The New England Prison Education Collaborative Awards $100,000 Grants to Five Institutions to Grow Higher Education in Prison Programming

The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC), with support from Ascendium Education Group, announces the awarding of five subgrants of $100,000 each to five New England institutions for projects that will expand access to higher education in prison programming and support reentry after incarceration.  

The Request for Proposals was released on April 30, 2025, and was open to postsecondary institutions in all six New England states. NEPEC received applications from institutions in five of the six states— Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The chosen institutions detailed actionable plans to expand existing higher education prison programming or implement new initiatives in New England correctional facilities.

“Ascendium is deeply committed to expanding access to quality postsecondary education for incarcerated learners,” says Molly Lasagna, Senior Strategy Officer for Incarcerated Learner Initiatives at Ascendium Education Group. “NEPEC’s Accelerator Grants play a vital role in equipping New England institutions with the resources and support they need to advance this transformative work —not only inside correctional facilities, but also along the full continuum from incarceration to graduation and beyond into meaningful employment.”

The New England Prison Education Collaborative is a five-year Ascendium-funded initiative led by the New England Board of Higher Education and established to implement recommendations from the 2023 New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison. NEPEC works to realize this mission by engaging a diverse array of regional stakeholders through state strategic planning, capacity-building workshops, and subgranting.  

This is the inaugural year of NEPEC Accelerator Grant awards. RFPs for future cycles of Accelerator Grants will be released in the same time frame in 2026 and 2027 and seek to support growth and innovation. The Accelerator Grant proposal criteria were developed with the support of NEPEC’s Higher Education Working Group, whose members have substantial regional knowledge in higher education in prison.

The inaugural Accelerator Grant recipients were selected in consultation with a panel of skilled reviewers sourced primarily from the New England region. The reviewers possessed a broad range of expertise, including lived experience of incarceration, experience directing educational programming in corrections as well as knowledge regarding program accreditation and federal regulation related to Prison Education Program approval.

“Everyone who got to read through these applications—from the NEPEC team to our expert reviewers—was impressed by the exciting project proposals we received in this inaugural year of Accelerator Grant funding,” said Sarah Kuczynski, NEPEC’s Director. “The five institutions whose projects we are funding stood out for their strong potential to drive significant positive change in their states’ higher education in prison ecosystem.”  

Recipients

The following proposals were selected for funding:

• Boston College – Massachusetts
  • Boston College will assess, design, and begin testing an expansion of its Pell-eligible Bachelor of Arts program for incarcerated students—the Boston College Prison Education Program (BCPEP)—to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham (MCI-Framingham), the Commonwealth’s only women’s prison. This effort aims to address a critical gap in degree-granting opportunities for incarcerated women in Massachusetts.

• Quinnipiac University — Connecticut
  • The Prison Education and Community Engagement Lab at Quinnipiac University will explore the expansion of its prison education offerings into a degree-granting pathway while partnering with stakeholders to establish robust reentry supports for incarcerated learners. This project will pilot the construction of systems, staffing, and structures that would be necessary for Quinnipiac to become a Pell-eligible, degree-conferring provider of higher education in prison, with a focus on providing a baccalaureate option at a facility where no four-year option exists.

• Roger Williams University — Rhode Island
  • Roger Williams University Extension School (RWU EXT) will expand the Pivot the Hustle (PTH) program uniting four partners: The Center for Mediation & Collaboration RI, Infinitely Free to Be, the Reentry Campus Program, and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC). This collaboration aims to deliver a holistic, trauma-informed, credit-bearing reentry education to incarcerated learners in three Rhode Island correctional facilities: the Anthony P. Travisono Intake Service Center (currently without programming); the Rhode Island State Minimum Security Facility; and the John J. Moran Medium Security Facility.

• Washington County Community College — Maine
  • Washington County Community College will use the grant to convert its workforce-aligned computer technology certificates into a fully Pell-eligible associate degree, which will create Maine’s first fully online academic pathway in this field for incarcerated learners across five state correctional facilities. This project will incorporate substantial reentry and job-readiness support.

• White Mountains Community College — New Hampshire
  • White Mountains Community College will use the grant to launch a coordinated, statewide prison education initiative by hiring a Prison Education Project Director who will report to the President and work to expand degree offerings from the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility (NNHCF) to the two facilities in Concord: the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Men and the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Women. This role will also collaborate with stakeholders from the University System of New Hampshire (UNH) to support building out a 2+2 bachelor’s degree pathway from the existing associate degree curriculum at NNHCF.

NEPEC will guide and assist recipients on program implementation. The grantees will be recognized and given an opportunity to spotlight their work at NEPEC’s inaugural summit on February 5, 2026, in New Hampshire.

To learn more about the five selected institutions and how they plan to use their Accelerator Grant funding to accelerate meaningful work, visit the grantee project profiles. For additional questions or inquiries, please contact NEBHE.

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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 the region 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 on NEPEC’s work 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 ascendiumphianthropy.org.