A class of 2019 graduate. Photo: courtesy of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Babita Patel, 2019. 

A smiling graduate wearing a cap and gown stands in a room before other graduates. The graduate is holding up a diploma and a child.

With its most recent round of funding, Mellon has committed over $60 million to increase higher education opportunities in carceral environments since 2015. 

Higher Learning

Headshot of Phillip Brian Harper

Program Director

Phillip Brian Harper

Mellon Announces Over $5M in Funding for Higher Education in Prisons

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

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

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

Expanding Public Knowledge

Expanding Public Knowledge Navigation Image

Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

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

Two scholars dressed in all black face the camera.

Mission AdobeStock 420526748 1440x1800V

Mission

History iStock-1313300194 vert

History

Grantmaking areas

Grantmaking Areas

People iStock-1311055822 vert

People

Financials navigation image

Financials

News iStock-1406026883 vert

News

Events iStock-1323998165 vert

Events