Reentry and/or Strategic Communications Fellow at YPEI – GSAS Professional Experience Fellowship

To apply for a GPE Fellow position: Submit an updated resume and cover letter to gsasprofessionaldevelopment@yale.edu with the subject header “[Name of Fellow position]” by July 7, 2023. General fellowship information can be found here.

Reentry and(/or) Strategic Communications Fellow at Yale Prison Education Initiative at Dwight Hall

Graduate Professional Experience Host Office Description

Founded in 2016, the Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) at Dwight Hall brings access to rigorous liberal arts college programming to incarcerated students in Connecticut, offering credit-bearing college classes taught by Yale faculty and graduate students; college degrees through a new partnership with the University of New Haven; and an array of student support structures and resources drawn from both campuses to support student learning and success. The program also supports students who are released from prison to support their educational and career pathways. In 2021, YPEI launched a new “College-to-Career” Fellowship program for formerly incarcerated alumni of higher education in prison.

Host Mentor

Zelda Roland

Founding Director

s.zelda.roland@yale.edu

Graduate Professional Experience Fellow Responsibilities

We imagine that the Fellow could take on responsibilities in both Reentry and Strategic Communications, or choose one area of focus. In either scenario, there may be general tasks supporting YPEI core programming where the Fellow will also be asked to contribute.

• REENTRY: Helping to manage YPEI’s Reentry strategy and C2C Fellowship program for formerly incarcerated students. This may include conducting site visits where C2C Fellows are being hosted on campus at Yale or UNH; convening weekly meetings with C2C Fellows; working with recently released YPEI students on resumé and cover letter writing and assisting them with opportunities for employment or continued educational attainment; and coordinating computer and digital literacy workshops on site or with community partners.

• STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Working with YPEI and our communications consultants to design regular communications for different stakeholders in the program (including formerly incarcerated students, donors/foundations, students, and alumni). This will include generating drafts of newsletters and public communications including social media; helping to coordinate event or partnership communications; coordinating with Dwight Hall’s Communications Team as well as Yale partners to represent program activities; writing or proposing news features about various components of the program; assisting with development and grantwriting communications and management; coordinating, writing, designing, and managing the production/dissemination of outgoing mailings from YPEI; and assisting in developing the YPEI website and Jobs Board.

• OTHER GENERAL TASKS: Assisting with YPEI materials and book orders for delivery/distribution to students in prison; organize and day-of-coordination for on-campus events.

• SPECIAL NOTE: Please note while the Fellow will be working directly with formerly incarcerated students, they will not be working directly inside a prison or with currently incarcerated students.

Graduate Professional Experience Learning Objectives and Opportunities

This is a unique opportunity to learn about the growing field of higher education in prison and our own program at Yale. There is an excellent opportunity for mentorship with our director, who has mentored many graduate students who have gone on to careers in teaching or administration in other college-in-prison programs, criminal justice and social justice work, and work related to expanding higher education access. The graduate fellow will also be exposed to our larger network of college-in-prison programming and related organizations in education and criminal justice, building a vocabulary and understanding of this sector. The fellow will have the opportunity to learn basic office skills and software and have space to work in our office at Dwight Hall.

Desired Qualifications
• Clear communicator, good written and oral communication skills. Ability to synthesize information and testimony into written and visual communications

• Ability to think creatively and adapt to different stakeholders’ interests and attentions

• Ability to understand nuances and sensitivities in public facing information about college in prison and articulating the value of the work

• Detail oriented, organized, computer savvy with ability to adapt to new software/interfaces

• Self sufficient with ability to manage independent projects and track progress

• Desire to serve incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.

Duration of position

Fall 2023