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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

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James Monteiro

Founder and Director

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Brenda Dan-Messier

President

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Eileen Hayes

Treasurer

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Stephanie M. Cruz

Secretary

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Lisa Holley

Board Member

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Thomas Verdi

Board Member

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Alexis Morales

Board Member

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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

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Our Supporters

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