unlock your potential
We are not life time criminals. We are not felons or ex-convicts. We are people. We have always been people.So much of what the criminal justice system and society does is focused on and centered around dehumanizing people like us.
Returning from prison and reentering society is a daunting task with many mountainous barriers. People returning from prison face a number of challenges - many of which I too faced, challenged, and overcame! You can climb that mountain. You can jump that hurdle. And we would like to help you.
Amongst the many challenges of reentry (obtaining housing, finding a job, reconnecting with family), we focus and counsel on them all with a strong emphasis on education. Education broadens horizons, tears down (policy-based and psychological) fences, and leads to career building. It's not good enough to just get a job. We want to help you build a career. We will help you navigate the sometimes confusing college application process and the even more frustrating loan/grant process.
Returning from prison and reentering society is a daunting task with many mountainous barriers. People returning from prison face a number of challenges - many of which I too faced, challenged, and overcame! You can climb that mountain. You can jump that hurdle. And we would like to help you.
Amongst the many challenges of reentry (obtaining housing, finding a job, reconnecting with family), we focus and counsel on them all with a strong emphasis on education. Education broadens horizons, tears down (policy-based and psychological) fences, and leads to career building. It's not good enough to just get a job. We want to help you build a career. We will help you navigate the sometimes confusing college application process and the even more frustrating loan/grant process.
Educational Counseling
"Changing the game."
Our Process: The goal of our program is to help people with criminal convictions obtain college education. We do this by providing our scholars with:
- College/loan application assistance,
- SAT/GRE prep, an individual development plan (IDP),
- College readiness workshops,
- Leadership training,
- Paid mini-internships,
- Sitting in on college courses (before enrolling),
- Access to tutors,
- Scholarship opportunities,
- Community building experiences,
- Access to national meetings,
- 2-yrs of mentoring.
Peer Mentoring
"Our hopes are to inspire others with similar backgrounds to excel beyond what society has imposed to be the norm."
Mentors are a key aspect of any successful persons journey. For those of us with criminal convictions, coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, or those who face crippling adversities, mentorship becomes a need for survival. Without mentors and support, despite all of our greatest efforts, we would not have overcome the adversities we overcame.
Building strong mentor relationships is the foundation of success. We work personally with our scholars to engender complete trust. We listen carefully to their vision and do everything in our power to help them maximize their potential. We have a team of formerly incarcerated mentors who mentor both groups and individuals ranging in ages from elementary school to adulthood.
Contact us today to discuss your vision and start a mentoring connection. We look forward to working with you.
[email protected] or fill out this form:
Locations: Baltimore City and nationwide
Building strong mentor relationships is the foundation of success. We work personally with our scholars to engender complete trust. We listen carefully to their vision and do everything in our power to help them maximize their potential. We have a team of formerly incarcerated mentors who mentor both groups and individuals ranging in ages from elementary school to adulthood.
Contact us today to discuss your vision and start a mentoring connection. We look forward to working with you.
[email protected] or fill out this form:
Locations: Baltimore City and nationwide
P2P Scholars PROGRAM
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The goal of the Prison-to-Professionals (P2P) Scholars Program is to help people with criminal convictions obtain higher education. Our scholars receive college/loan application assistance, SAT/GRE prep, an individual development plan (IDP), college readiness workshops, leadership training, paid mini-internship (if applicable), sitting in on college courses (before enrolling), access to tutors, scholarship opportunities, community building experiences, access to national meetings, and 2-yrs or more of mentoring. Formerly incarcerated college graduates serve as mentors. All the workshop facilitators are Masters degree holders, certified K-12 educators, certified career counselors, and combined have 30+ years working with at-risk, low-income populations in Baltimore.
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Main area of Focus: The program provides educational counseling and mentoring to justice-involved individuals by addressing 4 main areas of focus: College Readiness & Career Development (CRCD), Leadership Skills (LS), Admissions & Financial Aid Counseling (AFA), & SAT/ACT/GRE (SAT) Preparation.
COLLEGE & CAREER READINESS
“College readiness” might just sound like a phrase thrown around during the college search and application process. On the surface, it seems like a generic “are you ready for college?” sort of question, but in truth it’s much more specific than that. College readiness refers to the set of skills, knowledge, and behaviors a student should have upon entering or continuing college. It’s all about the ability to find success while studying at an institute of higher learning. So let’s break college readiness down. What skills are required to be college ready? What do you have to know? What behaviors should you embody?
CAREER READINESS IS THE ATTAINMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF REQUISITE COMPETENCIES THAT BROADLY PREPARE COLLEGE GRADUATES FOR A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION INTO THE WORKPLACE.
These competencies are:
CAREER READINESS IS THE ATTAINMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF REQUISITE COMPETENCIES THAT BROADLY PREPARE COLLEGE GRADUATES FOR A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION INTO THE WORKPLACE.
These competencies are:
- Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: Exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems. The individual is able to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness.
- Oral/Written Communications: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in written and oral forms to persons inside and outside of the organization. The individual has public speaking skills; is able to express ideas to others; and can write/edit memos, letters, and complex technical reports clearly and effectively.
