ConnectED, a six-week long immersive workshop series, cultivates a supportive community where newly returning BPI alumni forge meaningful personal, professional, and civic lives.
Mission & Philosophy
Through ConnectEd, BPI connects students to each other and to resources and meaningful opportunities that will lead to individuals fulfilling their aspirations. Once alumni have returned home, they attend sessions that cover digital literacy, continuing education, career development, housing, and wellness, as well as enhanced professional development classes.
ConnectEd further supports transition beyond the curriculum through conversations with BPI alumni who have been home some time, other members of BPI staff, outside guests and supportive open dialogues among cohort participants.
Workshop Curriculum
Wellness
Demystifying the transition from correction- to community-based health and wellness care is an essential part of a reentry strategy.
The Reentry and Alumni Affairs team has worked to increase mental health and wellness support, both during the ConnectEd Workshop, addressing grief, and standalone sessions entitled Love and Relationships. BPI alumni who have gained credentials in the field of mental health are valuable resources to the community.
Technology
The communities most impacted by mass incarceration are notably underrepresented in the tech field.
Returning home requires intense lifestyle adjustments, one of them being living in an increasingly digital world. The Reentry and Alumni Engagement team works to provide the tools and information alumni need to stay agile and adapt as technology changes.
Housing
Safe and stable housing is a vital human right and supports all other aspects of reentry.
Housing support helps alumni to secure a safe place to land and work toward permanent housing. Alumni also receive support in making plans to purchase their own homes.
Career Planning
Due to systemic barriers, an estimated 60% of the general population leaving prison are unemployed a year later.
Alumni go on to work in a range of fields and are encouraged identify and pursue careers that they’re interested in. The Reentry and Alumni teams provide support to alumni for advancing their careers and/or making transitions to different sectors. BPI’s Public Health and Education fellowships help students to develop career paths in those respective sectors.
Continuing Education
Today, nearly 65% of jobs require at least some college.
More than 150 alumni have chosen to pursue degrees ranging from bachelor’s degree to terminal degrees (including JD and PhD), and receive support in navigating bureaucratic processes as well as preemptive stigmas.
“The ConnectEd workshop provided meaningful instruction from other formerly incarcerated people who truly understood my circumstances. The practical knowledge offered by the program was invaluable in helping me recognize all that I needed to know and do in order to find real stability and success after prison.”
