Students at the Center For Social Innovation, or CFSI, give presentations about their career goals.
They’re nervous. But as each student makes their way to the front of the room, their classmates cheer loudly. A chorus of ‘you got this’ rings through the group.
Like a typical college classroom, there are tables and chairs arranged in groups and decorated with school supplies. But as student Nick Eston, who’s in his 40s, puts it, the students are all from “different walks of life.”
“But we all have one thing in common,” Eston said. “We’ve all been through a lot and we’re here to create a better life for us and our families.”
The center launched in 2020 with a 3-year, $1 million starting grant from the E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation and partnerships with local nonprofits. Now, the fifth cohort of students is moving through the two-semester program.
And it’s grown in popularity. Last year, there were 150 applicants to the program. 77 of those applicants were interviewed by a panel, and 38 were chosen.
Senior Director Ariel Moore said CFSI is designed as a way for anyone who has experienced barriers to education like homelessness, incarceration, domestic violence and other hardships to take college classes.
“It’s a program that braids higher education with transformative programming,” Moore said.
Along with the opportunity to take classes in the major they choose from available options at OSU-OKC, students get training on leadership and emotional intelligence skills.
There’s also a stipend to supplement the cost of missing work, and Moore said students receive ‘complete wraparound services’ during their time in the program.
“We show up at their court dates with them,” Moore said. “We help them get their kids back if they're trying to go through reunification with DHS. We help them with any kind of sobriety needs, help them get vehicles and childcare. All of those needs that they could possibly have, our staff, they've been through all that before, so they know how to navigate all the resources.”
Moore said her own experiences with incarceration and addiction have helped her lead the center.
John Standfill, Moore’s coworker and data specialist for the center, graduated from CFSI before he became part of its three-person staff.
He understands what it's like to take an unconventional journey back to school. In 2022, he told his parole officer he wanted to attend college.
“But I never thought it would be a possibility because of my past and, you know, my life at the time,” Stanfill said.
He was living at the City Rescue Mission and had recently been released from the North Fork Correctional Center.
“Being able to work at a college, being able to have opportunities and being able to do the things I'm doing now is just truly, it's incredible,” Standfill said.
The center reports the third cohort of students came to the program with an average wage of $10,000 a year. After completing it, that figure increased to approximately $37,000.
“That’s even without a degree,” Moore said.
And in this year’s cohort, the hope for the future is palpable. Many students say they want to help people struggling with the same problems they did as counselors, lawyers and teachers.
In her presentation, Merrie Smith told the class she wants to continue attending college after CFSI to become a professor. She said she wants to motivate and inspire people who might fear college isn’t for them.
“I've wanted to be a teacher since I was probably in grade school,” Smith said.
She also said having a supportive environment is helping her feel like she “has a place to belong.”
“I come from a background in domestic violence, and part of that time I was in isolation,” Smith said. “So my social skills really took a hit. And so being in the Center For Social Innovation, I have a community that I'm with every day. I'm getting to know myself and learning how to interact with others again.”
This is why CFSI works, Moore said.
“You think about generational like chains breaking and generational cycles of, you know, homelessness and poverty. I don't think that just meeting basic needs is ever going to change that,” she said.
Despite the significant amount of work it takes to come back to school after significant barriers, the center's retention rate remains high.
“It's almost like every day is kind of a miracle,” Moore said.
