Education Re-entry Support
Image: Reading room in Suzzalo library at the University of Washington, Seattle.
FEPPS believes re-entry planning begins the moment a student enters our classroom. Our re-entry program includes:
Personal Academic Advising
When FEPPS students are within a year of their expected release date, they meet with FEPPS staff to discuss their re-entry plans and academic goals. Together, student and staff work to identify appropriate schools, programs and sources of financial aid. The FEPPS staff person helps students to research pre-requisite courses, degree tracks and career opportunities. Students not interested in continuing to pursue a liberal arts education are connected with appropriate vocational training and job seeking resources.
Applications and Financial Aid
The FEPPS re-entry team helps incarcerated students overcome the barriers caused by lack of technological access while in prison. Students fill out paper applications to the colleges of their choice and all students complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form in their year of release. FEPPS is also available for ongoing support and advocacy around FAFSAs, financial aid and enrollment.
Community and Resource Building
A strong support network is essential to success for all college students. FEPPS connects students to other justice-impacted students on their campus, resource centers and advocates and welcomes them into the Womxn’s Village support group. FEPPS also regularly shares (paid) opportunities for students to sit on panels and attend events related to higher education in prison. When students enroll in college post-release, FEPPS provides them with a laptop and continues to act as advocates and advisors as needed.
The Womxn’s Village
The Womxn's Village is a newly formed, statewide grassroots peer support community of women, trans and non-binary people who have been incarcerated inside Washington state's women's prisons. It is a peer support, leadership, and advocacy organization, utilizing a successful organizing model / structure that women deployed inside Washington Corrections Center for Women to advocate for their needs and create supportive community. The Womxn's Village is a peer support community for post-incarceration challenges that these people uniquely understand, and works to lead and advocate for system changes to dismantle post-incarceration barriers that stand in the way of healing, civic and political participation, and economic success.
The Womxn’s Village is coordinated by FEPPS staff person Shajuanda Tate and Freedom Project staff person Tonya Wilson, both of whom were involved in founding the Women’s Village at WCCW over a decade ago. If you are interested in joining the Village, please contact Shajuanda at shajuandatate@fepps.org
Meet some of our students:
Kee’Wee, Class of ‘17
Kee’Wee earned an AA through FEPPS in 2017. In 2020, she completed a BA in Liberal Studies with an Emphasis in Urban Development from Evergreen State College Tacoma. She plans to apply for graduate school in Fall 202l. Kee’Wee works in radio as an assistant audio editor/producer. She is active with the IF Project as a speaker, Chair of the Advisory Board and member of the Board of Directors. She also works with @Shinobi.fit Challenge, a martial arts program that focuses on fitness, health, and holistic wellness through martial arts for low income youth.
Image: Kee’Wee celebrating her graduation from Evergreen State College.
Gail, Class of ‘17
Gail graduated with her AA in 2017. Upon release, she has enrolled at Evergreen State College and completed an internship in the office of Washington State Senator Jeannie Darnielle.
Image: Gail preparing her Charge to the Graduates at FEPPS graduation.
Dallas, Class of ‘18
Dallas Akers graduated at the top of her class in 2018, returning to WCCW to deliver her valedictorian address despite being released from prison just a week earlier. She has gone on to earn her BA in Law, Societies and Justice from the University of Washington Seattle in 2019.
Dallas is currently pursuing a law degree at the University of Washington.
Image: Dallas delivering the Valedictorian address at FEPPS graduation
“I feel like I’m giving myself the opportunity to go out into the community into a normal college and feel prepared.”
-2018 AA Graduate