Background on the Petey Greene Program and The Puttkammer Center for Educational Justice and Equity

Founded in 2008, the Petey Greene Program (PGP) is an educational justice organization that supports the academic and career goals of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through high-quality tutoring and other educational programs, while serving to educate our volunteers and the public on the manifest injustice in our carceral system. In January 2024, the PGP instituted the Puttkammer Center for Educational Justice and Equity, a new division that focuses on generating and disseminating research on carceral and reentry education. Recognizing that those directly impacted by the criminal legal system should be leading the work to reduce the harm of the carceral state and reimagine the criminal legal system, through the fellowship program the Puttkammer Center aims at creating a community of learning and practice within the PGP that centers the voices and perspectives of people impacted by the criminal legal system. The PGP is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, but the majority of our 30 employees work in a hybrid arrangement in their respective regions.

For more information about the PGP and our work, take a look at our 2023 Annual Report and 2024-2028 Strategic Plan.

The Opportunity

The Petey Greene Program model is unique in that, in addition to the high-quality and individualized tutoring support we offer to incarcerated or formerly incarcerated students, the PGP also provides extensive training and support to our volunteers. As the Petey Greene Program begins implementation of an ambitious strategic plan that will guide our work from through 2028, the Equity, Inclusion, & Volunteer Engagement Fellow will play a vital role in formalizing PGP’s approach to developing campus partnerships, providing volunteer supports, and elevating and supporting Black and system-impacted volunteers. More specifically, the Fellow will be responsible for developing and formalizing a PGP campus model aimed at providing leadership opportunities for campus-based volunteers and growing the PGP community and presence at university partners across all of our regions, while building and supporting a more diverse and inclusive volunteer body. The Fellow will collaborate closely with PGP staff in each region to review and evaluate current campus operations, including but not limited to: volunteer recruitment, campus leadership, work study, university funding, and campus events. The Fellow will be responsible for developing and recommending model(s) for PGP’s campus partnerships as well as for supporting regional program staff in piloting and implementing evidence-based best practices during the 2024-2025 school year. In close coordination with these efforts, the Fellow will also be responsible for expanding the PGP’s HBCU Forward Initiative, a multi-year program launched in 2021 to redesign our volunteer experience in order to elevate and better support Black tutors, while increasing their representation in our volunteer pool. The Fellow will build on the recommendations from Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the initiative, evaluate our model program at Howard University, and utilize lessons learned from this analysis to ensure that the PGP is offering robust support and justice-oriented leadership development opportunities to volunteers across our regions. Finally, the Fellow will work with members of the national leadership team to develop and lead initiatives that continue to cultivate an organizational culture and broader PGP community grounded in values of equity, inclusion, and educational justice. This may include but is not limited to the development of PGP’s Justice Education Series or identify-specific volunteer trainings, leadership of PGP staff learning communities or other staff support efforts, and participation in the PGP’s Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. This position is a one-year fellowship with the Puttkammer Center for Educational Justice and Equity, with the possibility of extension dependent on funding. The Fellow will receive mentorship and professional development opportunities inside and outside the PGP, and they will serve as a scholar in residence within the organization, collaborating with the Executive Director of the Puttkammer Center to generate and disseminate research on educational justice, equity and inclusion within and beyond the PGP. The Equity, Inclusion & Volunteer Engagement Fellow reports to the Executive Director of Operations, will work closely with the Executive Director of the Puttkammer Center, and is a member of the PGP’s national team. Candidates must be located in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic with preference for candidates who are located in a current PGP region. Candidates must be able to travel at least once per month to visit PGP regions and campus partners.