Press Release: $500,000 in Grants to be Made to
New England Higher Education Institutions
to Spur Growth in Higher Ed in Prison
The New England Prison Education Collaborative today released a request for proposals for its inaugural Accelerator Grants.
BOSTON— April 30, 2025
The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC), with support from Ascendium Education Group, announces the release of its Request for Proposals for the inaugural round of Accelerator Grants. Five Accelerator Grants will be awarded 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.
Grant recipients will develop or expand programs, build partnerships, increase access to Pell funding, and support reentry efforts for students transitioning back to campus and home. Pell Grants, which were reinstated for use in federally approved Prison Education Programs in 2023, are granted by the US Department of Education to individuals who demonstrate financial need.
“NEPEC’s Accelerator Grants are a vital opportunity for institutions to not only expand access to Pell-eligible education but also to drive systemic change within the higher education in prison landscape,” said Molly Lasagna, Senior Strategy Officer for Incarcerated Learner Initiatives at Ascendium. “By supporting institutions in building and scaling effective programs, the Accelerator Grants will help break down barriers to education and create lasting pathways for incarcerated individuals to experience upward mobility and transform their lives.”
The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC) is a five-year grant-funded initiative supported by Ascendium to implement recommendations from the 2023 New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison. This initiative, under the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), works to achieve this impact by engaging a diverse array of regional stakeholders through state strategic planning, workshops, and subgrants.
In its first year, NEPEC will award five Accelerator Grants to eligible higher education institutions located across New England. Applicants are asked to submit proposals for $100,000 of funding for use over 12 months. Future cycles of Accelerator Grants will be released in the same time frame in 2026 and 2027. The Accelerator Grant proposal criteria were developed by NEPEC and its Higher Education Working Group, whose members have substantial national and regional expertise in higher education in prison.
“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 Sarah Kuczynski, NEPEC’s Director. “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.”
Eligibility
Eligible institutions include any public or independent higher education institution in New England that seeks to carry out one of the five approved activities:
- Create a new Pell-eligible Prison Education Program (federally recognized PEP) to meet an established need within the higher education in prison ecosystem of a New England state.
- Expand an existing Pell-eligible PEP with a track record of initial success to a new facility.
- Create a new or expand an existing Pell-eligible PEP in partnership with one or more institutions.
- Transform a privately funded prison education program into a Pell-eligible PEP by following the multi-phase federal approval process.
- Implement or expand on an existing comprehensive reentry strategy that supports students’ transition both to campus and home post-release in conjunction with higher education programming.
Proposals will need to demonstrate how funds will accelerate the institution’s progress towards one of the above activities and outline a sustainability plan for long-term success.
Timeline
The application for proposals is now open. 5 P.M. EDT on June 6, 2025, is the deadline to apply. For more information on the application process, institutions are encouraged to join the NEPEC team for an informational webinar on May 6, 2025, at 3 P.M. EDT. Register here. For additional inquiries, please email nepec@nebhe.org.
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About NEPEC
The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC), under The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), was established in 2024 with a five-year grant from Ascendium Education Group to implement the 2023 New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison’s recommendations and prepare for the reinstatement of federal Pell Grants for incarcerated learners. NEPEC aims to accelerate and support efforts to ensure all incarcerated individuals in New England have access to high-quality, workforce-aligned, equitable postsecondary education. Stay updated about NEPEC’s work at www.nebhe.org/higher-education-in-prison/ and follow them on LinkedIn.
About NEBHE
Founded in 1955 by six visionary New England governors who recognized that the region’s future prosperity depended on higher education, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) has since worked to promote greater educational opportunities across New England. Today, NEBHE serves the residents of New England and over 250 colleges and universities, advancing equitable postsecondary outcomes through convenings, research, and programs for students, institutional leaders, and policymakers. Stay updated on NEBHE’s work online at www.nebhe.org and on LinkedIn.
About Ascendium Education Group
Ascendium Education Group® is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization driven by the belief that learning after high school gives people the power to build better futures. Our national philanthropy focuses on increasing opportunities for learners from low-income backgrounds to achieve upward mobility through postsecondary education and workforce training. We partner with organizations whose objectives align with our core strategies to expand opportunity, support learner success, and connect and align systems. Our grantees include postsecondary education and workforce training providers, intermediaries, researchers, and media organizations from across the U.S. To learn more, visit ascendiumphilanthropy.org.