- Teamwork/Collaboration: Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. The individual is able to work within a team structure, and can negotiate and manage conflict.
- Digital Technology: Leverage existing digital technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. The individual demonstrates effective adaptability to new and emerging technologies.
- Leadership: Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals, and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. The individual is able to assess and manage his/her emotions and those of others; use empathetic skills to guide and motivate; and organize, prioritize, and delegate work.
- Professionalism/Work Ethic: Demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time workload management, and understand the impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image. The individual demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and is able to learn from his/her mistakes.
- Career Management: Identify and articulate one's skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to the position desired and career goals, and identify areas necessary for professional growth. The individual is able to navigate and explore job options, understands and can take the steps necessary to pursue opportunities, and understands how to self-advocate for opportunities in the workplace.
- Global/Intercultural Fluency: Value, respect, and learn from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and religions. The individual demonstrates, openness, inclusiveness, sensitivity, and the ability to interact respectfully with all people and understand individuals’ differences.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The P2P Leadership session is arguably one of the most impactful sessions of the workshop. Leadership is a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid & support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Tie education with the experience of incarceration and you inherently have a leader, and leadership development and you now have a person equipped to make social change in their respective neighborhoods and communities.
SAT
Every student comes into the SAT/GRE with vastly different abilities across many different skills. Unfortunately, most prep programs ignore each student’s unique learning needs. Classes give the same lectures and questions to every student, making their teaching very ineffective. Some lessons will be too easy, while others will be too hard. Students waste time relearning content they already know and don’t spend enough time on the topics they actually need to work on. How do you fix this problem? P2P SAT/GRE Prep Course is different. We create a study plan customized only for you, designed to get you the biggest score improvements. You can get our program for FREE. Join us today!
APPLICATIONS & FINANCIAL AID
Who doesn't like FREE money!! In this session we show you effect techniques and tools to get FREE money. In the Applications and Financial Aid session of the workshop, Scholars will be working on the FAFSA (for those who have not done one yet/before), preparing online college applications, and looking up & preparing scholarship and grant applications.
Additional topics
Womxn's Empowerment
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P2P has some exciting news! P2P has partnered with my program Light to Life, a for profit domestic violence prevention consulting firm to facilitate our Womxn's Cohort virtual series this semester! This is an opportunity for you to add to the skills and tools that you already have & use every day to navigate your triggers and trauma, and empower you towards a journey of safety, joy, and overall healing.
Please sign up for the workshops you would like to attend! |
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Mental Health
This workshop intends to educate readers on mental illness, specific to those who have experienced incarceration, and provide some practical tools to help manage symptoms associated with mental health disorder.
Financial Literacy
THEORY OF CHANGE
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It is well established that higher education is strongly correlated to income (1). A 2013 meta-analysis study by Rand Corporation found that obtaining higher education reduced recidivism (the rate of returning to prison) by 43% and was 4-5x LESS costly than reincarcerating that person (2). Thus, education helps the individual and cost society less. Education provides opportunities for people with criminal records to move beyond their experiences with the system and reach their full potentials. Furthering one’s education is not only healthy to the individuals but to their families and the community, by increasing income and reducing crime (3).
The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world (4) (2.2 million people in the US are incarcerated with an additional 4.7 million people under supervision, with 70% being people of color (4-5)). Over half a million are released each year (5) (29% of the prison population). A fair amount of people released (6) (60%), have a GED or HS diploma (compared to 90% of the US (7)). But, less than 5% have a college degree (8) (compared to 40% of the US (7)). Thus, roughly 5,600 people released in Maryland (9) have a GED or HS diploma (with no college degree). Most of them are released to Baltimore City. This is our local target population. Obtaining higher education reduced 5-year recidivism from 76% (5) to nearly 0% (13% for those with Associates, 5% for those with a Bachelors; less than 1% for those with a Masters, (10-12)). |
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WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
Credibility. Authenticity. We've been there. We're still connected. We lived the life. We sat in the cell. We witnessed the trauma first hand.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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Stanley Andrisse, the executive director, is a formerly incarcerated person with 3 felony convictions, sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking. He was once told by a prosecuting attorney that he was a career criminal with NO hope for change. He is now an endocrinologist scientist and assistant professor at two well-renowned medical institutions, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine. Education was transformational. Furthering one's education is paramount to successful reentry into society.
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From Prison Cells to PhD is NOT about helping people pursue a PhD or doctorate or professional degree. We are here to help people pursue their innate excellence, to help people tap into and reach their full potential, via higher educational attainment (trade-school to professional school and beyond).
WE INVEST IN POTENTIAL. We provide a blanket of support in the form of resources, tools, and social capital to move people towards their full achievement.
The organizational name is a metaphor for going from a place of desolate despair to a place of prosperity and self-worth.
WE INVEST IN POTENTIAL. We provide a blanket of support in the form of resources, tools, and social capital to move people towards their full achievement.
The organizational name is a metaphor for going from a place of desolate despair to a place of prosperity and self-worth.
To become a P2P scholar, please click on the application button, select mentoring or educational counseling, and fill out the form. We will be in contact shortly.