Messages of Hope and Encouragement for BHCP and TCP Students

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In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, prisons remain closed to visitors, and although MMC’s Bedford Hills College Program (BHCP) at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and Taconic College Program (TCP) at Taconic Correctional Facility have managed to maintain modified academic operations despite severe restrictions on prison access, students enrolled in these programs no longer have face-to-face contact with their instructors.

Initiated by Erin Greenwell, MFA, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Arts, MMC students, faculty, and staff have made it a weekly tradition to send a compilation of well-wishes to BHCP and TCP students to keep the community connected and supported during these exceptionally difficult times of isolation and despair.

Note to BHCP and TCP Students Prison staff and administration have worked out a way to shuttle course work and assignments from faculty on the outside to BHCP and TCP students on the inside in order to prevent the students’ semesters from being cut short (read more here).

“All teaching and grading is being done through snail mail, and so the BHCP and TCP students are even more isolated from their professors and classmates than the 71^st Street students,” Greenwell remarked. “I remember the relief we felt in our online 71^st Street classes when we were finally able to see each other through video conferencing. It made me want to find a way to connect to the Bedford and Taconic students that didn’t overload the logistics of what the teachers and admin were already doing to keep education moving.”

Note to BHCP and TCP Students Now, each week, Professor Greenwell solicits drawings, messages, and quotes from the MMC community and arranges six onto a single letter-sized sheet of paper. She then sends the document over to Aileen Baumgartner, Director of the Bedford Hills College Program, and Lisette Bamenga, Academic Coordinator for the Taconic College Program, who print copies and put them into envelopes to include with each student’s homework package for the week. “It is such a morale booster,” says Baumgartner. “This small gesture is of tremendous help to these students.”

Thanks to the community’s participation, Greenwell has now distributed three weeks’ worth of messages to the students at Bedford Hills and Taconic. But more assistance is needed.

“I’m starting to run out of art work and quotes and I want to make it to the end of the semester,” says Greenwell. “Now more than ever, a simple note will go a long way.”

All members of the MMC community who are interested in supporting this meaningful initiative are encouraged to participate by following the instructions below.

Here’s How You Can Help

1. On a 2X2 piece of paper, write a note of encouragement and/or a drawing letting the BHCP and TCP students know you are thinking of them.
Examples have included flowers, hearts, and statements like “We’re in this together.” Something simple but affirming—it’s the thought that counts. You can sign your name or remain anonymous.

2. Take a picture of the note with your phone, and upload your file to the following link: tinyurl.com/SUSOcard

You can also email your submission or even just a typed statement to Professor Greenwell at egreenwell@mmm.edu. Thank you for your support!

MMC Students send BHCP Students Well Wishes

Published: April 23, 2020

MMC Celebrates 38 New Grads from its Prison Education Programs

Halfway through the commencement ceremony for MMC’s college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility just outside New York City, its two class speakers nervously approached the podium, having decided to give their speeches together.

Like their fellow graduates, they’d taken care to dress for the occasion, which is among the most anticipated events at the facility: Cynthia A., with her hair pinned up, Ashleigh W., with sandals on.

“Rise above and keep moving forward,” Cynthia said. “Be proud of what you’ve accomplished because you are worthy of it and so much more.” Emphasizing the commitment that had gotten them to this day, Ashleigh numbered the obstacles they’d overcome. “How many times did you take a class and say it was your last? How many of you felt there was no need to keep going after getting your associate degree?” she said.

They didn’t need to be nervous; at the ceremony, held on May 30, there was only support, only encouragement pouring from those who’d gathered in the facility’s gymnasium to celebrate the Class of 2024. Among the audience were graduates’ family members and classmates, faculty, and administrators, who’ve seen the effort it takes—often over many years or even decades—to finish a degree in prison. Their cheers reverberated off the gym walls.