Our Leadership and Board

A Letter From Our Executive Director

Dear Friends,

We are extremely grateful for the educational opportunities provided for incarcerated women and men by our community partners, Tufts University, Emerson College, Boston College, and Boston University. They have each established “in prison” degree and certificate programs that help people to reach a higher potential. They have each added to our growth over nearly 25 years with degree granting programs where initiatives of this level did not previously exist. 

Mass incarceration and criminal justice reform remain at the forefront of concern for citizens across our nation. The data from recent studies by the Pew Foundation, the Justice Bureau, and the Rand Corporation (among others), detail how critical higher education and mentoring are in helping to drastically lower recidivism rates and contribute to the long-term success of formerly incarcerated people. 

For over twenty five years, the Partakers College Behind Bars Mentoring Program has successfully changed the trajectory of incarcerated women and men seeking a new life. By providing mentoring, and collaborating with educational institutions to provide academic opportunities, we continue to witness the graduation of incarcerated students in our program, and their successful reentry into their communities. Our amazing volunteer mentors (over 400) are at the very core of our success. It is because of their support, their relentless commitment to give, and their unbiased compassion; that the students they are matched with achieve new accomplishments and personal growth that is transformative for all. Again, as the studies show, the societal benefit of the contribution of our mentors cannot be ignored. With a 2% recidivism rate, Partakers is not content to rest on our success.

We continue to view the first two and a half decades as a stepping stone and natural segue to exploring ways of sustaining our growth, and how to deepen our impact by creating pathways and programs that benefit people post-release. In 2020 we established The Partakers Empowerment Program (PEP) in collaboration with Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative (BEJI) to provide essential education and resources for returning citizens.

As a society, our failure to find solutions for challenges facing formerly incarcerated people creates a sub-class of citizenship without access to resources and feeds the cycle of higher recidivism rates. Partakers deeply appreciates your support and thanks you wholeheartedly for joining us in becoming agents of change. It is your belief in our work that continues to help us to transform lives and build futures.

With immense appreciation, 

Arthur Bembury 

Executive Director, Partakers