What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Education Justice Project

Home
United States
Champaign, IL
Education Justice Project

Directions Website

The mission of the Education Justice project is to build a model college-in-prison program.

College-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10/28/2026

EJP is grateful that we were able to host a convening on pathways to higher education following system involvement earlier this month. The 2-day event brought together educators, practitioners, and reentry leaders from across the country.

The Friday Forum + Conversation Café featured Dr. Stanley Andrisse, associate professor at Howard University College of Medicine and Georgetown Medical Center, to share his new book Breaking Chains, Building Futures: Pathways to Redemption, Education, and Excellence.

Thank you to everyone for joining us for meaningful discussions, presentations, and agenda-setting.

10/27/2026

EJP is excited to welcome Lisa Reyes Mason as the next Dean of the School of Social Work at Illinois! 🎉

Earlier this month, Chad Rand, EJP’s Reentry Resource Program Outreach and Distributor Coordinator, met the new dean at a Social Work event. They’re both pictured here with EJP intern Miles Reynolds.

Reyes Mason’s scholarship focuses on advancing social and environmental justice, reducing inequities, and strengthening the connections among research, policy, and practice.

EJP has a valued and longstanding relationship with the School of Social Work. We look forward to continued collaboration and partnership in the years ahead.

Welcome to Illinois, Lisa Reyes Mason! 👏

Learn more about the new social work dean: https://socialwork.illinois.edu/2026/07/08/lisa-reyes-mason-selected-as-next-dean-of-the-school-of-social-work/

10/26/2026

This week, we're sharing a photo from a music workshop offered at Danville in August 2026, showing EJP student William Sutherland and instructor Amy Young working together at the keyboard.

We can't use the cameras whenever we like; permission must be requested in advance from prison administration, and we reserve these requests for special occasions a few times each year. After photos are taken, the memory card goes to the prison's Internal Affairs Department for review, and sometimes we wait months to have a card returned. When we receive permission to take a card out of the prison, it's a moment for celebration.

Having the ability to represent our students is important to us. It helps fulfill our mission of demonstrating the positive impacts of higher education in prison.

Enjoy browsing our Flickr and Vimeo pages, as well as a section on our website titled “EJP in Action” and read more here: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/EJP-this-Week.html?soid=1112531363573&aid=I5C8OZbsILw

10/23/2026

The Education Justice Project is honored to host S. Rebecca Neusteter for a conversation about her book 911, What's Your Emergency?: The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response.

When: Monday, October 26th, 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Where: Murphy Lounge, University YMCA, 1001 South Wright Street, Champaign, IL 61820

RSVP: https://educationjustice.jotform.com/262185317547866

Rebecca Neusteter is currently the executive director of Health Lab at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. This book uncovers a shockingly unregulated system deeply rooted in racial social control that continues today, with 911 calls defaulting to a response by armed police. Neusteter also highlights the difficult nature of the 911 profession, details promising new models of emergency response, and calls for an overhauled system that is safe, just, and equitable for all.

Food will be served and free copies of the book are available at the EJP office while supplies last!

10/22/2026

EJP is proud to be part of this fall's No New Prisons: Feminist Teach-Ins campaign! From October 22 – November 4, people on university campuses across Illinois will be learning and organizing around incarceration and community-building.

Want to get involved? Check the link in our bio to learn more about No New Prisons Illinois and the Coalition to Decarcerate IL.

Special thank you to .il for allowing us to be a part of this campaign!

10/21/2026

EJP’s Data Stewardship team, consisting of UIUC graduate students Gaurang Bhandare and Sheetal Tewary, were fortunate to attend “Fueling the Cause: How to Turn Data into Meaningful Action” last month. They spent the afternoon on the Salesforce Ohana floor in Chicago dedicated entirely to data analytics.

Sheetal notes “information scattered across multiple systems and spreadsheets. And through it all, the constant drive to turn all of that into something decision-makers can actually act on. These are challenges nonprofits face every day, and it was valuable to hear how other organizations are using Salesforce and Tableau to bring structure and clarity to their data.”

Gaurang says “[he] especially enjoyed learning how organizations are using AI, Salesforce, and Tableau in practical ways to strengthen their work and create greater impact. Hearing directly from nonprofit leaders about both the opportunities and challenges of adopting these technologies gave me a new perspective on how technology can meaningfully support mission-driven organizations.”

EJP thanks Salesforce and Provisio for an invaluable event for our team and looks forward to continuing to build connections with organizations and professionals in the nonprofit and technology space!

10/20/2026

The Education Justice Project is honored to host Rebecca Neusteter for a conversation about her book 911, What's Your Emergency?: The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response.

When: Monday, October 26th, 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Where: Murphy Lounge, University YMCA, 1001 South Wright Street, Champaign, IL 61820
RSVP: https://educationjustice.jotform.com/262185317547866

Rebecca Neusteter is currently the executive director of Health Lab at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. This book uncovers a shockingly unregulated system deeply rooted in racial social control that continues today, with 911 calls defaulting to a response by armed police. Neusteter also highlights the difficult nature of the 911 profession, details promising new models of emergency response, and calls for an overhauled system that is safe, just, and equitable for all.

Food will be served and free copies of the book are available at the EJP office while supplies last!

10/20/2026

EJP is proud to spotlight a milestone from our learning community: our first reentry simulation!

Hosted alongside our long-term colleagues at the Restorative Justice Initiative at Penn State University, the event challenged participants to navigate structural barriers while pursuing prescribed goals, and was immediately followed by a sensitively facilitated panel of formerly incarcerated individuals who reflected on what the simulation got right, what it got wrong, and what it could never hope to reproduce.

Want to read more? Check out EJP This Week: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/EJP-this-Week.html?soid=1112531363573&aid=V6kWW3n409Y

10/19/2026

🗣️ Hear from some volunteers and EJP members on their experience at the RIPPLE Effect on October 6th!

RIPPLE Effect stands for Reaching Inside Prisons with Purpose and Love. During these events, attendees write cards to loved ones and community members who are currently incarcerated.

Our next RIPPLE Effect will be Monday, Nov. 9 from 5:30-7pm!

Click here to RSVP for future RIPPLE gatherings: https://educationjustice.jotform.com/262167682534867

RIPPLE is generously supported by the Urbana-Champaign Quaker Meeting and Bethel AME Church.

10/15/2026

EJP is proud to spotlight our alumni making a difference in communities across Illinois and beyond!

Last week, EJP alumnus Augie M Torres announced he has taken a new position as Director of Program Services at Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation (PBMR), formerly serving as Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Integrity & Fidelity NFP, a community violence intervention organization in Chicago. His path mirrors those of many EJP alumni who pursue careers in community service, including Michael Harrell, PBMR's Director of Community Violence Initiatives and Reentry, and Robert Reed, a Case Manager at the same organization.

Many EJP alumni have said that there's something about the EJP learning community at Danville Correctional Center that gives them the confidence and know-how to pursue their ambitions of making a difference, just like how Augie Torres was able to do that with his new position!

Want to read more? Check out EJP This Week! https://myemail.constantcontact.com/EJP-this-Week.html?soid=1112531363573&aid=3oGZ3LpVQ0o

Address

1001 S. Wright Street
Champaign, IL
61820

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://educationjustice.net/, https://educationjustice.net/work-with-ejp/#how-to-apply

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Education Justice Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.