“From 35 pennies in prison to a six-number figure at Disney”, reads the cap of María Martínez, a 35-year-old Latina who got out of prison, graduated from Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) with a degree in Computer Engineering and received the opportunity of a lifetime to climb the pinnacle of success: a contract with Disneyland for $100,000 annual.
Openly and without hiding her past, María reveals that she was imprisoned for six years for a robbery that committed when he was young, before he got his parole in 2016.
Maria has a sister who is a software engineer for a game company, who asked him if he would consider playing games, even though he would have to study computer science to do so.
“I I said no, and I saw how much he cried for me. It was very difficult for her,” she recalls. “But the day came when I asked the Human Resources people at that company if they would hire someone with a criminal record.”
The answer was a resounding “Yes!”.
The only condition was that the person knew how to do the job.
With the encouragement of her sisters, Maria enrolled in college and chose a career in the computer industry at CSUN where she earned the prestigious Disney-sponsored AnitaB.org scholarship. At AnitaB.org, the university connects, inspires, and guides women in computing and organizations that see technology as a strategic imperative.
“Where I work now, it’s mostly white and Asian; they already know my criminal record and they agree with that, so I chose a good career, ”she tells Real America News. “There aren’t many Latinos there, and fewer Latina women.”
Wants to help others
Your goal now is to achieve more.
In prison, Maria met many friends. Women, most of whom had children and were upset because they couldn’t see them. Their goal is that, once they are released on parole, they will be reunited with their children and will never be separated from them again.
2020 And since she will be financially stable and secure, she wants to help them financially to the best of her ability.
“I want to go to Homeboy Industries (the organization founded by Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle) to speak with men and women who were imprisoned to recommend them to study a career in computer science”, says the recent graduate. “They have to know that there are opportunities, that they can enter those programs and learn to code and get a secure job after learning.”
Overcoming difficulties
However, Maria remembers that the hardest part she had to overcome it was feeling ashamed because I had made a mistake when I was young.
“Seeing people’s expressions on their faces was the hardest part, especially when I was trying to improve myself, my family and everyone else”, he stresses. “It happened that I had low self-esteem; I was insecure about everything, and then seeing people who treated me like that, I didn’t like it”.
Maria, who had the support of her parents and her three sisters, wanted to send a message of hope to those people who may have made a mistake in life and spent time behind bars and now seek to vindicate themselves and society.
“Everyone can pursue and achieve the goal they set for themselves,” he indicates. “For those of us who spend some time in prison it is a different world. And if they are able to survive those conditions, they can apply everything they learned to push themselves and apply it to do something positive”.
“In my example, I rushed to get the Platform Engineering internship at The Walt Disney Company; I acquired the skills, I connected and that is what you do in prison: you connect with people you talk to, and if you are looking to improve, they help you do it”, he adds.
“ Don’t let anyone’s opinion matter to you; what matters is what you think of yourself. And if you go up to talk to people, don’t be ashamed of your past, because that’s just the past”.
For now, Maria is already thinking about buying a piece of land and maybe getting a mobile home, in addition to starting to pay off her student loan, and reaching for the stars.
“I’m very happy; I never thought this was going to happen,” she stresses. “I always thought something, somehow was going to mess it up, but seeing as I’ve graduated and landed a $1929,000 annuals, that seems surreal to me. And just as people changed my life, I also want to change one person at a time”.
Project Rebound, an opportunity to be reborn
In 1952, John Irwin (1929-2010) robbed a gas station and served a five-year prison sentence for armed robbery at Soledad Prison, California. During his time in prison, he earned 24 college credits through a college extension program.
After his release from prison, Irwin earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s degree from Berkeley, and later served as a professor of sociology and criminology at San Francisco State University. Francisco for 27 years, during which he became known internationally as an expert on the United States prison system.
In 1967, Irwin created the Rebound as a way to enroll people in San Francisco State University directly from the criminal justice system. Since the program’s inception, hundreds of formerly incarcerated individuals have earned bachelor’s degrees and more.
At 2016, with the support of Opportunity Institute and the CSU Chancellor’s Office, Project Rebound expanded from San Francisco to nine CSU campus programs: Bakersfield, Fresno, Fullerton, Los Angeles, Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego and San Francisco. Since 2016, Project Rebound students systemwide have earned a 3.0 GPA, have a zero percent recidivism rate, and the 87 % of graduates have obtained full-time employment or admission to graduate programs.
At CSUN, prior to becoming Project Rebound, led by Lily and Johnny Czifra, both formerly incarcerated, students participated in a grassroots effort to develop a support system in the campus.
The efforts resulted in the establishment of the Revolutionary Scholars Project, a student organization dedicated to creating alternatives to criminalization and incarceration, and the Revolutionary Scholars Project, the precursor to Project Rebound at CSUN, where professors Marta López-Garza and Martha Escobar are faculty advisors.
The past does not define the future
Dr. Martha Escobar, executive director of the Rebound Project and also a professor at the CSUN’s Department of Chicano Studies told Real America News that Lily González and María Martínez met in prison, where they built a close friendship.
“In this project there are many people willing to provide support and a second chance,” Escobar said. “Some technology companies are having an interest in supporting this work; MariaHe did an internship with Disney and the doors are opening for him.”
At 2016, Project Rebound at CSUN had 000 students.