Ep#027, College and Beyond for Formerly Incarcerated People: Underground Scholars at U.C. Berkeley

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Violeta Alvarez, the former Program Director for the Underground Scholars Initiative at U.C. Berkeley, discusses her experience as a formerly incarcerated person with Prison Scholar Fund CEO, Dirk van Velzen. Violeta and Dirk explore navigating college with a criminal record, the push to “Ban the Box,” and the inequities created by the current public defender system. Violeta breaks down the amazing work being done to destigmatize formerly incarcerated people attending college and shares her personal journey from the prison system, to U.C. Berkeley, to Hastings Law School.