
Our History
"It’s easy to be locked up in prison. It’s harder to be locked out of society."
James Monteiro, Reentry Campus Program Founder and Executive Director
Reentry Campus Program (RCP) is a Providence, Rhode Island-based organization working nationally to help currently and formerly incarcerated individuals receive a post-secondary education on their way to becoming self-sufficient and successful. James Monteiro founded RCP after being incarcerated for many years up and down the East Coast. During incarceration he saw a gap between the kind of learning and experiences that were happening inside, and how they transferred on the outside. Through his own journey of successful reentry and education, he realized that access to education is critical to the pathway to freedom and he wanted to pay it forward. In late 2017 multi award-winning singer, producer, director and activist John Legend gave RCP its initial major funding seed of $50,000 through Legend’s nonprofit, FreeAmerica, and its accelerator initiative, Unlocked Futures. RCP has helped close to 400 current and formerly incarcerated people. Several are now in high-paying jobs or own their own businesses. We make post-secondary education accessible, affordable and efficient with our pre-assessment and advising, evaluating the individual’s prior learning and subsequent standardized tests that allow them to avoid taking unnecessary, costly courses. RCP also advocates with others to change policies to make sure current and formerly incarcerated people can access post-secondary education. In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced its expansion of the federal government’s “efforts to support reentry, empower formerly incarcerated persons, enhance public safety, and strengthen our communities and our economy.” Another 73 colleges and universities (bringing the total participating post-education institutions to 200) have joined the Second Chance Pell Experiment, an initiative to expand access to federal Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals enrolled in participating programs. RCP and others are advocating to be intermediaries for this initiative because those closest to the problem should be at the forefront of realizing the solution.
Our Staff
James Monteiro
Founder and Executive Director
Maria Carvalho
Operations Director
Page Pena
Program Director
Photos Coming Soon!
Keith Nunes
Pathways Coordinator
Nayeli Candelier
Office Manager
Thomas Harmon
Pathways Coordinator
Robert McKinney
RCP Mentor Coordinator
Susan Rohwer
Communications Coordinator
Mentor Coordinator
Tyson Ferrara
Oanh Bui-Torres
Accounting Manager
Education is crucial to successful reentry.
Our Board

James Monteiro
Founder and Director

Brenda Dan-Messier
President

Eileen Hayes
Treasurer

Stephanie M. Cruz
Secretary

Lisa Holley
Board Member

Thomas Verdi
Board Member
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Alexis Morales
Board Member

Teresa Foley
Board Member
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Mary Louise Joseph
Board Member
Alvin Reyes
Board Member
Meko Lincoln
Board Member
Gerald Williams
Board Member