James Monteiro is the founder and director of Reentry Campus. He works both inside and outside the Adult Correction Institution of Rhode Island to ensure that adults in transition have a college degree pathway that is integrated into the support systems needed upon release. James dropped out of school in the eighth grade and spent most of his adult life in and out of the penal system.

The last time James was incarcerated he was doing a ten year sentence in one of the country’s most violent prison systems, the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore. It was there that he went back to school and earned an Associate’s Degree in Psychology, with Honors. Upon release he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development at Roger Williams University. James received the Rhode Island NAACP’s Joseph Lecount Award for his work founding the Billy Taylor House.

Located in James’ childhood neighborhood, the Mount Hope community of Providence, it provides workforce development and enrichment opportunities to youth ages 15 to 21. He has been named as one of Rhode Island’s “15 to Watch” for his work in youth programs that address violence in the city and prepare the next generation of Providence leaders.