The Arizona Board of Regents on May 29 to announce its partnership with the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) as part of a multistate initiative to expand postsecondary education options for individuals who have been affected by the criminal justice system.
Arizona has been selected among four other states to be a part of this effort. In this new initiative, the selected states will evaluate policies, remove barriers to access and promote high-quality, workforce-aligned educational opportunities for current or formerly incarcerated individuals.
ABOR will also be working with the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) to coordinate efforts and share expertise to build a sustainable, cross-sector approach progressing postsecondary success for this inmate-student population.
In the newsletter, ABOR Executive Director Chad Sampson said its university system is committed to piloting comprehensive education, training and support services for individuals in ADCRR custody.
鈥淲orking together, we can make meaningful progress toward breaking the cycle of incarceration, promote successful reintegration into society and reduce unemployment rates for individuals leaving the prison system,鈥� Sampson said.
This initiative is closely aligned with to expand postsecondary education to formerly incarcerated individuals, and it prioritizes evidence-based strategies to reduce recidivism by scaling access to education, workforce training and employment for people leaving incarceration.
Participating states and organizations will focus on four core areas of analysis.
These four areas are assessing current prison education program policies to identify gaps and opportunities, streamlining access to postsecondary education for incarcerated learners, aligning educational offerings with workforce needs to ensure credentials earned in carceral settings have labor market value and fostering stronger partnerships across sectors to sustain and scale efforts.
Community-based organization Valley of the Sun United Way will be contributing its expertise to advance fair-chance initiatives and build collaboratives meant to support the various needs of formerly incarcerated individuals.
鈥淎rizona is in a great position to make notable progress on developing feasible, low-cost opportunities to deliver effective educational pathways for first-time and nonviolent individuals,鈥� said Vannessa Moreno, who helps lead Community Development and Engagement for Valley of the Sun United Way. 鈥淲orking together to explore efforts can improve our unemployment rates, and education access ultimately makes our communities safer. We鈥檙e delighted to work alongside ABOR in this important program.鈥