The Massachusetts Department Of Corrections And APDS Strike Landmark Education Partnership
- Apr 19, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 6, 2024
The partnership provides every incarcerated individual statewide with free education from day one of their incarceration.
New York, NY – Wednesday, April 19, 2023 – APDS, an education technology and public-benefit corporation, announced a landmark partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Correction (MADOC) to provide nearly 6,000 incarcerated individuals with day-one access to best-in-class career-readiness courses. The education and career courses began rolling out to every state corrections institution in July 2022 and are now 100% complete.
Leveraging APDS, Massachusetts is taking an individualized and scalable approach to delivering education, rehabilitation, and workforce plans for each incarcerated individual across the state’s correctional facilities. This initiative aligns with APDS’ mission to break the cycle of incarceration through pathways to living wage employment at no cost to the justice-impacted or their families.
Education is a crucial aspect of turning corrections into true rehabilitation centers. However, 57% of individuals nationally in state prisons have never participated in educational programming. APDS addresses this disparity through its proprietary Whole Learner Framework™ curriculum focused on the justice-impacted lived experiences, designed by expert educators to transform learners for renewed career-readiness and reskilled education and training on a customized pathway; to earn living wage employment and reenter society to rebuild their lives. With an already declining recidivism rate, Massachusetts is poised to become a best practice for the Nation with this partnership added to its already robust offering of educational opportunities.
“Once incarcerated, the limited access to education and programs is not enough to ensure a living wage job upon reentry,” stated Arti Finn, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer for APDS. “We are happy to see Massachusetts leading the way for changing corrections by enhancing the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals with technology, equipping them for a pathway toward successful reentry.”
“We are excited to partner with APDS to help educate the individuals entrusted to our care across the state,” said MA DOC Commissioner Carol Mici, Massachusetts Department of Corrections. “Skills development is critical to providing success upon release.”
The unique content offerings within the APDS’ Career Academy include a career center of over 1,000 career pathways, a career fit assessment, and an intelligent guidance tool to help justice-impacted learners make informed career decisions about their future.
APDS and MADOC’s partnership will allow synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities for all individuals to create individualized and foundational blueprints that provide pathways to living wage employment before release back into society.
About APDS
Founded in 2014, APDS’ mission is to prepare every justice-impacted individual for a living wage career. Through the career readiness platform, their proprietary “Whole Learner Framework™” delivers education technology assessments designed by expert educators to transform learners for renewed career-readiness and reskilled education and training on a customized pathway; to earn living wage employment and reenter society to rebuild their lives.
APDS is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) and certified B-Corporation, based on a philosophy that never charges incarcerated individuals or their families for its technology or services. APDS products and services are deployed across 18 states, including the District of Columbia — in hundreds of facilities across the United States, servicing thousands of justice-impacted individuals. To learn more, go to APDS.works.
About MADOC
The Department of Correction oversees the state prison system, managing inmates at 15 institutions across the state. The Department provides custody, care, and programming for those under our supervision to prepare them for safe and successful reentry into the community.
Read original story here