2024 WE THE PEOPLE AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN CIVIC LEARNING AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Prison Graduation Initiative

California State University, Los Angeles

Cal State LA’s Prison Graduation Initiative (PGI) fosters individual and community transformation in California’s prisons through higher education. In 2016, PGI was the first and only BA program to be designated a Second Chance Pell site in California, and it was the first bachelor’s degree program in California to award a BA degree to incarcerated students. Since then, it has become one of the largest bachelor’s prison programs in the country and has institutionalized community engagement into two BA programs in different three prisons, ensuring that all PGI students are required to take at least one community engagement course as part of their roadmap to graduation. This makes the program one of the largest providers of community engaged learning for incarcerated students in the country.

PROMISING PRACTICE

Building a Pipeline of Diverse Teachers for the Next Generation of K–12 Students

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

To counter the small percentage of men of color in the education field, one UMES professor created an enterprising, vigorous program to attract, retain, and foster a community for aspiring teachers to lead the next generation of increasingly diverse students.

AASCU: Telling Our Story Podcast

Featuring Richard H. Warren Jr., Ed.D. and Todd Nock from UMES
Listen now.