Initiatives

Our Value Proposition

Our mission is to increase access and quality of higher education prison programs through introducing technology.  

Guiding Principle 1: Build programs whose educational quality is comparable to those on campus.   

Guiding Principle 2: Ensure equitable access. Embed gender and racial equity as well as accessibility into the program design.  

Guiding Principle 3: Commit to communication structure which fosters partnerships among the college, corrections department, and students. 

Guiding Principle 4: Collect data and explore policy landscape to effectively integrate technologies   

Guiding Principle 5: Make space for inclusion and student voice. 

Getting Education to Inmates

Investing in higher education in prisons reduces recidivism rates and also instances of violence in prison. Our main focus is on the incarcerated learners. To be able to gain insight about their perspectives and highlight their voices, we conducted surveys to over 190 inmates currently at River North Correctional Facility. We also interviewed formerly incarcerated students as well as human rights experts in the field. From conducting these surveys, we learned that most incarcerated learners prefer in person methods of teaching including discussions, which directly influenced our pilot program. We designed the course to be discussion based with essay responses that inspire critical thinking about social issues.