Press Release: New England Board of Higher Education Awarded $6.7 million Grant to
Spark Expansion of Higher Education in New England Prisons
Boston, MA — March 12, 2024
The New England Board of Higher Education will lead a regional initiative to strengthen, expand and coordinate higher education in the region’s prisons, using the report of the 2023 New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison as its blueprint and more than $6 million in grant funding from Ascendium Education Group.
The commission’s report recommended solutions to the significant barriers to incarcerated individuals accessing higher education, and changes to the structures that impede degree completion or the ability to transfer to another college or university upon release.
The new phase of work, partnering with The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI), will create a dynamic collaborative of individuals and programs currently offering postsecondary education in prison and it will develop regional credit transfer compacts to ensure that students have options to complete their degrees post-release. The initiative will also create a data and research collaborative to better assess program quality, the outcomes of prison education programs, and students’ postsecondary and employment success post-release.
New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison
Each of these initiatives is rooted in the recommendations of the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison which completed its work in 2023. The diverse commission of more than 80 stakeholders from corrections, higher education, re-entry, workforce development, and government from the six New England states crafted recommendations for increasing availability of higher education programs in prison. People with lived experience comprised approximately 20% of the commission membership alongside five state corrections commissioners; this was the largest commission of its kind and the only one focused on an entire region.
The commission was formed by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and The Educational Justice Institute at MIT with the goal of ensuring that every incarcerated person in New England has access to high-quality, workforce-aligned, equitable postsecondary opportunities with a wide range of educational pathways. Ascendium funded the commission.
Timely investment
The grant will support the development of the New England Prison Education Collaborative, which will leverage the recent restoration, in July 2023, of federal Pell Grant higher education funding to eligible incarcerated people after a nearly 30-year ban and responds to the growing body of evidence of the personal and societal benefits of higher education in prison.
“Building on the collaboration of the 2023 commission, this funding makes it now possible to create a formal, sustained partnership of all the critical stakeholders in higher education in prison in New England,” said Michael K. Thomas, president and chief executive officer, New England Board of Higher Education. “That partnership is essential for the creation and expansion of high-quality, workforce-aligned educational pathways that will smooth re-entry for students in each state of New England, so they can readily join the tech-driven economy or transfer their credits and complete their degrees.”
“In the pursuit of educational equity and second chances, The Educational Justice Institute at MIT proudly collaborates with the New England Board of Higher Education to amplify the transformative impact of higher education within the walls of New England prisons” said Carole Cafferty, co-director, The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. “Fueled by the visionary blueprint of the 2023 commission report and a remarkable grant from Ascendium, this initiative is a testament to our commitment to breaking down barriers, fostering collaboration, and building bridges to brighter futures for incarcerated individuals through education.”
About The Educational Justice Institute
The Educational Justice Institute at MIT is a program within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dedicated to providing transformative learning experiences for system-involved students and MIT students.
About the New England Board of Higher Education
The New England Board of Higher Education advances equitable postsecondary outcomes through convening, research and programs for students, institution leaders and policymakers.
About Ascendium Education Group
Ascendium Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates, and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color and veterans.
Press Release: Commission Provides Blueprint for Expanding Higher Education in Prison
With Pell Grants Returning after 30 Years, Fundamental Changes Needed
Boston, MA — June 7, 2023
The New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison recommends that re-entry planning should begin upon intake and that educational and career planning should serve as the foundation for all re-entry plans.
The commission recommends that the entire continuum of intake to re-entry should be re-envisioned to maximize educational and career opportunities and the creation of viable pathways to quality jobs upon release.
Currently, incarcerated prospective students may wait months or years to begin taking classes, losing time that, in an era of shorter sentences, could be used for education.
The diverse commission of more than 80 stakeholders from corrections, higher education, re-entry, workforce development, and government from the six New England states crafted recommendations for increasing availability of higher education programs in prison. People with lived experience comprised approximately 20% of the commission membership alongside five state corrections commissioners; this is the largest commission of its kind and the only one focused on an entire region.
