Maria HEP audio

The programs that we support are focused on thinking about higher education as a kind of human right. 

Carolyn HEP quote

[Folks who are incarcerated] are real knowledge producers, and they should be viewed that way.

Maria Sachiko Cecire (left), program officer, and Carolyn Dinshaw (right), senior program officer.

Mellon voices HEP program officers photo

Mellon program officer Maria Sachiko Cecire and senior program officer Carolyn Dinshaw
discuss changes to Higher Education in Prison programs due to the recent expansion of Pell Grant eligibility.

Higher Learning

What’s the Point of Higher Education in Prison? For One Thing, It’s a Human Right.

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

University Everywhere

Students walk through the campus of the University of Hawaii

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Mission

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History

Grantmaking areas

Grantmaking Areas

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People

Financials navigation image

Financials

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News

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Events