For formerly incarcerated individuals returning to their communities, “clean, safe, and stable” housing is crucial, says Shawn Young ’19, upstate reentry resident for the Bard Prison Initiative. Speaking to his experience as a Bard alumnus through the Bard Prison Initiative, Young told the Good Work Hour on Radio Kingston that a housing-first reentry model can make the difference for people attempting to reestablish themselves in the communities they lived in before their incarceration. “When our folks, when our alumni/ae, when our students come back to their community, they have places that they can go to live,” Young says. In-prison education programs like BPI are transformative for incarcerated men and women, but in order for alumni/ae to “rise to whatever potential they can achieve,” Young says care and concern, especially from those who have had similar experiences, is often a deciding factor in a successful transition. “I didn’t get to this place simply because,” Young said. Now, through his work with BPI and the All Of Us community action group, Young is focused on giving back.
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This article originally appeared on Bard College’s website.
