MMC Celebrates First Commencement at Taconic Correctional Facility
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This past February, in partnership with nonprofit Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, MMC opened a new teaching location at the medium-security Taconic Correctional Facility for women in Bedford Hills, New York. The program at Taconic complements MMC’s longstanding college program offered in the adjacent maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women, which has awarded more than 235 degrees since its inception in 1997.
The Taconic commencement ceremony on June 10 awarded four Associate of Arts degrees in Social Sciences. The ceremony featured keynote speaker Topeka K. Sam, Founder and Executive Director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries (LOHM), whose mission is to help disenfranchised and marginalized women and girls transition back into society through spiritual empowerment, education, entrepreneurship, and advocacy. She is also the founder of HOPE HOUSE NYC, a safe housing space in the Bronx for formerly incarcerated women and girls.
In addition, Jane Maher, Ph.D.—long-term professor in the Bedford Hills College Program for over 23 years and professor at the Taconic facility for the last three semesters—received an award in recognition of her distinguished service.
More about the new Taconic partnership is available here.
Published: June 10, 2019
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.
