Welcome to STEM-OPS! We are excited to engage in discussions with you around the accessibility of STEM education and careers for all those who are impacted by the carceral system. Many people impacted by this system have been repeatedly underserved in most other systems (school, health, socio-economic, career, social, etc.). The work presented here aims to change access to STEM for a group of exceptionally talented, insightful and resilient people whose contributions would enhance and further humanize the STEM disciplines.  

If you have any questions please let us know. Also, feel free to also share your thoughts about what challenges or obstacles you see, that we can tackle together, to providing equitable access to high quality STEM education and careers. 

Thank you for sharing your interesting project! I am curious as to what STEM topics are taught/introduced to the incarcerated students? Also, who are teaching these students? Does providing STEM related opportunities ignite students want to pursue STEM after incarceration? What are some changes seen in how they view science? 

Thanks for your work with this very critical population.  How can we get more prison and school systems to use this time wisely, to allow individuals to focus and invest in their true capacity.  Are there industries standing by willing to employ STEM ready graduates?

This is the first video for me of the showcase and what a way to start.  I got goosebumps.  I am totally on board with the message.  You did a fantastic job of focusing your message.  I understand the why but and dying to know more about the what.  Tell us about one of your favorite education opportunities within the project.  How is it delivered?

This is such important work. Which institutions are part of your Alliance? We may have overlapping institutions in the Aspire Alliance IChange Network. Our video is here: http://stemforall2020.videohall.com/p/1897.

Thank you for the video, and for the important work behind it. It sounds like you are adding STEM subjects to an existing educational infrastructure, and I'm curious about what challenges and opportunities you see specifically with STEM content?

Your work is important and as you know, life changing. You have a new advocate here.

Is there room for arts in your current or future work?

Thanks so much for your comment, Alex. Truly appreciate your support.

At this stage of the project, we’re centered on creating connections and opportunities within STEM specifically - however - our definition of what STEM entails is ongoing and expansive.

As this project has multiple years to the design, we will continue to brainstorm and iterate on the work in an effort to make it as impactful as possible, and including the arts in those discussions can be a part of that for sure.

Thank you for sharing this project. I am sure you know that your work makes a tangible difference in people's lives.

Not as much of a question as a comment: Twin Cities PBS has a national project called SciGirls. Last summer, we completed a new literature review for our SciGirls Strategies, which are research-based approaches to fostering gender equity and culturally responsiveness in STEM learning spaces. Although your students are older than our middle-school audience, I feel like the Strategies would be additive while you work to foster STEM education and career pathways for incarcerated people. They can be found at  http://www.scigirlsconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SciGirls-Strategies-Guide.pdf. Additionally, our role model videos of women and people of color in STEM careers--both traditional and otherwise, such as firefighters, bicycle designers, welders and more--might provide insight or encouragement to your learners.

Your work inspires me. Again, many thanks.

This work is so important. As you mention in the video, mass incarceration and the challenge to broadening participation are both systemic problems. I really appreciated that the video included voices of those who have been directly impacted. Given that these are systemic issues and that this is an INCLUDES Alliance, Who do you see as possible stakeholders in this systemic problem that are possibly not at the problem solving table? Based on your experience, who else needs to be in this conversation to create a systemic shift?

Hi Jameela, thanks so much for this great question - it's one we've thought a lot about as an Alliance. The most significant group left out of this conversation historically have been people who have been directly impacted by incarceration themselves. We believe strongly that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Other groups we have actively engaged in our first six months include college- and graduate-level science and math faculty, departments of corrections, and reentry organizations. In the future we will also looking towards broadening our network to include employers in STEM fields. 

Great initiative! Besides providing the courses do you also provide help with employment after time served (in possible cases)?

HI Liz, That's a great question. Among our Alliance partners there are various types of support for returning citizens, including a national mentorship network organized by From Prison Cells to PhDs, a lab technician program run by Operation Restoration, and an intensive STEM summer internship program run by the Prison Teaching Initiative at Princeton. Over the next four years, one of our primary aims is to develop a platform where employers and potential employees can connect, and this will involve more direct relationship building with industry partners.  

Great project. What I was trying to understand from the presentation, what evidence you're using to demonstrate disruption of the system. My family supports a post-prison program that has a great many folks who completed terminal degrees in the prison system but face discrimination once they leave the system. What I've noticed is the need for entrepreneurial skills training since the way most of the job opportunities are structured with background checks that effectively destroy the opportunity for a formerly incarcerated person.

Hey there Liz,

I just wanted to add to Jill's response in regards to Prisons to Professionals national mentoring network. Our mentoring program works with formerly incarcerated people addressing four main areas of focus: College Readiness & Career Development (CRCD), Leadership Skills (LS), Admissions & Financial Aid Counseling (AFA), & SAT/ACT/GRE (SAT) Preparation.

In particular the CRCD program teaches and instills our scholars with the following: critical thinking, communication, teamwork, digital technology, leadership, career management, work ethics, and intercultural fluency. These skills build solid  a foundation for a successful transition into the workplace. In addition, we have partnerships with community-based organizations and workforce development programs that provide opportunities for our scholars to have employment attainment. 

Such important work -- thank you for sharing! And, Eden, good to see your smiling face again!

Those of you who have watched this video, what do you see as the primary obstacles (explicit and implicit) that interfere with pursuing STEM education and/or career for a person who is or has been incarcerated?

We are trying to capture a broad set of perspectives and understandings as we seek to represent the range of obstacles. 

Hi Eden, as someone with little experience in this area, one thing that is recognizable and impressive about your program is the committed nature of the team here. You can tell by the vibrant discussion on this presentation.

Challenges will be unavoidable and - understatement of the week here - there may be further and deeper challenges in working with people who are currently or have been incarcerated.

In our communications work we often discuss early and often the concept of problems being inevitable on the path we are on. We work to ensure that those involved - in a flattened hierarchical structure - feel empowered to root out issues before they get too far down a path. These are often "hidden" from view and the further up a given hierarchy of a project or team the problems are even less tangible. That may be one implicit issue specific to your work. That being, feeling a sense of empowerment to solve problems for yourself and/or with others, without the burden and weight of traditional hierarchies.

One strategy we use is a collective approach of exchanging information and creative problem solving. One way this is done is by creating regular spaces for open discussion to collect ideas in a time limited space with diverse perspectives. I believe this would be similar to how group sharing sessions work for people with trauma, something I am familiar with outside of my work.

My own brother is a licensed clinical health practitioner in Rhode Island who works with vulnerable populations, mostly veterans. He has openly worked with and constantly on his own issues with PTSD. He has turned his pain into his service (his words) for others and that is not only rewarding for him but also represents a success story for anyone he speaks with and listens too. He has walked a path that is often overlooked and I believe this would also apply to the work of this project. That being, sharing success stories from authentic people who have walked the path you want others too. Of course, your video mentions this and seems to already be baked into this work.

In summary, authentic empowerment and an open flow of information may encourage success. At the very least, better communication.

I would happy to discuss further after the showcase. As I said in my first post on this thread, you have a new advocate here.

I was so happy to see this important topic of education in prison be addressed in the showcase. Here in Miami, we have a program called Exchange for Change (https://www.exchange-for-change.org/what-we-do) that provides uncredited education for the incarcerated (because Florida does not provide accredited college education in prison but some faculty at my university are working on it). Keep up the important work!

 Thank you!!

Very impressive and impactful work. A great initiative. Thank you for your work.

Great insights in great work making great impact.  Thank you for this work and sharing it.  Hope this becomes ubiquitous in every state.