On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon of the U.S. Department of Justice will participate in a round table discussion with former students who took college courses in prison to showcase the importance of providing Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals.  

The U.S. Department of Education is currently running the Second Chance Pell Experiment that allows 127 colleges to offer Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals. In 2023, the Department will be implementing a change Congress made that removes a legislative ban that prevented incarcerated students outside the experiment from receiving access to this aid. 

The Second Chance Pell Experiment was first established in 2015 by the Obama-Biden Administration to provide Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow them to participate in postsecondary education programs. To date, students have earned over 7,000 credentials, building new skills and improving their odds of success through the initiative. 

The event will take place at Marianne’s by DC Central Kitchen, which provides on-the-job training for adults and youth facing barriers to employment.  

A press gaggle will follow the roundtable discussion.