Background
Since 2008, the Education Justice Project has been offering educational programs to individuals incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center, a men’s medium security state prison located about 40 miles from the Urbana campus. These include for-credit U of I courses, for which students earn Illinois credit and participate in reading groups, workshops, computing, an anti-violence group, and much more. These programs are offered in the prison’s education building where classrooms are equipped with chalkboards and in some cases computers, projectors, and screens. In a typical year, over 60 EJP instructors from campus and the local community participate in these programs, supporting incarcerated students’ educational goals while educating themselves about incarceration and criminal justice.
Business Workshops Description
Thank you for your interest in the Education Justice Project. Our Business Workshops will explore a wide number of business and related subjects including but not limited to entrepreneurship, business start-ups, accounting, management and administration, advertising and marketing, business and the law, business and academics, business, and non-profits.
Workshops are conducted in person. Please note that EJP students do not have access to the internet for educational purposes.
How You Can Participate
There are two ways of participating in EJP's Business Workshop program:
-offer a one-time workshop on a business topic of your choice. One-time workshop facilitators are considered "guest speakers" and do not become official EJP members, although they are welcome at almost all EJP events and activities;
-offer a multi-part workshop series on a business topic of your choice. Multi-part workshop faciltators are considered regular EJP members and are responsible for fulfiling all member responsibiities, e.g. reading the EJP handbook each year. Members also work alongside the Business Workshop program coordinator and EJP students at Danville in setting the direction of the program, creating program goals, and program assessment.
One-time workshop facilitators are welcome to apply for EJP membership if they intend to meet membership requirements.
Whether you decide to offer a workshop that meets only once or multiple times, you are responsible for determing the content and scope of your workshop and selecting the instructional materials you wish to use. EJP will provide them to the students free of charge.
Workshop Facilitator Responsibilities
· Attend all onboarding meetings and orientations offered through EJP and the prison;
· Commit to offering at least one in-person business-related workshop at the prison;
· Attend an EJP critical conversation discussion once per academic year.
You are also encouraged to consider offering multiple workshops in different business topics or offering a workshops series (several workshops that build on the same topic). In addition, we encourage you to attend EJP community events beyond required meetings.
Requirements
· Bachelor’s degree
· Experience facilitating group discussions
· Excellent communication skills
How to apply?
To apply to the Business Workshops program, please complete the form below. If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Thornton at info@educationjustice.net.
Please Note
Individuals must be approved by the Illinois Department of Corrections to participate in in-person EJP programming. Part of the clearance includes passing the background security check and IDOC (Illinois Dept of Corrections) security clearance requirements.
All applications are welcome. However, because EJP aims to create a supportive learning environment for our incarcerated students, we especially encourage applications from individuals whose backgrounds align with those of our students. This includes members of racial minority groups, first-generation degree holders, and individuals from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Please note that the educational offices are on the second floor of the prison and that there is no elevator.
According to Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) policy, if you are formerly incarcerated within Illinois or are actively visiting a friend or family who is incarcerated in IDOC, it is unlikely you will be able to receive IDOC clearance. Unfortunately, this is beyond our control.