Goal of Commission
The timely work of the commission coincides with the July 2023 restoration of Pell Grant higher education funding to eligible incarcerated people after a nearly 30-year ban and responds to the growing body of evidence of the personal and societal benefits of higher education in prison.
The commission was formed by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI) with the goal of ensuring that every incarcerated person in New England has access to high-quality, workforce-aligned, equitable postsecondary opportunities with a wide range of educational pathways. Inequities to be addressed include unequal access to education based on sentence length, classification status and opportunities available at both men’s versus women’s facilities. Lack of data, including disaggregated data based on race, ethnicity, and gender, contributes to an incomplete picture of who is enrolling and succeeding in higher education programs.
“This groundbreaking commission created a network of leaders and stakeholders whose collaborative involvement is essential to expanding equitable access to high-quality workforce-aligned higher education for incarcerated people throughout New England,” said Michael K. Thomas, President and CEO, New England Board of Higher Education. “New England has an important leadership role to play in building the future of higher education in prison—and this report will be a catalyst for the actions, policy changes and investments that are needed.”
Findings
With the support of a grant from Ascendium Education Group, the commission made 15 recommendations that are prison-based and community-based, along with actions that states, institutions and other stakeholders can advocate for and implement.
Recommendations include:
- Employ Education and Career Navigators to advise and assist students both during incarceration and after release.
- Conduct assessments of carceral facilities to promote more effective use of physical space, infrastructure, staff time and resources for educational programming.
- Expand and integrate technology usage and connectivity to foster a 21st century learning experience and prepare students to enter an increasingly digital/technology-dependent society and workplace.
- Establish voluntary “credit transfer compacts” that guarantee higher education institutions’ acceptance of academic credits earned before and during incarceration to improve students’ ability to continue their education upon release.
- Coordinate a voluntary cross-state, cross-facility collaborative to expand student choice and the range of educational offerings, making use of remote synchronous learning where appropriate and other technological tools to reach a greater number of students.
“Reimagining incarceration must include a more humanized approach to planning for re-entry, and the education offerings at each facility, both postsecondary and career and technical, must be more widely adopted and initiated sooner,” said Carole Cafferty, co-director of The Educational Justice Institute at MIT.
“We are seeking to change the conversation in higher education to become more inclusive of the prospective student population in prison. This is another group of students who need what higher education can offer and we must work across systems to deliver it” said Lee Perlman, co-director, The Educational Justice Institute at MIT.
Impact of education
There is substantial and growing evidence of the many benefits of higher education in prison: reducing recidivism, improving facility safety, enhancing the self-efficacy of incarcerated people, potential interruption of intergenerational cycles related to poverty and education attainment and the ability to boost students’ employability.
“The impact of these programs does not end when one is released from prison,” said Abraham Santiago, Student Advocate, Second Chance Educational Alliance. “Many formerly incarcerated students, myself included, have gone on to make positive contributions to society and their communities after completing. Since my release, I have been able to secure meaningful employment and use the knowledge and skills I gained from these programs to give back to my community.”
Commission Membership
The New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison brought together critical stakeholders including corrections commissioners, prison education administrators, state legislators, people with lived experience in prison education programs, postsecondary education institution leaders and faculty members, state higher education commissioners, business and workforce development leaders, subject-matter experts, scholars, and policy innovators.
“We are committed to reducing recidivism and we know that education builds confidence and breaks down barriers to future opportunities critical to create success upon release.,” said Helen E. Hanks, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Corrections. “This commission’s work provides insight and practical recommendations across differing state correctional education environments on how to target urgent challenges and make changes that create long lasting benefits for individuals and communities.”
Next steps
The report concludes, “the spirit of collaboration on display throughout the last nine months [of the commission] is a hopeful foundation upon which to build a future in which all incarcerated learners in New England have equitable access to a range of postsecondary and career pathways.”
About The Educational Justice Institute
The Educational Justice Institute at MIT is a program within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dedicated to providing transformative learning experiences for system-involved students and MIT students.
About the New England Board of Higher Education
The New England Board of Higher Education advances equitable postsecondary outcomes through convening, research and programs for students, institution leaders and policymakers.
About Ascendium Education Group
Ascendium Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates, and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color and veterans.