New England Board of Higher Education announces $500K in grants to spur growth in prison education programs
The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC), an initiative under New England Council member, The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), announced the release of its inaugural round of Accelerator Grants. Partnering with Ascendium Education Group, NEPEC will award five Accelerator Grants to eligible higher education institutions located across the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to increase Pell-eligible prison education programming in their state.
Eligible applicants are asked to submit proposals for $100,000 of funding for use over 12 months. The grant recipients will be able to create or expand Pell-eligible Prison Education Programs (PEP), build partnerships, increase access to Pell funding, and support reentry efforts for students transitioning back to campus or home.
“With tight budgets and immense demands on staff time, it can be incredibly difficult to build momentum for expansions of postsecondary programming in carceral facilities—even when the need is great and the will to do so is strong,” said NEPEC Director Sarah Kuczynski. “The hope is that these Accelerator Grants provide New England institutions looking to increase their impact in this space with a mechanism to move the work forward in meaningful ways.”
The New England Council commends the NEBHE for its continued advocacy toward expanding higher education opportunities for incarcerated individuals.
Read more via New England Board of Higher Education.