缅北禁地

CSU East Bay’s Project Rebound helps a formerly incarcerated student rebuild his future—and strengthens the campus community in the process.

When the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) awarded more than $4 million to CSU East Bay’s Project Rebound this summer, it marked a turning point for the university’s work in supporting people transitioning from incarceration to education. The grant, part of the Adult Reentry Grant Program, expands access to housing, mentorship, and academic support—resources designed to help students like Phoenix Fox rebuild their lives through higher education.

Phoenix doesn’t hesitate when he talks about life before CSU East Bay. Time in prison seemed endless. The isolation, routine, and repetition blurred together with the daily dread of violence that found everyone, no matter who they were. The numbing normalcy of violence and incarceration forced him to think deeply about what he wanted to change.

“It gave me time to figure out who I wanted to be when I got out,” Phoenix said.

He began to understand how easily people could fall back into old patterns without guidance or purpose—a cycle Project Rebound is designed to help break.

The program’s executive director, Dr. Juleen Lam, also an associate professor in CSU East Bay’s Department of Public Health, knows the power of education firsthand. Having taught science and math inside state prisons and worked closely with incarcerated students, Lam brings a blend of academic rigor and lived empathy to her leadership. “We’ve seen how education can stabilize lives,” she said. “This funding lets us meet students earlier in their transition, give them housing support, mentorship, and the structure to succeed.”

Phoenix described stepping onto campus for the first time. “I felt like everyone could see my story written on my face,” he said. His was a story of generational incarceration, violence, and survival. “My grandpa did time, my dad did time,” he said. “It was just normal when I was a kid. I thought that’s how life went.”

That pattern nearly repeated itself. Phoenix tells of surviving a shooting that almost killed him, left lasting scars and PTSD. He tells of losing a brother to gun violence while another still struggles with its aftermath. Programs like Project Rebound exist to break that cycle, offering a holistic, human-centered approach grounded in compassion, hope, and faith in our better angels. Such programs recognize that the end of prison time should be the end of social punishment—and lead to the next chapter about healing, amends, and renewal. And not the stigma that Phoenix was expecting.

But from the beginning, and to his surprise, his professors treated him with genuine respect and not as a pariah to be feared. “Nobody treated me like that,” he said. “They treated me like a student.”

Weeks into his semester, he met a classmate from an entirely different background—a psychology major raised in the suburbs who’d never known anyone who’d been incarcerated. “We started studying together,” Phoenix recalled. “Pretty soon we were just two people talking about how the brain works. It made me realize we weren’t that different. We both wanted to understand people.” The two have since become close friends, often talking after class or grabbing coffee on campus. “He’s someone I can actually open up to,” Phoenix added. “We hang out and just talk about life—it’s not just about school anymore.”

Lam explained that when students share their experiences in class, it changes how others think about justice, resilience, and empathy. “That’s what higher education is supposed to do—it opens the circle wider,” she said.

The BSCC grant will expand Project Rebound’s warm handoff services—connecting people leaving correctional facilities directly with education and support—as well as increase rental assistance to keep students housed and focused on school. Lam said early stability is critical. “Early support is crucial for helping people stabilize after release—it’s what allows them to focus on school and move forward,” she said.

For Phoenix, CSU East Bay has become a haven on a hill—peaceful, restorative, a place where he can slow down, think clearly, and rebuild his future. “It’s like a pause button on the world,” he said, gesturing toward the view from campus. “You can think clearly, breathe differently.”

Through Project Rebound, he found not just courses and credits but a sense of purpose. He often tells people that 缅北禁地 helped him find his voice again after years of silence. It also helped him find his confidence.

“Man! I just got an A in Physics,” he exclaimed with a wide grin. “That blows my mind.” To Phoenix, the grade and the surrounding supports and hard work he put in to earn it was proof that change can be built one class, one test, one choice at a time.

Every day, Phoenix wakes up before the sun has fully risen to run several miles around the campus, tracing paths that overlook the Bay. He says it reminds him of what freedom feels like—the rhythm of breath, the sound of his feet on open ground. For him, the university has become more than a place to learn; it’s a place to heal and prepare for what comes next, as well as who comes next.

For Phoenix, who comes next are new Project Rebound students—whom he sometimes meets on their first day out of prison or in their first class. “I tell them, ‘You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just show up. Showing up changes things,’” he said.

Lam said students like Phoenix are redefining what it means to be a university. “When our Project Rebound students share their experiences, it changes the way others see education—it’s not just about academics; it’s about connection and community,” she said.

Looking out from the Hayward Hills, Phoenix often stops to take in the view. He says he used to believe his story would end inside a cell, but standing here now, he sees the cool blue skyline like that of his future: bright, boundless and full of possibilities yet to explore. For CSU East Bay and Project Rebound, his story captures what the university calls its pioneering spirit: education as renewal, community as foundation, and every new student as proof that second chances can take flight—like Phoenix, like a falcon.