Herkimer College receives funding for second chance education program

HERKIMER, N.Y. — Herkimer County Community College will participate in the third round of the Second Chance Pell Experiment, an initiative launched in 2015 to expand access to federal Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals enrolled in participating programs.

Herkimer College is one of only four SUNY schools and 73 institutions of higher learning nationwide invited to participate.

This will, when combined with a recent Ready for Pell grant, allow the college’s current College in Prison Program to increase its academic offerings from one-degree opportunity to three. They are general studies, psychology, and a small business management certificate program at both Mohawk and Mid-State correctional facilities. Pell funding will also provide expanded academic and financial-aid support services.

The college received a two-year, $120,000 Ready for Pell grant through the Jobs for the Future/Ascendium Education Group initiative.

“Providing educational opportunities to incarcerated individuals is critically important as it reduces recidivism and increases employment rates after release,” Herkimer Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Robin Riecker contended in a news release. “Nationally, more than 22,000 people have enrolled in Second Chance Pell over the past four financial-aid years, and over 7,000 have earned either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree or a career technical certificate.”

To date, 15 prisoners have graduated from Herkimer College with another three set to graduate this coming December.

Herkimer has been a member of the Hamilton-Herkimer College in prison consortium since 2017.

One of 30 community colleges in the SUNY system, Herkimer College (www.herkimer.edu) offers a variety of associate degree and certificate programs in art, business, communication arts, criminal justice and law, education, health care and service, liberal arts, and sciences.