Americorps phennd vista fellow, Prison Education Coordinator, PHILADELPHIA
The AmeriCorps PHENND VISTA will help PGP break the cycles of poverty and recidivism within populations located in Philadelphia area jails, prisons and community-based diversion and reentry programs.
Responsibilities and Tasks:
The VISTA will support volunteer tutors across PGP programs in Philadelphia. They will recruit, train and manage university students and community members to serve as volunteer tutors while collecting data for program improvement and evaluation. Their responsibilities will include facilitating recruitment events and volunteer interviews, collecting clearance documents from new volunteers, tracking volunteer attendance at tutoring sessions and providing support to volunteers throughout the tutoring experience. PGP offers in-depth professional development support and training on the carceral state, educational justice, trauma-informed tutoring strategies and ethical volunteerism.
College Bridge instructors
The Petey Greene Program (PGP) is seeking volunteer writing and math instructors for our College Bridge Program in New Jersey, DC, New York, and Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). This program, offered in partnership with local colleges and universities, helps incarcerated learners develop the critical thinking, writing, reading, and math skills that are necessary to pursue employment and post-secondary education, while fostering a sense of educational self-efficacy and self-confidence that will support them in these pursuits.
PGP is the largest provider of academic tutoring and academic support services for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners. We piloted the College Bridge Writing Program at the DC Jail in 2020, and we currently offer college readiness programs in Washington, DC, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Desired Qualifications:
MA or Ph.D. in relevant field (STEM for math instructors and humanities for writing instructors)
Experience teaching undergraduate- or AP-level courses
Responsibilities:
Teach weekly 90-minute classes (courses will be taught by teams of 2 instructors. Co-instructors may choose to teach all classes together or to take turns)
Design course syllabus in collaboration with PGP Director of Program Development, adapting the syllabi used in previous courses.
Provide regular feedback on student assignments
Participate in biweekly meetings with teaching team and PGP staff
Instructors may have to apply for background clearance and attend a facility custody training.
To apply, please complete our online application form by March 31 for the summer semester and by June 30 for the fall semester. For more information, please contact Chiara Benetollo, Executive Director of the Center for Educational Justice (cbenetollo@peteygreene.org).
The Petey Greene Program is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its personnel decisions based on race, ancestry, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/domestic partner status, religion, age, disability status, veteran status, or former incarceration status.
We are committed to ongoing learning and reflection and we are continuously working to ensure that the Petey Greene Program is welcoming and supportive of staff members of all identities, especially system-impacted people, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people. We also believe that this work should be led by system-impacted people, whose perspectives and direct knowledge of the problems are necessary to achieving freedom and educational justice.
The PGP defines system-impacted as a person who by their own experience, family experience, school experiences, and/or communal experiences has previous interaction or involvement with and who is legally, economically, familially, or psychologically affected by the criminal legal system. Interaction or involvement with the criminal legal system includes arrest and/or detainment, appearance in criminal courts, incarceration, immigrant detention, juvenile detention, parole, and/or probation.