This plenary will highlight how Temple University has created programming and collaborations designed to help returning citizens reenter society and succeed personally and professionally.
Lori Pompa will highlight the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an educational program that effectively facilitates dialogue and interaction between college students, incarcerated students, and advocates for criminal justice reform. Pompa will share how the partnership between higher education and correction systems create opportunities to learn and foster civic engagement. Through community building across social difference, Inside-Out has provided coursework for more than 35,000 campus-based college students and incarcerated students worldwide.
Pompa will be joined by William Hart, administrator in the Temple University Office of Community Relations. Hart will share his testimony as an ex-offender who, upon release from prison, committed to serving others through social justice. Hart graduated from Temple University and was later offered employment by the institution. He left Temple to manage the Office of Reintegration Services for the City of Philadelphia. After serving in this role for several years, Hart returned to Temple where he serves as the Associate Director of Community Relations. He will discuss his personal experiences as an ex-offender navigating through society and receiving support for education and employment opportunities.
