Creating a Culture of Credibility and Leadership Among System-Impacted Persons: Reclaiming Power and Redefining Expertise

• In Event: Creating a Culture of Credibility and Leadership Among System-Impacted Persons

Abstract

System-impacted individuals are often expected to remain on the margins—spoken about, studied, or tokenized, but rarely recognized as leaders, architects of policy, or experts in our own right. This presentation rejects the idea that credibility must be granted by the very institutions that have excluded us. Instead, it asserts that leadership is forged in resistance, credibility is built through struggle, and expertise is rooted in lived experience.
Drawing from my own journey—from two decades of incarceration to advocacy and policy work—I explore how system-impacted individuals reclaim power in spaces designed to keep us out. Key themes include:

• Education as a weapon against systemic barriers
• Organizing and advocacy as professional development
• Institutional access as real decision-making power, not just inclusion
• Community-rooted credibility over traditional leadership models

Historically, system-impacted leaders have driven radical change—from the Attica Rebellion to Ban the Box and the prison education movement. In each case, those most affected by oppression led the fight, reshaping policy and culture. We are not passive recipients of reform; we are the strategists, visionaries, and revolutionaries building our own spaces, setting the agenda, and taking leadership on our own terms.

Author

• Abraham Santiago, Higher Ed in Prison, Reentry Policy Consultant; 4-CT Community Engagement and Advocacy Fellow; Revolutionary-Tees