Reentry at Lehman
What is Reentry at Lehman?
Reentry@Lehman aims to create a welcoming, supportive, and respectful learning environment for all Lehman students impacted by the criminal justice system, including those who have experienced incarceration and those who have family members who are currently or were formerly incarcerated.
What We Do
We seek to address the unique challenges faced by formerly incarcerated students by educating the campus community about these challenges, while also providing support for the students’ academic enrollment, registration, financial aid and referrals to campus and community-based resources and partners that address specific needs such as housing, employment, legal services, personal finances, and scholarship information.
History
In 2017, Prof. Penny Prince along with a group of other Lehman College faculty, students, and staff created a Reentry@Lehman Committee out of concern for the welfare of an extremely marginalized population: students entering the world of higher education after incarceration.
We were aware that Lehman had always accepted students impacted by the criminal justice system, but since no special provisions were made for them and many of them preferred not to identify themselves as formerly incarcerated, they navigated the challenges of college on their own.
Our objective was to make these students feel welcome and to educate ourselves—the staff, administration, faculty, and students—so we could be supportive and could truly assist them with all their needs.
Reentry@Lehman hosts a screening of the movie, Sing Sing, and a discussion with justice involved individuals including an actor in the movie.
Mujahideen Muhammed from The Pillars of Promise.
Since 2017, as many as 45 members at a time have served on the committee, representing all schools and departments within Lehman as well as justice-impacted students. Thanks to a 2018 grant from the College and Community Fellowship, we received specialized training in addressing the needs of these students which could affect success in education, such as housing and financial challenges, legal information on fair practices, the effects of trauma, licensing and certification limitations and myths, and more. In 2019, a Reentry Task Force was asked to delineate concrete goals to target the future of the Reentry Committee.
For more information about Reentry@Lehman contact Reentry@Lehman Committee Chair Penny Prince at penny.prince@lehman.cuny.edu.