Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS)

Mission

FEPPS provides a rigorous college program for incarcerated women, trans, and gender nonconforming people in Washington and creates pathways to higher education after students are released from prison. Our goals are to increase FEPPS students' economic and personal empowerment, contribute to family stability, and reduce recidivism through college education.

Description

We envision a world in which people in prison can have access to and realize their academic promise through meaningful, sustained, high quality educational opportunities, and where a culture of punishment is replaced by a culture of human dignity. By providing rigorous college classes taught by top-rate professors, we replace the culture of punishment with one of learning and critical engagement. As one student writes, "We all have the idea that we want a better life when we get out, but the change that they want to see after prison has to happen in prison. Your life was a particular way when we came here. Without the transformation in between there is not the possibility for change. It has to happen in prison. I would never have just walked onto a college campus."

Students enrolled in our classes can pursue two degree options. Our Associate of Arts degree, accredited by Tacoma Community College, is a liberal arts degree transferable to any 4-year institution in the state. Since 2016, 76 students have earned an AA through FEPPS; many of them had to persevere through paper-based distance learning during COVID. In Fall of 2023 we held a joint graduation ceremony celebrating four years of COVID graduates (see a brief inspiring video from that day!)

On June 1, 2024, our first cohort of 10 students graduated with their Bachelors of Arts degree in partnership with the University of Puget Sound. This was the first BA program in Washington state and the seventh in a women's prison nationally. The graduation ceremony hosted speakers Roxane Gay (who appeared by video address), President Isiaah Crawford, University of California Los Angeles Prof. Kelly Lytle Hernández, and Puget Sound Board of Trustees Chair Beth M. Picardo. FEPPS’s 2024 Bachelor’s graduation was featured in the Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine. Read the feature here: https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/how-this-class-of-2024-earned-degrees-from-a-tacoma-university-while-in-prison 

Give Big allows FEPPS the opportunity to continue to provide a robust educational program for students at WCCW. This year, we invite YOU to join the #GiveBig campaign to support FEPPS's 2025 graduation!

Our students have worked tirelessly to earn their AA degrees, overcoming many personal and systemic challenges. In September, we will celebrate their achievements with a graduation ceremony (more details to come soon!). Your donation will help us host a ceremony that truly honors their hard work and perseverance. Give today to make their graduation special and unforgettable! 

PLUS, our top three donors on #GiveBig will receive a FEPPS Yeti travel mug!