Hassana's Story

“My identity helps students feel more comfortable and more heard.”

Hassana Arbubakrr is a Petey Greene Program volunteer at Howard University. She has been volunteering at the Youth Service Center in Washington D.C. for three semesters. She initially got involved with the PGP because she wanted to do something outside of the classroom that related to her Criminology minor.

Hassana has also been involved with the PGP’s HBCU Forward Initiative, which launched in 2021 and prepares Black volunteers to tutor in carceral settings. The HBCU Forward Initiative is guided by the fact that Black people are overrepresented in our criminal legal system and grounded in the belief that those most impacted should be leading efforts to change it.

 Hassana's experience so far echoes the stated goals of the HBCU Forward Initiative "There is definitely a difference in response from the students to the tutors who look like them or have had experiences like theirs. I see a lot of similarities in the students I work with to my own experience but they didn’t have the resources or opportunities to be something great. But because of my identity, they feel like they can let some of their guards down, we can relate to each other, and have a really honest exchange of ideas.”

“Be as open to learning something from the students are you are to teaching them something. I learn so much just by being in the space with the youth.”

In practice, through the HBCU Forward Initiative, volunteers are supported through on-campus events, discussions and opportunities to connect with the community of other PGP tutors who are sharing similar experiences. Hassana shares that the community helped her overcome some nerves about going into a carceral setting for the first time: “The Petey Greene Program set me up for success with feeling more comfortable with going into the facility. This was my first time ever in a correctional facility and my family was very skeptical of why I was going inside voluntarily. But since going in, I feel like I have overcome a lot of societal stigmas and stereotypes about incarcerated individuals. I want to encourage other Howard students that might be going in with those same hesitations that they should talk to the students like you would talk to a friend.”

Hassana has already told many of her friends and classmates at Howard to get involved with tutoring with the PGP and offers them the following advice: “I would tell others who are thinking about getting involved to go in with an open mind. Be as open to learning something from the students are you are to teaching them something. I learn so much just by being in the space with the youth.”