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
BPI Blog
Tag: Pell
Webinar: The Historic Return of Pell Funding for Incarcerated Students and What Comes Next
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
#TurnOnTheTAPNY Legislative Briefing
On February 25th BPI joined with College and Community Fellowship and colleagues in the field of college-in-prison to discuss with legislators and staffers the importance of restoring eligibility for NY's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to incarcerated students in New York State. Click here to… Read More
Alumni Opinion: The education prisoners deserve
BPI Alumna Stacy Burnett ’20 describes the value her BPI college education has had on her life and her career, and why it's important that New York State reinstate tuition assistance for incarcerated students in this op-ed that was first published in the New… Read More
Turn On The TAP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 27, 2021 CONTACT Tim Ward tward@collegeandcommunity.org 304-654-6397 ADVOCATES CALL ON NEW YORK STATE TO RESTORE TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR INCARCERATED STUDENTS AFTER PELL VICTORY IN CONGRESS ALBANY, N.Y. - Following the Federal Government’s reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated people, New York’s Turn on the TAP campaign is… Read More
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
On the win, at last
Dear Friend, Last night the President, at last, signed the omnibus spending and COVID relief bill into law. The insidious provision of the ’94 Crime Bill — that revoked modest student aid from incarcerated people and eviscerated college-in-prison instantly — has been reversed. Since the ‘94… Read More
Opinion: Turn on the TAP for Incarcerated New Yorkers
BPI Alumnus George Chochos '10 makes the case for the return of Tuition Assistance Program eligibility for people incarcerated in New York State prisons in City Limits. Photo by Gary Miller Original Publication Date: January 28, 2020 In 2001, I was one of over 70,000 people in… Read More
BETTER ANGELS PODCAST Max Kenner: how prison education gives hope
BPI's Executive Director Max Kenner sat down with Sarah Brown on the Better Angels Podcast, originally posted on Their World and reproduced below. “I think you’re exactly right that mass incarceration is a symptom, if not the most prominent system of structural racism in the… Read More
The Right to Learn Behind Bars: Encouraging College in Prison Reduces Recidivism and Helps Society
BPI alumnus Dyjuan Tatro ’18, government affairs officer for the Bard Prison Initiative, recently penned an op-ed on the value of investing public funds in college in prison. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in the New York Daily News. Read the full article below: The… Read More