Formerly Incarcerated Student Finds New Path to Life of Purpose at Rutgers

With ambitions of working for a company or building one of his own, he is completing studies in leadership and management at Rutgers Business School.

NEWARK, N.J. , March 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- When Lavonta Bass takes his seat in a classroom at Rutgers Business School, he's not only there to absorb knowledge and pass exams, he's also there to redeem a second chance he's received to pursue a life of purpose.

The New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) offered Bass a chance to use his time in prison to learn, pursue an associate degree, and then work toward a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University-Newark.

For him, education offers a path that is both promising and pragmatic.

"I take full responsibility for what I've done. That's what prison is supposed to do. But after doing all the prison time, I have no 401K, no social security," said Bass, who became a Rutgers Business School senior in September. "If I get a college education, I give myself an opportunity to have a fighting chance of getting a job."

Bass grew up in Linden, raised by a single mother whose care and discipline ensured that he graduated from high school. Not long afterward, though, he found himself more influenced by individuals who would lead him into trouble. An arrest resulted an 18-year-long prison sentence. "Some forces are stronger than a mother's push," he said.

He had served eight years when NJ-STEP was introduced. He was working as a teacher's assistant and reading everything he could, from Shakespeare's plays and Nietzsche's philosophy to Bloomberg's business news. When he signed up to begin college classes, he got pushed up on the waiting list because of his education and his role helping to tutor other prisoners.

The NJ-STEP initiative is a partnership between the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the state Parole Board and a group of colleges and universities in the state, including Rutgers, to provide incarcerated individuals with the ability to work toward a degree. The partnership also assists students like Bass transition to college life when they are released from prison to live in halfway houses.

Rutgers University currently has 55 students working on degrees through the NJ-STEP Program. That includes 31 who, like Lavonta, are pursuing degrees at Rutgers University-Newark. Across the university's three campuses – New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden – more than 137 formerly incarcerated students have earned bachelor's degrees.

According to data collected by NJ-STEP, 90 percent of those 137 students are employed full time within a year of graduating. The jobs they fill are in private industry, government, healthcare, higher education, and non-profits. Many chose to follow a more entrepreneurial path, creating businesses in building management, mentoring, fitness, social media, and other fields, NJ-STEP data shows.

Bass credits an older prisoner, Jon Johnson, with taking an interest in him and encouraging him to read. The two men spoke regularly about books, news, philosophy, and mythology. In a phone call, Johnson said he knows Bass has the potential to accomplish his goals.

"There was a certain discipline that I saw demonstrated day after day," Johnson said in a telephone interview. "He's built of something decent. He's capable of achieving anything."

 As a result of his constant reading and conversations with Johnson, Bass said he became interested in politics and business. "I've always had an affinity for things that are organized," he said. Among the things he learned from his reading in prison was the principle of Rapid Continuous Improvement, which he began applying to his own life. "I became more productive each day," he said. He earned an associate degree in liberal arts, finishing as valedictorian.

In August, Bass, now living in transitional housing run by the state Department of Corrections, started attending classes at Rutgers University-Newark. He is studying political science, and at Rutgers Business School, he is majoring in leadership and management.

He is adjusting to changes that are both exciting and challenging. He handles his own course scheduling now and said he struggles with a sense of self-doubt, wondering if he will be able to keep up and whether he really belongs. "With fortitude, I will get through it," he said.

He is currently working as a consultant with the New Jersey Small Business Development Corp. (SBDC), assisting program coordinators who are training prisoners interested in starting their own businesses when they re-enter society.

His role at the SBDC is to help its staff understand the society inside prison. Technology, for instance, has evolved so rapidly that prisoners require an acclimation. Even the importance of email as a form of communication is something that inmates may be unaware of after years in prison, Bass said.

Elayne Stanback-McClaine, who is the New Jersey Small Business Development Center's regional director for Middlesex County, said Bass is part of the center's NJLEAD team named for a Department of Corrections grant (New Jersey Locally Empowered, Accountable and Determined) that helps support reintegration services for individuals exiting the state correctional system.

"He has been a key contributor to our re-entry citizen outreach process with his knowledge of how to deliver our entrepreneurial service to this community," she said. "His skills and expertise as both a data manager and a presenter have been most valuable."

Bass realizes his past will always remain with him. Prospective employers will do background checks. "Doors will be closed in my face," he said, "but I will always be able to go to the next door."

"I'm never going back," he said. "I have to keep pushing forward."

SOURCE Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick