A Fellow for Life: Selina Fulford's Story
From the time she was a child, Selina Fulford had always loved school. But just one month away from her high school graduation, Selina had to drop out due to an unplanned pregnancy.
“Only one other person in my family had gone to college – my cousin,” Selina remembers, “so I wanted to go too.”
To get started on her pathway to college, Selina had to juggle motherhood, work, and studying for her GED. But, while earning a Bachelor's at City College, Selina encountered a major roadblock: to continue qualifying for welfare benefits, she had to leave school. Based on the eligibility requirements, she could only study at a two-year college to continue receiving support. This economic hardship, so reflective of harsh and counterproductive policies that often keep people stuck in poverty, ultimately led Selina down a path that had her cycling in and out of prison for the next 20 years.
In 2000, she was introduced to College & Community Fellowship (CCF) by a friend.
“I was so impressed by the women in the room. They were all becoming Program Directors and earning their graduate degrees. I thought to myself – I’m going to stay right here where these women are so I can follow in their footsteps.”
Over the next 16 years, Selina became an active and beloved member of the CCF community, participating in a writing group, a support group for CCF women, and the Theater for Social Change Ensemble in addition to earning both her B.A. and M.A. in Communications with the support of CCF.
With CCF's one-on-one academic counseling and range of community and financial supports, Selina thrived. But she didn’t stop at her first Master's degree! “After I got my Master’s in Communications, I landed a job as an adjunct professor and fell in love with teaching. So, I thought I would study something that I could teach,” Selina recalls. “I applied for another Master’s – a degree in Sociology, from The New School.” And a few years later Selina would go on to earn her third Master’s degree – this one in Social Work from Hunter College. “I could not have done it without a support system like CCF,” Selina says.
Today, Selina continues to perform with the Theater for Social Change Ensemble. One of her most powerful pieces, "Three Names," tells the story of her identity beginning with her "street name," then her prison identification number, and finally, triumphantly, to her identity as Professor Selina Fulford. She regularly takes part in CCF’s monthly community meetings to enjoy the sisterhood that exists there, share resources, and offer support to new students to the program. Selina is also a volunteer with the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Al Sharpton, where she regularly visits prisons in New York to talk about the importance of education.
“I want the world to know that my resilience and my struggle has only made me stronger. Everyone has struggles. You can’t get around that. But you need to have a strong support system to make it through, and that’s what CCF is – an amazing, strong support system.”