Making the Grade

With its July 2015 announcement of the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program, the U.S. Department of Education ushered in what could be a new era of expanded opportunities for postsecondary education in our nation's prisons. The Second Chance Pell Pilot makes students incarcerated in state and federal prisons eligible for need-based financial aid in a limited number of authorized sites—meaning postsecondary education is likely to become a reality for an increased number of the more than 1.5 million people in prisons nationwide.Research shows that—among other benefits to individuals, families, communities, and prisons—incarcerated people who participate in prison education programs are 43 percent less likely to recidivate than those who do not. This report offers lessons from the field on the implementation of these programs in corrections settings across the country

Publicly Funded Jobs: An Essential Strategy for Reducing Poverty and Economic Distress Throughout the Business Cycle

The need for direct public job creation efforts is greater today than at any time during the past seven decades. With a national unemployment rate that recently exceeded 10 percent and severe economic distress in hard-hit communities and population groups, a new federal initiative that puts jobless individuals immediately to work must be a central element of any strategy for restoring economic growth and responding to pressing human needs in 2010 and beyond. Public service employment (PSE) and transitional jobs (TJ) programs that use time-limited, paid work as the centerpiece of efforts to assist the unemployed offer tested and urgently needed models for combating the current recession and advancing longer-term workforce development goals

2005 Annual Report of the Iowa Communications Network

This is the Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2005 (July 1, 2004-June 30, 2005) for the Iowa Communications Network

Volume 5 #2 Full Issue

Volume 5 #2 Full Issu

Prison Librarianship and LIS Schools: Is there a career-path?

Library Information Science research has inquired and advocated for prison librarianship since as far back as the 1930s. While most of the articles published focus on the problems facing these institutional libraries, (budgets, censorship, best practices, and standards), very few focus on the preparations LIS schools take to prepare and promote prison librarianship. For many years’ civilians, not professional librarians, operated prison libraries. Although the rise in professional librarians in prison libraries has grown, has the preparation and quality of professionally trained institutional/prison librarians changed? Previous research states LIS schools often overlook or ignore institutional/prison librarianship. This article explores past recommendations and current ALA accredited LIS School’s curriculum to find out if LIS schools are preparing and promoting the necessity and career of prison librarianship. Sixty ALA accredited LIS schools were contacted and asked to supply course descriptions related to institutional/prison libraries. Additionally, they were asked if they promote the career path of institutional/prison librarianship. An inquiry about LIS student’s capstone and thesis projects on the topic of institutional/prison librarianship was included

The MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria: Report on Activities 2006

Contains president's message, foundation information, information on focus areas and programs in Nigeria, grantee profiles, lists of recent grants, and lists of board members and staff