August Newsletter
The end of the summer is nearing, but I’m choosing to look forward to so many things that lie ahead as the seasons turn. With a new school year beginning, our staff, volunteers, and students are preparing to make education a priority and a true vehicle for change. With renewed energy, passion, and purpose, the new school year is a perfect time to celebrate our accomplishments and consider what goals we have yet to achieve. 2024 has already been a year filled with excitement: we launched the Puttkammer Center for Educational Justice and Equity, shared our new five-year strategic plan, completed a clean audit, and served more learners last semester than ever before. I am looking forward to beginning this next school year with all of you - donors, partners, volunteers, students, and staff - as we work to make change happen throughout the correctional and reentry education space.
Jeffrey Abramowitz, CEO of the Petey Greene Program
Get Your Tickets NOW for Going Greene!
The Petey Greene Program’s annual fundraiser, Going Greene, brings together our students, volunteers, staff, community and other individuals who have played a significant role in furthering our mission of supporting the academic and career goals of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through high-quality tutoring and other educational programs.
This year's event will honor Larry Miller, Chairman of the Jordan Brand Advisory Board, for his commitment to activism and his personal experiences through the criminal legal system. You can join us for this special event either in-person Philadelphia at Rivers Casino, via our Washington D.C. community watch party, or virtually from wherever you are. All tickets give you access to the exciting evening and our exclusive auction with sports memorabilia. Get your tickets now - they are going fast!
Our Five-Year Strategic Plan is Now LIVE!
Our five-year strategic plan is now LIVE and ready for you to explore! This plan sets forth a road map for the Petey Greene Program to continue its great work and remain the largest provider of tutoring and college readiness programs for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in the US.
If you would like to ask questions about the strategic plan and engage in a discussion about our goals, join us for a town hall with the CEO on September 9 at 12PM. We hope to see you there!
Join Us in Washington DC to Support Science Unlocked!
System-impacted youth have poorer educational outcomes than their peers, particularly in STEM courses. Science is best taught through hands-on experiments, yet most science curricula within prisons do not include these learning opportunities. To address the lack of hands-on science education in carceral facilities, we developed the Petey Greene Program’s newest initiative Science Unlocked, a series of monthly hands-on science demonstrations offered to students at the Youth Services Center, a youth correctional facility in DC.
We are hosting three fun and science-focused events TODAY and TOMORROW, and all funds will support Science Unlocked! Get your tickets now to join us there.
We are thrilled to welcome two new staff members as we get ready to kick off the fall 2024 semester! Meet Caden Diaz, our Philadelphia PHENND Fellow & Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, and Audrey Wilson, our New Jersey Division Manager.
Proudly from South Jersey, Caden Diaz earned his associate’s degree at Camden County College in May 2024. Caden is excited to spend his year serving the community where he was raised. Before joining the staff at PGP, Caden spent his Wednesday mornings with PGP at SCI Chester, tutoring Spanish-speaking students in the GED program. His experiences with and through PGP have been reorienting both personally and professionally, an impact he hopes to share through his continued engagement with PGP and new involvement on the staff side. When outside work, Caden enjoys time with friends and family, talking about psychoanalysis, or planning his next trip to Latin America.
Audrey Wilson joins the Petey Greene Program as the NJ Division Manager. In this role, she partners with universities and others to recruit and train students to go inside to tutor incarcerated students as well as assist returning citizens in their quest to continue on their educational journey. It is her lived experience as a justice- impacted individual that drew her to the Petey Greene Program and its work to ensure educational and social justice. Incarcerated at 22, she earned her associate’s degree from Raritan Valley Community College and her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University while inside through the NJ-STEP Program. Upon her release in late 2023 she then went on to earn her master’s degree from Rutgers University. While inside, she worked in the education department as a tutor and a teacher’s assistant and saw firsthand the need for quality tutoring both for GED and college classes. While working on her master’s, she was involved in a number of projects that highlighted how societal barriers impact successful re-entry. It is those experiences as well as her own struggles to obtain an education on the inside and navigating reentry that created a deep passion for the work that the Petey Greene Program does.
Photo of the Month!
We are thrilled to share that we were selected as a New Jersey Department of Corrections FY24 NJLead Partner. We are looking forward to making even more of an impact in the New Jersey community!