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Incarceration Meets Cooperative Education: Career Design for Non-Traditional Students
Description:
Overview This proposal outlines a cross-college collaboration between Northeastern University Art + Design and Criminal Justice co-op faculty. During the Fall 2020 semester, we partnered with a Northeastern alumna serving as the Director of Service Impact at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston, MA. We ran a pilot career exploration workshop series online for incarcerated individuals, isolated and unable to receive outside visitors due to COVID-19. During our NACE Conference presentation, we would like to share our experience and involve participants in a 2-minute, hands-on arts activity that we used as part of our pilot workshop series. Context The US prison system offers one of the most egregious examples of racial injustice. In Massachusetts, black and brown people make up only 20% of residents but 55% of the prison population. While drug usage is roughly equal for whites and blacks, black people are four times more likely to be arrested for drug possession. Similar to the state averages, the male population at the Suffolk County House of Correction is disproportionately black. Our pilot seeks to help incarcerated people plan for future employment. Research Goals The goals of our pilot project were three-fold: 1. Create a program that could play a small part in our DEI efforts by addressing racial inequities in education; 2. Engage with a new community partner that could potentially lead to future co-op opportunities for Northeastern students; 3. Explore a cross-college collaboration between the arts and criminal justice in the context of career exploration. The Northeastern Co-op Program is renowned for its commitment to career development and its wide range of employer partners. In alignment with the 2025 Northeastern goals to create “lifelong learning and discovery; diversity and inclusiveness; community engagement,” we offered a series of workshops to enhance the educational offerings at the Suffolk House of Correction. Methodology We co-designed our curriculum with current and former inmates from the Suffolk County House of Corrections. Using a Design Thinking framework, we listened to the needs expressed by the inmates (Empathy) and identified their unique needs (Define). Working with student researchers, we piloted ways to address these needs (Ideate) and created course materials (Prototype) that can be accessed online. Throughout the three-day workshop series, we integrated bookmaking, poetry and self-expression into career exploration (Test). Program Outline We offered three Friday workshop sessions to Suffolk House of Correction students via Zoom. New technology allowed us to reach both men and women in different parts of the facility. Each session began with making a small book out of one sheet of paper. We will take two minutes to show our NACE audience how to make a one-page book. Our workshop students would use the book during the session for self-reflection exercises. The three sessions included career exploration and self-reflection; storytelling and resume writing; career design and interviewing. We had college student volunteers from Northeastern and University of Maryland participating with the instruction as well. Outcomes During our presentation, we will share our initial findings from our pilot project. We will discuss the impact our research has had on a variety of stakeholders including Northeastern student participants, Suffolk House of Correction workshop participants, and us, as co-op faculty. We will also provide some examples of how this model is already being replicated by another institution. Audience Engagement Because this was a pilot and is still in its early stages of development, we welcome thoughts and feedback from our colleagues at the NACE conference. We see much potential for this initial program and look forward to sharing our findings and future goals.
Audience:
University Relations & Recruiting
Level:
Intermediate
Track:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Type:
SMARTtalk
Main Speaker:
Jeannette Guillemin, Northeastern University
Additional Speakers:
Michelle Zaff, Northeastern University