About

About the Program

USP is a peer support program that provides support for current and formerly incarcerated (FI) students as well as students who have been directly impacted by the criminal punishment system (SI). The goal of USP is to redefine what is possible through higher education and reverse the school-to-prison pipeline. USP will build a supportive community on campus that will create space for FI and SI students to thrive. Through higher education, FI and SI students can overcome the stigma of incarceration, build a sense of agency and autonomy and create pathways to give back to the community. As a student-centered support program, USP will rely on the feedback of FI and SI students to identify the needs and priorities of the students we serve. 

We prioritize our services for formerly incarcerated students. We define system-impacted as a person who is legally, economically, or familially affected in a negative way by the incarceration of a close relative. System-impacted also includes people who have been arrested and/or convicted without incarceration.

Our Mission

USP strives to create a life-affirming alternative pathway to disrupt the revolving door policies of mass incarceration by making higher education more accessible and supportive to formerly incarcerated (FI) and system-impacted (SI) students.

USP is committed to helping FI and SI students:

  • Acquire the knowledge and skills of a university education
  • Enhance their capacity for civic engagement and community leadership
  • Secure meaningful and gratifying employment 
  • Empower themselves and their loved ones
  • Build a stronger and safer community 

USP’s mission to support FI and SI students in achieving their education and career goals is based on the effective peer support model, which employs staff and students with a similar lived experience who are best suited to prepare FI and SI students with the transition to campus life. FI students have an intimate understanding of the many challenges that individuals are likely to face during the transition from incarceration to post-secondary education. These mentors can help FI and SI students navigate the various hurdles of reentry and reintegration while accompanying them through the matriculation process upon release. Students and staff become a tangible example that educational attainment is possible.

USP student mentors and staff will assist FI and SI students as they progress through their education goals. USP students will be offered opportunities to get involved in civic engagement, which helps to alter the narrative of what it means to be formerly incarcerated. They will also be able to use their own lived experience to impact policy and help create systemic change. This process affirms the value of the individual and collective voices of formerly incarcerated students and provides opportunities for formerly incarcerated people to fill community leadership roles.

Our Vision

USP supports equity in accessing postsecondary education for people with an incarceration history. We believe that it is possible to reverse the school-to-prison pipeline by actively dismantling systems of oppression and providing a layer of support for our students on campus. Through our lived experiences, USP staff understand the difficulties our students are likely to face. Through our work, we:

  • Accompany students as they achieve their educational goals
  • Help connect students to meaningful careers
  • Have a direct and meaningful impact on students' lives 
  • Help foster the generational impact that each student’s success has on their family and community.  

Key Service Objectives

  1. Foster a college-going culture among and build recruitment pathways for currently and formerly incarcerated people.
    1. Conduct off-campus and on-campus outreach, recruitment and informational sessions, including in jails/prisons.
    2. Respond to all letters and inquiries.
    3. Communicate with potential applicants regarding admissions requirements and processes.
    4. Act as a liaison with the courts, parole and probation to ensure prospective students transition to the county which best suits their educational goals. 
  2. Help prospective students prepare, apply and matriculate.
    1. Conduct initial college assessment and provide detailed feedback to currently and formerly incarcerated prospective students.
    2. Help prospective students develop an admissions plan.
    3. Help prospective students apply for admission.
    4. Help prospective students apply for financial aid.
    5. Help prospective students complete the steps needed to enroll.
    6. Help prospective students remove obstacles to academic enrollment (e.g., filing appeal forms for admissions, loan rehabilitation, probationary forms, etc.).
  3. Support enrolled students to persist, graduate, and pursue career options.
    1. Provide referrals and connections to reentry service providers.
    2. Support students to obtain appropriate academic advising.
    3. Help students register for courses and navigate campus technology, such as course management systems.
    4. Help students develop study skills and other “soft” skills needed to succeed.           
    5. Provide direct financial support to assist with critical needs such as books, school supplies, transportation, meals, application and test fees, based on available resources.  
    6. Maintain an environment that cultivates inclusive community and a sense of belonging among students.
  4. Support enrolled students to participate in student life and leadership, community service, and civic engagement.
    1. Advise and assist students to create and maintain an active student club or organization as appropriate. 
    2. Cultivate supportive relations and advocate with Associated Students.
    3. Cultivate supportive relations and advocate with local, state and federal elected officials.
    4. Encourage student community service and civic engagement through outreach within the public and private sector.
  5. Establish and foster empowering networks among USP students and alumni.
    1. Build and maintain a USP Alumni Association.
    2. Host or foster events that bring USP alumni and existing USP students together.
    3. Leverage USP alumni success to create opportunities for other USP alumni, graduates, and students (e.g., internships, fellowships, jobs).

USP History

Underground Scholars was started in the Spring of 2013 by formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students at UC Berkeley as the Underground Scholars Initiative (USI), a student organization.

In 2014, USI received funding from the University of California Berkeley through a fee referendum that students voted on. That funding made it possible for USI to rent office space and hire their first director, transfer coordinator and five formerly incarcerated students to work in their office. In 2016, they partnered with Senator Loni Hancock who led an effort to secure funding from the state to initiate the development of an academic support program to serve formerly incarcerated students in addition to the student organization, USI. Berkeley Underground Scholars was born out of that effort.

Shortly after USI was developed at UC Berkeley, formerly incarcerated students at UCLA began to develop a chapter. As Berkeley’s USI members graduated and spread through the UC system for graduate school, they began building chapters on other campuses. The USI chapter at UC Davis began in 2019. The UC Davis USP was launched in Winter 2024 as a result of the advocacy work by former incarcerated students and state-wide funding allocated in 2022.

UC Davis USP Partnerships

We work closely with the Underground Scholars Initiative at UC Davis, a student-led organization, to serve UC Davis Students. USI is completely student-run. The two organizations, USP and USI, are separate and aligned. 

We are working with the following UCs across the state to implement the Underground Scholars Program Model.

BERKELEY UNDERGROUND SCHOLARS - UC BERKELEY:
Website: https://undergroundscholars.berkeley.edu/
Instagram: @theundergroundscholars

UNDERGROUND SCHOLARS PROGRAM - UC IRVINE:
Website: https://undergroundscholars.uci.edu/https://undergroundscholars.uci.edu/
Instagram: @uciundergroundscholars
Facebook: USIatUCI

BRUIN UNDERGROUND SCHOLARS PROGRAM - UCLA:
Website: https://undergroundscholars.ucla.edu/

BOBCAT UNDERGROUND SCHOLARS - UC MERCED:
Website: https://learning.ucmerced.edu/bobcat-underground-scholars

TRITON UNDERGROUND SCHOLARS - UC SAN DIEGO:
Website: https://oasis.ucsd.edu/programs/USI-folder/index.html
Instagram: @usi.ucsd

USI UC SANTA BARBARA:
Email: undergroundscholars.sb.ucsb@gmail.com
Program Director: Melissa Ortiz, melissaortiz@umail.ucsb.edu
Instagram: @usi.ucsantabarbara
Facebook: Underground Scholars Santa Barbara