College Unbound program celebrates anniversary, receives $1.2M in grants

ONE YEAR AFTER ITS FOUNDING, College Unbound celebrated the participation of 75 incarcerated men and women in Rhode Island in its Prison Bridge Program. Discussing programming for College Unbound in the fall are, from left, Dennis Littky, president, Leann Heath, faculty adviser, and James Monteiro, executive director of the Prison Bridge Program. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
ONE YEAR AFTER ITS FOUNDING, College Unbound celebrated the participation of 75 incarcerated men and women in Rhode Island in its Prison Bridge Program. Discussing programming for College Unbound in the fall are, from left, Dennis Littky, president, Leann Heath, faculty adviser, and James Monteiro, executive director of the Prison Bridge Program. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Seventy-five incarcerated men and women in Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institutions have participated in the inaugural year of College Unbound’s Prison Bridge Program, designed to help inmates receive their bachelor’s degree so that once released they will have a smoother transition into society.

Dennis Littky, College Unbound president, said he is excited to offer a bachelor’s degree program focused on adult learners.

He added: “The Prison Bridge Program is a perfect example of how a program can be built around students’ needs.”

The program, which began one year ago with 50 participants, has garnered national attention, receiving an $800,000 grant from the ECMC foundation for work in the ACI building College Unbound as well as a forthcoming $400,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation for the Prison Bridge Program, which will be awarded in the coming months.

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Last spring College Unbound was approved as an official Rhode Island college to serve the more than 110,000 Rhode Islanders who had begun a bachelor’s degree, but never completed their studies. The Prison Bridge Program, which targets the underserved adult learner, was simultaneously commenced with College Unbound by James Monteiro, the program’s founder and executive director. The Prison Bridge curriculum is embedded in the support system available to ex-offenders after release in the hope that these men and women can complete their bachelor’s degree while transitioning into mainstream society.

Monteiro expects the number of participants to exceed 100 by September.

“If we wanted to double our numbers inside the prison tomorrow we could, but there is not enough classroom space to do so. There is a waiting list for our program,” he said of the challenge to meet the demand.

On Sept. 21, College Unbound will host a Re-entry Symposium at Providence’s Met School focusing on how Rhode Island can become the leader in the education of incarcerated men and women. Doug Wood, of the Ford Foundation, will serve as keynote speaker.

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