Emerson-MCI Initiative Yields Scholarship for Franklin Student

Kenneth Lizotte, Superintendent, MCI Norfolk, Mneesha Gellman, Director, Emerson Prison Initiative, Matthew Powers, scholarship recipient, Paula Berndt, Matthew's mother and staff member at MCI Norfolk. (Photo courtesy of Mass Dept of Corrections.)

Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI), a degree granting educational initiative created in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Correction, announces a newly created correctional staff scholarship that will increase educational opportunities for MCI-Norfolk correctional staff and their families and create new pathways to college access. The inaugural scholarship was awarded to seven recipients, who will receive individual amounts totaling more than $3,000. The scholarship awards were presented to the recipients in a ceremony held at MCI-Norfolk on Tuesday, February 10.

Available to any MCI-Norfolk staff, their dependents, and other close family members, an annual scholarship will support tuition costs at any accredited institution of higher learning. Funds may support tuition, books, materials, application or testing fees, or transportation or other education-related expenses. The scholarship may be distributed among multiple recipients, and is based on financial need and a description of how it supports educational goals.

In addition to the correctional staff scholarship, EPI offers MCI-Norfolk corrections staff further college access resources with on-the-clock workshops on topics such as writing the college admissions essay, and navigating financial aid.

Launched in 2017, the EPI acts on the knowledge that college-in-prison programs can interrupt cycles of incarceration and contribute to personal and communal transformation. EPI offers the same courses taught on Emerson’s Boston campus, with Emerson faculty as well as guest faculty from other local universities, all bearing official Emerson credits. The program provides a pathway to a Bachelor of Arts in Media, Literature, and Culture, a degree that combines Emerson’s unique strengths in communication and the arts. EPI students also receive a minor in Economics.

EPI selects its students through a rigorous admissions process that includes in-person interviews and an essay exam scored by a faculty panel, and accepts approximately 25 percent of applicants each cycle.

For more information, visit https://emerson.edu/epi.