The Education from the Inside Out (EIO) Coalition is a national, nonpartisan collaborative coordinated by College and Community Fellowship, JustLeadershipUSA, and the Center for Community Alternatives. This coalition of advocates and community members works together to remove barriers to higher education facing students while they are in prison and once they come home.

A key goal of the Coalition is to advocate for policies that increase educational opportunities inside correctional facilities, improve re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals, and ensure justice-involved people can access higher education upon release.

This includes:

• Advocating for funding for college-in-prison programs

• Restoring of Pell Grants for incarcerated students and

• Removing legal and bureaucratic obstacles that hinder access to higher education.

We helped build a powerful movement focusing on the transformative power of education for those impacted by the criminal legal system, and work has resulted in greater recognition of the need for educational reform within prisons, as well as concrete policy changes that improve access to education for incarcerated individuals and those transitioning out.

The "Ban the Box" initiative aims to eliminate the checkbox on job applications that inquires about criminal records, ensuring individuals with criminal histories have a fairer chance at employment by preventing early disqualifications based on past convictions. The intent is to help justice-involved people reintegrate into society and reduce barriers to employment, which are often a major hurdle for formerly incarcerated individuals.

CCF was a key part of the conversation through direct advocacy, public education campaigns, and partnering with other organizations to highlight the need for these reforms to ensure people are not unfairly judged or excluded from opportunities due to their past.

In New York, the "Ban the Box" initiative was enacted in 2015 at the state level, with the New York City version of the law following in 2016. By supporting "Ban the Box" and working with the legislature, CCF helped to shift the conversation around criminal justice reform in New York, moving beyond just removing barriers to employment to broader efforts at reducing systemic discrimination against people with criminal records!

In 2020, the U.S. government reinstated Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals after a 26-year ban. Pell Grants are federal financial aid provided to low-income students to help cover the cost of higher education. The ban, implemented in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, restricted incarcerated individuals from accessing this vital educational resource.

The restoration of Pell Grants allows eligible individuals in prison to use federal funding to pursue postsecondary education, significantly improving their chances for rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society upon release.

This policy change was part of the Second Chance Pell program, which began as a pilot initiative in 2015 under the Obama administration and was expanded in 2020. The program provides incarcerated people with opportunities to earn degrees and vocational certifications in hopes of reducing recidivism and improving the possibilities for stable employment post-release.

Through coalition efforts like the EIO campaign, we worked to highlight the benefits educational opportunities have in reducing recidivism and promoting rehabilitation by showcasing the positive impact education has on individuals and their communities and demonstrating how access to Pell can help break the cycle of incarceration and empower individuals to build better futures.

We helped shift the narrative around the value of education in prison, influencing lawmakers and policymakers to support the restoration of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals. Now, after a 26-year fight, Pell is restored.

The "Turn on the TAP" initiative was a legislative effort in New York that sought to restore access to a financial aid, called, the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), for justice-involved people seeking higher education by removing the restriction that disqualified people with criminal records from accessing this key form of financial support.

CCF worked closely with legislators, advocacy groups, and community organizations to push for the elimination of the TAP restrictions on justice-involved people. By emphasizing the importance of education in reducing recidivism, we argued that access to financial aid was a vital tool in helping formerly incarcerated individuals rebuild their lives.

 Through direct lobbying efforts, public campaigns, grassroots mobilization, and providing a platform for individuals with lived experiences to share their stories, we helped to ensure that the voices of those directly affected were heard and included in the policymaking process.

In 2020, as a result of continued advocacy, TAP was restored for individuals who completed their sentences or have been out of prison for a specific period. This marked a major milestone toward criminal justice and education reform and aligned with our goals of advancing educational equity, reducing the impact of mass incarceration, and empowering justice-involved individuals to achieve their full potential.

Justice Votes New York is a grassroots coalition that expands the voting rights of those who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. The initiative seeks to ensure that individuals directly impacted by the justice system have a voice in shaping public policy, including issues related to criminal justice reform, education, and social services.

CCF worked alongside other advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of restoring voting rights to people who had been formerly incarcerated, emphasizing that civic participation is vital to rehabilitation and reintegration into society. We also focused on ensuring that formerly incarcerated individuals knew their rights and had access to the resources and support needed to register and vote.

In 2021, New York State passed a law automatically restoring voting rights to individuals who completed their sentences, allowing them to vote in federal and state elections, a significant victory for criminal justice reform advocates and a win in the broader movement to restore civil rights to individuals who had been disenfranchised due to their involvement with the criminal justice system.