Yale Prison Education Initiative 2023 Fundraiser

Thank you for supporting the Yale Prison Education Initiative at Dwight Hall.

Your contribution makes it possible for us to bring transformative higher education to students behind bars, directly supports formerly incarcerated alumni success in reentry, and helps us reimagine the institutions around us — the university, the prison, and beyond. Together we are investing in a better, more just future for us all.

***

Since 2018, the Yale Prison Education Initiative has brought access to credit-bearing liberal arts courses and progrYPEI on the cover of the Yale Alumni Magazine this Fallamming to incarcerated students in Connecticut and supported students coming home from prison.

In 2021, YPEI partnered with the University of New Haven so that incarcerated students could matriculate in AA and BA degrees, and in June 2023, we celebrated our first degree graduation, which was also the first-ever college graduation at MacDougall-Walker CI, the largest prison in the Northeast. CT Governor Ned Lamont joined our seven graduates as commencement speaker, noting that it was the "most moving graduation" he had ever attended.

In the last year, YPEI expanded its program at a women's federal prison, added new cohorts across multiple sites, provided both incarcerated and returning students with laptop access and expanded student support programming and extracurriculars, bolstered our reentry support, expanded our Fellowship program for formerly incarcerated alumni, and hired our fourth staff member.  MSNBC recently featured our work in a seven-minute segment with Katie Phang. Check it out here:

We have accomplished so much together, and your gift today makes a big difference for the work that lies ahead:

• Matriculating incarcerated men and women in a liberal arts degree- granting program through our partnership with the University of New Haven, and planning for our upcoming graduation (including our first graduates at the federal women's prison);
• Offering a robust slate of credited courses year-round in subjects like English, History, Chemistry, Education Studies, Physics, Poetry, Graphic Design, Microeconomics, Mathematics, and Ethnicity Race & Migration;
• Bolstering student support programming like library services, reading groups, Math Club, guest lectures, peer tutoring, academic strategies mentors, and advising;
• Supporting formerly incarcerated alumni of college in prison programs through the innovative YPEI College-to-Career Fellowships Program through which fellows are placed in funded positions on campus; and
• Supporting YPEI alumni with reentry programming, resumé and cover letter assistance, and digital literacy tutors.

We simply could not accomplish all this without your support. Thank you for believing in this work, and for joining us in the movement for college in prison.