History & Objectives of Project Rebound
- In 1952, John Irwin (1929-2010) robbed a gas station and served a five-year sentence for armed robbery
in Soledad Prison. During his time in prison he earned 24 college credits through a university extension
program. After his release from prison, Irwin earned a B.A. from UCLA, a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and
then served as a Professor of Sociology and Criminology at San Francisco State University for 27 years,
during which he became known internationally as an expert on the U.S. prison system.
In 1967, Irwin created Project Rebound as a way to matriculate people into San Francisco State University
directly from the criminal justice system. Since the program’s inception, hundreds of formerly incarcerated
people have obtained bachelor’s degrees and postgraduate degrees. In 2016, with the support of the Opportunity
Institute and the CSU Chancellor Timothy White, Project Rebound expanded beyond San Francisco State into a
consortium of nine CSU campus programs. The CSU Project Rebound Consortium is now a state- and grant-funded
network of programs operating at CSU campuses in Bakersfield, Fresno, Fullerton, Los Angeles, Pomona,
Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, and San Francisco.
Since 2016, Project Rebound students system-wide, have earned an overall grade point average of 3.0, have
a zero percent recidivism rate, and 87% of graduates have secured full-time employment or admission to post-
graduate programs. The mission of the CSU Project Rebound Consortium is to support the higher education and
successful reintegration of the formerly incarcerated through the mentorship and living example of other formerly
incarcerated students and graduates. Project Rebound constructs a life-affirming alternative to the revolving door
policies of mass incarceration by making higher education more accessible and supportive of formerly incarcerated
students so that they can acquire the knowledge and skills of a university education, enhance their capacity for civic
engagement and community leadership, secure meaningful and gratifying employment, empower themselves and their
families, and ultimately make stronger, safer communities.
The MISSION of the CSU Project Rebound Consortium is to support the higher education and successful reintegration
of the formerly incarcerated through the mentorship and living example of other formerly incarcerated students and
graduates. Project Rebound constructs a life-affirming alternative to the revolving door policies of mass incarceration
by making higher education more accessible and supportive of formerly incarcerated students so that they can acquire
the knowledge and skills of a university education, enhance their capacity for civic engagement and community leadership,
secure meaningful and gratifying employment, empower themselves and their families, and ultimately make stronger, safer
communities.
GUIDING VALUES
1. The Intrinsic Value of Persons. We believe that every person has inherent value and holds the power of possibility and
transformation within them.
2. Equitable Access to Education. We believe that access to meaningful, high-quality, face-to-face higher education is |
fundamental to breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty, abuse, addiction, unemployment, and confinement.
3. Formerly Incarcerated Leadership. We believe that the integration, education, and leadership of formerly incarcerated people are
essential to the work of creating solutions to the social crisis of mass incarceration.
4. Education as Public Safety. We believe that meaningful, high-quality higher education ultimately makes stronger, safer communities;
we believe that public resources are better invested in education and other opportunities for transformation than prisons and punishment.
5. Civic Engagement. We believe that community engagement is at once a right, a responsibility, and a means of empowerment; we aim
to inspire all Rebound Scholars to be informed and engaged civic agents.
