Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu, Dean of the College of Education at Cal State San Bernardino. The College of Education is home to the Cal State San Bernardino Reentry Initiative, CSRI. CSRI supports parolees reentering the inland empire through comprehensive community-based education and partnerships. Thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
Thank you.
Maya Gwynn
I'm going to start just at the word reentry. When people hear the word reentry, what do you hope they understand after learning about what CSRI does.
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
I hope that when people hear reentry, they go beyond correction, because here at CSRI, our focus is not correction, it's rehabilitation. I will even say restoration. We hope that when people hear reentry, they hear dignity, community, they hear responsibility. So our goal at CSRI for the past 15 years is to show the parolees who are returning from incarceration that they can become neighbors, family members and contributing members of the society.
Maya Gwynn
I love that CSRI is housed within the College of Education. Why was it important for this work to live in an educational space, rather than solely within the justice system?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
So what we do through CSRI is to educate, rehabilitate through drug treatments and behavioral management issues, give them parenting classes, give them how to manage domestic violence issues so that they do not return to whatever it was that sent them to prison. So we educate them. We give them skills, life skills that will enable them to function well in their families, in the community and in society at large. We also give them job skills. We help them become employable. So very much overlaps with what we do as a College of Education.
Maya Gwynn
I love the mission and CSRI's mission focuses on breaking cycles of generational incarceration. In your experience, how have you seen education intervene, not just in life, but across families?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
Very much so. What we're doing at CSRI is impacting not just individual, but the next generation. So a story of one of our graduates who was an active gang member, a violent gang member, who, after his parole, came to us. They are not mandated to come to us. They choose to come to us. So this individual went through the program successfully and rehabilitated himself, got a job, and then he would take pictures of himself and write letters to send to his brother who is in jail. He's giving the picture of himself in his professional outfit. He tells the brother, please do not make the mistakes again. When you finish, come over here and they will help you. And I want to tell you, when his brother came out of prison, he came straight to CSRI.
Maya Gwynn
I mean, that should be on your brochure. What challenges do people returning home to the Inland Empire face that might look different from reentry in larger urban centers like LA or the Bay Area?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
You see the two other counties you mentioned, Los Angeles County and the Bay Area, they are larger. They have more resources that make it easier for these candidates to come back home and be supported. For example, we have housing insecurity in San Bernardino County and even Riverside. We have limited social services. You know, transportation, for example, Los Angeles has better transportation,
Maya Gwynn
Yeah and it's still not great.
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
It’s still not great. But it is better than the Inland Empire. Another thing I like to point out is that San Bernardino County has the third largest number of parolees in the nation. We don't have sufficient nonprofits in the Inland Empire to provide additional resources to support these men and women compared to these other areas. We can use a lot of help.
Maya Gwynn
Definitely. What are some systemic barriers that continue to limit the success of reentry programs, not just CSRI, but others that you've seen, even when programming is strong and you have passionate individuals like yourself. And how does CSRI measure success beyond traditional metrics?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
So the black population is 12% of US population, but represent 32 to 33% of the prison population. And so the over representation to start with, is a systemic issue. And then when they come and go through our program, generally across the nation, they encounter more employment discrimination. But the good news at CSRI is that we are actually beating the national record. A lot of our students who are black are able to compete successfully and secure employment in this region almost at the same rate as their non black peers. You asked about success indicators - housing stability, the ability of these previously incarcerated people to be housed, to stay housed, the likelihood of them starting the program and finishing. We do have good completion rate and then transition into a more healthy living condition. Their health and well being. You know, I mentioned something about substance use and behavioral therapy issues, how they are able to manage their lives and put behind them some of those bad behaviors and begin to make progress towards living a more stable life. Skill development, we do all kinds of training and certification, forklift certification, and all kinds of things so that they can get out there and get a job.
Maya Gwynn
So we're going to move to our rapid fire portion. I'm excited to hear your answers. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
The theme song will be: Guide Me, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah. I'm a man of faith. We do not come with a sense of, I know it all. We come with a sense of, let's try and see what we can do. So when I say, guide me, oh thou great Jehovah, it's a prayer. It's a supplication that we need divine and human support to get our goal. We don't have all the answers, but we are willing to try.
Maya Gwynn
If you had to teach a master class or give a TED talk on a random skill you have besides the work that you do, what would it be?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
So if I were to write a course or do a TED Talk, maybe I will title it, ability to speak persuasively without knowing that you are able to.
Maya Gwynn
That's good. That would be really good. And what's your favorite Inland Empire restaurant, or a landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
You know, there is a small restaurant at the corner of university Parkway and Kendall Drive, okay? It is called the Thai place. It is small, but I believe it has the best Thai food in the Inland Empire.
Maya Gwynn
Okay, I love Thai food. And how can people keep up with you and support the work you guys are doing?
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
Thank you. I will have a website, so that's the easiest way, so either through CSRI website or to the Watson College website.
Maya Gwynn
Thank you so much. This was such a great conversation.
Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu
Appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. Dr. Chinaka DomNwachukwu is Dean of the College of Education at Cal State San Bernardino. Find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for the segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments and black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
