Removing barriers to higher education for formerly incarcerated women and girls

Janet Hays interviews Syrita Steib-Martin about how her personal experience in a federal penitentiary led her to creating her own organization in New Orleans to help returning women and girls obtain medical educations post-incarceration.

Operation Restoration was created to provide a community where impoverished women and girls have access to the basic fundamentals they need to successfully reenter into society after incarceration. Operation Restoration assists women upon release with the monumental task of restoring themselves through the fundamentals needed to transition back into society. Once the fundamental needs are met Operation Restoration focuses on helping women obtain a higher education in order to pursue careers in healthcare. This also addresses the extreme shortage of healthcare workers that is present in Louisiana.

At Operation Restoration they believe that focusing on achieving successful reentry through the advancement of higher education gives women the confidence, faith and wherewithal to endure. Operation Restoration helps in eradicating the individual and structural barriers to higher education, while establishing economic security, long term stability, and civic participation for women who have criminal convictions (including those currently and formerly incarcerated) and their families. The OR guides women seeking to reclaim their lives through higher education in healthcare, while promoting their leadership, self-advocacy, and long term success.