On March 10th, George Chochos '10, Senior Federal Policy Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice; Rev. Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship; and Max Kenner '01, Executive Director of BPI joined this webinar to discuss the historical restoration of Pell… Read More
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pell
Their Stories Helped Lift a 26-Year Ban on Pell Grants for Prisoners
A college education transformed [formerly incarcerated people's] lives. But some critics fear low-quality programs will rush in. Every time Vivian D. Nixon has publicly testified about the power of a college education to transform the lives of those behind bars, she’s drawn attention to one… Read More
With First Graduates, EPI Celebrates Six Years of Transformative Education
John Yang ’23 began his studies with the Emerson Prison initiative, and now is a junior on the Boston campus. Screen shot from EPI videoFrom the very first class he took as an Emerson student, John Yang ’23 said he learned a new way… Read More
BPI Summer Residency: What to Know Before You Arrive
Schedule Check here for information on the workshops and schedule for the week. A more detailed printed version will be provided at check-in. Getting Here For directions and area information, please refer to the Bard College Visitors page, here. The nearest train station is in Rhinecliff. Visit… Read More
TAP Fellow Opinion: In Pursuit of Educational Equity & Justice
I have never felt utter despair and failure more than when I began my incarceration. That was the most difficult, seemingly hopeless point of my life—rock bottom, so to speak. I ultimately served a decade in prison. My life took yet another unexpected turn from… Read More
TAP: A Long Time Coming
Incarcerated students' ability to access New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) has been restored in New York State after 26 years of a senseless and destructive ban. This victory is a long time in the making. With BPI's Senior Government Affairs Officer Dyjuan Tatro '18… Read More
Alumni Voices: #TurnOnTheTAPNY
Following the 1994 federal Pell ban, New York banned incarcerated people from accessing the state's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) in 1995. As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York fell from over 70 to 4. In her January 5, 2022 State of… Read More
TAP Fellow Opinion: Restoring Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated Students in New York
In her first State of the State address since taking office, New York Governor Kathy Hochul outlined an agenda that included repealing the 27-year ban on college tuition assistance, also known as TAP, for incarcerated students. In 1995, when the ban was first instituted, incarcerated… Read More
Become a BPI TAP Advocacy Fellow!
BPI TAP Advocacy Fellowship Overview The Bard Prison Initiative seeks four Fellows for a three-month BPI TAP Advocacy Fellowship. The Fellowship will run from Jan 3, 2022 through April 1, 2022, and offer four BPI alumni or other formerly incarcerated alumni of other college-in-prison programs the… Read More
BPI in Conversation – 50 Years: The Kerner Commission, Mass Incarceration & College-in-Prison
This lunchtime conversation took place on October 27th at 12pm eastern. Author and advocate Reverend Vivian Nixon; MacArthur Fellow, founder of Freedom Reads, and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts Esq; and BPI founder and executive director Max Kenner joined in a conversation moderated by historian Dr.… Read More