BASIC is Making College Possible for Students After Incarceration

For too long, a criminal record has been a wall between individuals and the transformative power of an education.  But across Alameda County, and the greater Bay Area, that wall is coming down, brick by brick, thanks to a bold, coordinated effort led by BASIC.  

Justice-involved and impacted students benefit from expanding support programs in California’s two and four-year public colleges and universities.  Sustained engagement in post-secondary education by these students has been shown to significantly reduce their risk of recidivism.  Eight years ago, Urban Strategies Council supported several East Bay campus-based programs in creating BASIC (Bay Area Systems Impacted Consortium), a collaborative effort to support student perseverance, retention and success, program sustainability, and the capacity to impact justice systems reform.  BASIC provides access to information, resources and networks that empower current and formerly-incarcerated and justice systems-impacted students in the Bay Area, to achieve self-determination and success in their post-secondary education and career pathways. 

As the convener of this groundbreaking alliance of community colleges and universities, BASIC is reshaping what reentry can look like.  With representatives from every post-secondary institution of higher learning in the Bay Area, this coalition is focused on one mission:  making college accessible, supportive and achievable for people with justice system involvement.

What began as a small roundtable in 2017 has grown into a formal network of Higher Ed professionals who are working together to build clear, compassionate pathways from incarceration to higher education and, ultimately, long-term success.

“Higher education can be a game-changer,” says Charlie Eddy, BASIC’s Program Coordinator, who oversees the alliance’s coordination.  Charlie who has worked in Bay Area non-profits for decades knew that the system was not designed with returning citizens in mind, and he wanted to change that.  

A Regional Blueprint for Access

The work is hands-on and deeply collaborative.  Member institutions incubate and share best practices, aligning policies and training staff on how to support system-impacted students.  Together, they’ve tackled everything from confusing admissions processes and transcript holds to gaps in financial aid and housing barriers.  Thanks to BASIC, formerly-incarcerated students now have access to:

• Dedicated campus support programs at each participating college and university;

• Peer mentoring and reentry navigation services;

• Support with admissions, FAFSA and career planning tailored to those with criminal records; 

• An annually updated directory that lists Bay Area-wide campus-based support programs and campus offices providing helpful services

• Annual network-wide convenings with speakers, panels, workshops and networking time; and

• Policy advocacy that promotes equity and second chances within academic institutions.

From Cells to Classrooms

The impact is already visible.  Formerly-incarcerated students are enrolling – AND GRADUATING! – at higher rates.  According to Roger Chung, a faculty member at Laney College and the founder of Restoring our Communities (ROC), BASIC functions as a non-partisan organization that is able to bring organizations together that often compete for funding and other types of recognition.  BASIC provides the space to share ideas and know that those ideas will be used to benefit our students.  

Historically, this work has been focused on the adult reentry populations, and now BASIC is supporting its expansion into the juvenile justice system.  Planning is currently underway for a major two-day convening on developing pathways to transition justice-involved youth from juvenile halls and probation camps onto community college campuses.  We anticipate the convening to occur in February 2026.    

A Model for the Nation

BASIC has caught the attention of national reentry and education advocates, who see it as a replicable model.  But for BASIC, the focus remains local and personal.  “We’re not just changing systems,” says Kellie Nadler, the Interim Dean of Academic Pathways, Strong Workforce and Student Success at Laney College.  She says that BASIC is also “changing lives.  We’re saying to people who’ve been locked out of opportunity:  You belong here. We want you to thrive.”

With more students enrolling in these campus-based support programs each semester, and more institutions joining the alliance, the momentum is growing.  The work ahead is still significant, but the foundation has been laid. 

In a world that often defines people by their worst mistake, BASIC offers something different:  a future.