This article was written by Katherine Mangan of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
On March 10, 2021, George Chochos, Senior Federal Policy Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice; Rev. Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship; and Max Kenner, Executive Director of the Bard Prison Initiative, joined this webinar to discuss the historical restoration of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students and what the return of federal student aid funding will mean for the field of college-in-prison. Over 150 attendees from across BPI’s network including alumni, supporters, and colleagues in the field joined in the webinar.
This article is a guest essay written in the New York Times by Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College. Mr. Kenner argues that the FAFSA Simplification Act "has the potential to do more good within U.S. prisons than any policy in a generation." But, he continues, the work has just begun.
This article from USA Today discusses the expansion of Pell Grants, which were eliminated in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 for incarcerated people and ended the majority of prison education programs.
The Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) began work in 2011 to reduce…
The Federal Interagency Reentry Council worked to reduce recidivism and improve employment, education, housing, health and child welfare outcomes. Consisting of more than 20 federal agencies, the Reentry Council coordinated and leveraged existing federal resources that were targeted to reentry, used the bully pulpit to dispel myths, clarified policies and provided visibility to programs and policies that work, and reduced the policy barriers to successful reentry. The council was recognized in a 2014 GAO report as one of four model interagency collaborations, and the council’s collective…
The bipartisan Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), signed by President Obama on July 22, 2014, created a new vision for how America prepares an educated and skilled workforce that expands opportunities for workers and employers.
The 21st-century public workforce development system created through WIOA builds closer ties between business leaders, state and local Workforce Development Boards, labor unions, community colleges, non-profit organizations, youth-serving organizations, and state and local officials to deliver a more job-driven approach to training and skills…
In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Education published final regulations for the federal Pell Grant program that promote accountability, expand college access to students who are incarcerated, and strengthen protection for veterans, service members, students, and borrowers.
This fact sheet includes additional details on the major provisions of the rule and changes made in response to public comment.
I came across this post in some research that I performed for one of my work groups for justice-impacted professional training design and my heart was warmed by the progressive step that Washington State Department of Corrections is taking to improve their system by hiring a formerly incarcerated person for a salaried administrative position.
It was nearly a year ago today that this job post was circulated and in honor of this momentous anniversary, I thought it would be befitting for my first ever RCHEP post to celebrate and share this immense victory as proof of what is possible.…
Check out my article, published by Open Campus! It was an honor to share a look at the transformative experience I was blessed to have teaching as a Visiting Instructor at Colby College.
"Incarcerated people are rarely hired for outside jobs. A teaching gig changed my life." https://www.opencampusmedia.org/2024/01/03/incarcerated-people-are-rarely-hired-for-outside-jobs-a-teaching-gig-changed-my-life/
Please also see "Colorado…
