Both Sides Of The Bars: Fair Access to Education

Length

00:27:53

Producer

Paul Hyman

Category

Informational Talk Show

Comments

A study of those seeking higher education at the State University of New York revealed that nearly two-thirds of individuals with a felony criminal offense record stopped the application after being asked about criminal justice involvement. On this episode of The Fortune Society's "Both Sides of the Bars;" host Ronald Day sits down with David Thorpe and Bianca Van Heydoorn to discuss the Department of Education’s Beyond the Box initiative, SUNY’s public response and student demand to ban the box, and the important efforts of programs and service providers to help increase access to education for formerly incarcerated individuals. David Thorpe is a program manager for the “Training To Work Program” at the Osborne Association. He is in the final year of his graduate studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice where he is pursuing a MPA in Criminal Justice Policy Analysis. David has served over 22 years in prison. Bianca Van Heydoorn is the director of educational initiatives for John Jay’s Prisoner Reentry Institute where she is responsible two programs: the “Prison-to-College Pipeline” and “College Initiative.” Bianca holds a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Arts in Correctional Sociology from the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.