Stories
Stories
Unlocking Potential
Even as a preteen, Jennifer Porter Anderson (MBA 2013) was convinced there could be a better, more compassionate alternative for criminal justice than locking people up in large, violent prisons. What began as a family dinner-table conversation about the concept of recidivism eventually led her to pursue a business education and her own startup, the Reset Foundation, which diverts young men from prison to a setting centered on education rather than incarceration.
“If you boil Reset down to one idea, it is that environment is the most important thing,” Anderson says. “Jails and prisons are dehumanizing, ugly, and dark places. If you tried to imagine the worst place possible to put someone, that’s probably what you would come up with.”
Reset’s first residential program facility in Berkeley, California, opened last year with five participants and a waiting list of 13. All students are young men from low-income backgrounds who have been diverted from the court system, often as part of a plea agreement. Students must live at the locked Reset facility and take lessons in academics, career development, and developing healthy life and social habits. Eventually they move to external business internships as part of a path to full independence, a process that takes one to two years.
(Published October 2017)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 31 Mar 2023
- Skydeck
How Can We Solve the Teacher Shortage Crisis?
Re: Mallory Dwinal (MBA 2015) -
- 22 Feb 2022
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Vision: Learning Curve
Re: Azeez Gupta (MBA 2019); Ashish Dhawan (MBA 1997); Sid Yog (MBA 2004); By: Alexander Gelfand -
- 17 Feb 2022
- New York Times
A Big Bet
Re: Tracy Palandjian (MBA 1997); Gerald Chertavian (MBA 1992) -
- 10 Aug 2021
- Making A Difference
Moving Education Within Reach
Stories Featuring Jen Anderson
-
- 24 Aug 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Unlocking Potential
Re: Jen Anderson (MBA 2013); Karen Alden (MBA 1988); Abbas Causer (MBA 2013); Ben Dubin (MBA 1997); Yvette Romero (MBA 2009); Christian Thwaites (MBA 1988); By: Ralph Ranalli