September Newsletter
Last Thursday, we hosted our 2nd Annual Going Greene event at Rivers Casino Philadelphia, and it was a huge success! I was thrilled to present Larry Miller, Chairman of the Board of Jordan Brand, with our Community Leadership Award and Sahiba Tandon, one of our incredible volunteer tutors at Swarthmore College, with the inaugural James S. Farrin Award, named for our founding executive director.
As I think back on looking out at the full house on Thursday and look back on 2023, I am so grateful to everyone who works tirelessly to make the Petey Greene Program a leader in the correctional and reentry education arena. I extend a special thanks to our volunteers, Board of Directors, staff, students, partners, donors, and sponsors who make that possible. I am already looking forward to being together at next year’s Going Greene event and I hope you are as well!
Jeffrey Abramowitz, CEO of the Petey Greene Program
Register for our October Justice Education Series!
Join the Petey Greene Program for a dive into the barriers and challenges that people with disabilities might face while navigating the criminal legal system and mass incarceration. We will be joined by leaders in the field who are doing work to improve their experiences and spread awareness of what faces people with differing abilities in these settings. Register now to join us on October 24 at 6PM EST!
PGP’s NYC Marathon Team: Meet Kimberly!
The Petey Greene Program is proud to be an official charity partner of New York Road Runners for the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon! Meet Kimberly Mason, one of our superstar runners! Read why she is excited to run 26.2 miles for the Petey Greene Program and support her fundraising efforts here.
The Petey Greene Program family is growing! We are excited to introduce you to three of our newest staff members joining our national and regional teams.
Siobhan Cooke joined the Petey Greene Program in January 2024 as a College Bridge volunteer in DC before transitioning to their current role as the Puttkammer Center's Equity, Inclusion, & Volunteer Engagement Fellow. In this position, they are responsible for expanding on the PGP’s HBCU Forward Initiative and developing the PGP’s campus organization model to support volunteers and foster a justice-oriented volunteer community. They are excited to develop initiatives that continue to cultivate a PGP community grounded in values of equity, inclusion, and educational justice. They hold a BA in Feminist Studies and History from Southwestern University as well as an MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Georgia State University.
Colette Johnson leads business strategy and development for the Petey Greene Program. She provides leadership and support for mission-critical partnerships and initiatives, with a focus on sustainable growth and expansion of PGP’s offerings.
Previously, Colette served as Chief Program Officer and Director of Operations for Freedom Reads, where she headed partnerships with top-level government officials across 23 states, jurisdictions, and Puerto Rico, and oversaw strategy and program implementation to serve a membership of 25,000+ incarcerated people. Colette received her PhD in English from Princeton University and holds bachelor’s degrees in English and Art History from the University of California, Irvine. Her doctoral research focused on the cultural history of how changes in clinical and academic research in the field of child psychology filtered into public policy and broader societal norms. Since 2022, she has served as a board member of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni (APGA).
Priyanka is thrilled to continue fulfilling her passion for educational equity and service as she joins the Petey Greene program this year as the Volunteer Engagement Coordinator with NYC Civic Corps. Originally from Tenafly, NJ, she graduated from Tufts University in May 2023 with a BA in International Relations. Earlier this year, she worked for The International Rescue Committee in their Economic Empowerment Department, helping refugees and immigrants in forging their career and educational paths in the United States. Most recently, she completed a summer internship at BerlinRosen on the Legal and Crisis Team, providing law firms with strategic communications and public relations support around high-profile cases in the media. In her free time, you can find Priyanka spending quality time with her friends, family, and cat, curating her Pinterest boards, and adding to her (ever-expanding) Letterboxd watchlist.
Photo of the Month!
A first day of school picture from the start of the College Bridge Program at SCI Greene. Thank you to our awesome volunteer instructors, Max and Alex, and Eli, our Division Manager in Pittsburgh, for leading an amazing class!