July Updates from YPEI

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Dear YPEI friends and family, With each passing week, incarcerated students across the nation face increasing isolation, lack of access to the outside world (to family, friends, and programming), and the threat of the pandemic's spread to the vulnerable populations trapped inside our prisons. Since March, when Connecticut prisons indefinitely suspended all face-to-face programming, the YPEI team has worked hard to continue to serve incarcerated students by pivoting to correspondence-based programming. In this time, YPEI has sent over 300 mailings (including books, supplies, and course packets — see below) to incarcerated students, and received 236 pieces of written correspondence in return, to date. We have heard from our students that these mailings are a lifeline; that they are shared widely inside the prison, beyond our limited student body. One letter we received last week said, "Thank you for your commitment to keeping us thinking and growing."

We are improvising, learning from our students, and dedicated to continuing to serve until we can return in person. In the meantime, we are proud to share with you some summer updates, including programming highlights, volunteer opportunities, and ways you can support YPEI through this time. If you can, please consider supporting our efforts by making a donation today.

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IN THIS UPDATE (Click here for full contents and links)

EVENTS

• July 14: Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul and YPEI host panel conversation about mass incarceration, educational access, and criminal justice reform from a faith perspective, featuring YPEI's James Jeter as keynote speaker. Register here.

SUMMER PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

• Spotlight: Creative Writing Workshop with guest contributors Franny Choi, Morgan Jerkins, Alexander Chee, Mark Oppenheimer, Hanif Abdurraqib, David Gorin, Briallen Hopper, and the Beinecke's own Melissa Barton and Nancy Kuhl.

• Spotlight: "Television with the Historians" How we're using existing television programming airing inside prisons.

OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INVOLVED

• Volunteers needed: YPEI Transcription Network

• Volunteers needed: Graduate Liaisons for Academic Engagement (Graduate Students Only).

• NEW: YPEI Job Board

OPPORTUNITIES TO SUPORT YPEI

• Artist raffles painting on instagram to benefit YPEI

• Purchase items on our Amazon wishlist

• Donate to YPEI

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• To the Arts Council of Greater New Haven for granting YPEI a Creative Sector Relief Fund Award; to The Yale Review, Meghan O'Rourke, Hanif Abdurraqib, Alice James Books, Yale Education Studies, and Penguin Random House for book donations for incarcerated students. Thank you for your support.