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Education Preparedness Program

The U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate, imprisoning 655 citizens per 100,000. Wisconsin maintains one of the highest rates of Black male incarceration nationally (Pawasarat and Quinn 2013). Approximately one in eight Black men in Wisconsin are currently incarcerated (12.8%). These trends only become worse when focusing on specific neighborhoods in Milwaukee, where over 50% of Black men can expect to be incarcerated at some point in their life (Jackson 2019). Most incarcerated individuals are eventually released to their original communities in the Milwaukee area, typically neighborhoods surrounding Marquette University’s campus.

The Educational Preparedness Program (EPP)

The Education Preparedness Program at Marquette University (EPP) is a college bridge program that invites currently and formerly incarcerated individuals to explore their interest in college, whether they have already taken college courses, have never taken a college course, or never thought they would take college courses.

The mission of Marquette University’s Education Preparedness Program (EPP) is to create pathways to higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals and to expand traditional boundaries of higher education through collaboration across the Milwaukee community. The EPP is an initiative of Marquette’s Center for Urban Research, Teaching, and Outreach (CURTO) within the College of Arts and Sciences. We prioritize community-immersive practices that break down barriers and facilitate collaborative learning for personal and social transformation.

EPP Vision and Mission

The Education Preparedness Program (EPP) is committed to developing, strengthening, and providing educational opportunities to formerly and currently incarcerated populations, expanding traditional boundaries of higher education by emphasizing collaboration across the Milwaukee community. EPP seeks to extend educational resources to an otherwise underserved population in methods that exemplify Marquette’s Jesuit values. The program’s guiding principles include: promoting Milwaukee and racial justice, fostering system-impacted leadership, introducing a blended course model that follows humanistic pedagogy, and providing wrap-around services.

The Maquette University Education Preparedness Program (EPP) strives to create a prison-to-school pipeline to support successful reentry and flourishing for people directly impacted by incarceration. Through serving as a platform of accessibility that connects systems-impacted students to university resources and the broader network of support in Milwaukee, EPP aims to provide transformative learning experiences for degree-seeking and systems-impacted students and to develop collaborative solutions to shared issues in social justice.

EPP's Blended Course Model

We offer courses inside correctional facilities and on Marquette’s campus.

“Inside” Courses:

Students enroll in courses together as co-learners. Degree-seeking, campus-based students travel weekly to take courses inside prison and jail facilities alongside students who are currently incarcerated.

“Outside” Courses:

Students enroll in courses together as co-learners. Degree-seeking, campus-based students take courses on Marquette’s campus alongside students who have returned from incarceration.