Project Return takes Marquette students into different worlds, just blocks away

At 20 years old, Max Hughes-Zahnor was a sophomore in college studying psychology and criminology, unsure of what he wanted to do.

Then his academic adviser, Edwin de St. Aubin, suggested he intern at Project Return.

St. Aubin is a professor of psychology at Marquette University and the internship director for Project Return, a service-learning program that helps newly released former inmates successfully return to their communities.

The program also gives interns like Hughes-Zahnor insight into flaws of the criminal justice system.

"My takeaway was it's kind of amazing how resilient people are; that was so prevalent and it was amazing to see strong-willed people. But then the flip side I learned was how messed up the criminal justice system is and it's kind of depressing," Hughes-Zahnor said.

He also learned the importance of being an ally because he had one.

Brian Osei, Project Return's community organizer, was his mentor.

"Brian is the perfect person to ease me into it in a way that wasn’t super confusing," he said. "He was even injured, but he was still coming in and he said he looked forward to going to work. He was amazing."

Making real-world connections

Marquette University has been part of Project Return's service-learning program for nearly 40 years. Students have offered their tutoring, writing and social skills in exchange for the chance to see Project Return clients as people, not just former prisoners.

That program blossomed into an internship in 2013, allowing students to work alongside Project Return employees for nine-to-12 months.

St. Aubin has been on the board of Project Return, which he said shatters stereotypes about ex-prisoners, for 11 years.

"Students are being exposed to things they could just never experience in a classroom," he said, explaining how they are required to go with a mentor and visit a prison, spend time canvassing racially diverse neighborhoods and eat with Project Return clients.

Osei said he emphasizes outreach so his students can make real-world connections to their academic work.

"Some of them might be future lawyers and judges and just interpret the system a little better," he said. "You need to interact with the people you're going to be serving."

That interaction, Osei said, made a huge difference for Hughes-Zahnor.

"At first when he started, he looked at it from a privileged standpoint," Osei said. "Then once he started to get into the actual work, (he got) to see the issues African Americans go through and it made him work harder."

"You have Marquette, which feels like its own city, and then you walk a few blocks up, and you have people in poverty," Osei added. "You need to understand the background they came from, not just the crime they committed."

Providing a path forward

Project Return is a 38-year-old nonprofit at 2821 N. 4th St. dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated men and women transition into society.

Last year, through greater outreach, the program served 1,126 clients, up from 749 in 2017. 

And it does it with a staff of seven, plus six interns.

Working exclusively through grants, private donations and foundation funding, Executive Director Wendel Hruska said reentry programs like Project Return can increase productivity, improve safety and save the government money.

"From a human level, we cannot afford what we are doing to humans, but from a fiscal viewpoint, we can't afford our corrections system anymore," he said.

Along with serving clients individually, Project Return has also delved into prison reform issues, such as mass incarceration, inmates "grandfathered" into truth-in-sentencing, restricted voting rights, the use of solitary confinement and racial inequities.

"We are advocating with our clients," Hruska said. "Not on behalf of them but with them."

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Eugene Nelson, the Food Share Employment Training coordinator for Project Return, said it's hard to remove the scarlet letter of being a felon.

But Nelson said providing newly released prisoners with a cause for action, paths to education and employment opportunities will make them more valuable to society. And he would know: despite having been incarcerated for 20 years, he now has a master's degree and is helping those with similar backgrounds.

"I want to make certain that individuals know that because you were in a correctional facility does not mean that your life is over — so don’t hold on to the stigma," he said.

Looking Forward

This year, there are six students interning at Project Return. 

Osei's current intern, Cambryelle Getter, is a junior at Marquette, where she recently spoke on a panel about white privilege. On the panel, she described being followed by a Marquette police officer as one of her first experiences as a woman of color on Marquette's campus.

It's an example of how race impacts the criminal justice system, even though Osei says it doesn't have to.

"Once we can stop looking at the color and start looking at the stories, we can see where we're similar and it gives us a better desire to want to help the individuals we serve," Osei said.

"Outreach is very vital for the internship," Osei said. "You've got to get hands-on."

At Project Return, Hughes-Zahnor did — and he's not done.

"I think the internship kind of lit a little bit of a fire under me," he said. "It pushed me towards wanting to make a difference by literally being in the courtroom.

"I’m going to be taking the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) in November and I plan on going to law school in August."

Project Return is open Monday through Friday and can be reached at (414) 374-8029.On Nov 2, it will host the 39th annual Celebrate the Return event at Marquette University's Alumni Memorial Union at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Amanda Smit at (414) 858-6885.

Contact Talis Shelbourne at (414) 223-5261 or tshelbourn@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @talisseer and Facebook at @talisseer. 

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