Scholarship Information

PBHA HOPE provides scholarships for continuing educational or personal development for persons involved in criminal justice. If you are interested in the scholarship, please click here to download the application PDF, which contains additional information and instructions on the scholarship and application process. If you have any questions or concerns, please email hope@pbha.org.

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Formed in the 1950s, the PBHA Prisons Committee sought to address the struggles of inmates seeking an education through teaching programs in local prisons and jails. By the early 1970s, student leaders of the Prisons Committee argued that their educational programs were not enough – the Committee needed to address structural problems with the prison system through advocacy and organizing.

Over the next three decades, though it shifted members, locations, and approaches, the Committee continued to offer educational opportunities along with advocacy for structural change. In 2001, this committee formed Harvard Students for Prison Reform to reach a wider audience and invite students from Harvard and beyond to engage in these issues.

Today, PBHA’s Harvard Organization for Prison Education and Advocacy (HOPE) continues to tutor and teach youth, men, and women in local correctional facilities, with its volunteers engaging in prison reform advocacy outside of the classroom, including a collaboration with Harvard’s Institute of Politics to write the first ever report on the use of solitary confinement in Massachusetts. Additionally, HOPE awards 3-5 scholarships a year to youth, men, and women in correctional facilities, which can be used to fund classes in continuing education and professional skill development as well as college and post-college degree classes.

HOPE is divided into two branches: tutoring and advocacy. While students work on issues pertaining to criminal justice reform on the advocacy side—such as organizing campaigns, film screenings, and a yearly 7×9 solitary confinement protest on campus—tutors go to local facilities every week.

PRISON TUTORING PROGRAM

HOPE provides one-on-one tutoring for men, women, and youth at six local facilities. Apply via our common app for more information on volunteer times each week: