Rise Up: Decolonizing Higher Education During and After Prison
September 8-10, 2021
www.riseupconference.org
September 9th, 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, during which hundreds of men incarcerated at Attica banded together, after years of abuse, to take control of the facility until their demands were met. The men’s demands were simple; better living conditions and opportunities to improve their lives. The same spirit and belief in the transformative power of positive programming can be found in people pursuing higher education while incarcerated today. Directly impacted practitioners offer not only lived experience, but also expertise and scholarship we have honed through academic study and training both inside and after prison.
This conference provided a platform for
September 8-10, 2021
www.riseupconference.org
September 9th, 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, during which hundreds of men incarcerated at Attica banded together, after years of abuse, to take control of the facility until their demands were met. The men’s demands were simple; better living conditions and opportunities to improve their lives. The same spirit and belief in the transformative power of positive programming can be found in people pursuing higher education while incarcerated today. Directly impacted practitioners offer not only lived experience, but also expertise and scholarship we have honed through academic study and training both inside and after prison.
This conference provided a platform for
- Prioritizing and learning from the voices of people most closely impacted by the problems our collective work is intended to solve
- Shifting power, resources, and control of the agenda to those people who have been disenfranchised and marginalized by the criminal legal system
- Recognizing and legitimizing the expertise of directly impacted scholars beyond their lived experience, and providing professional development opportunities for these scholars
- Practicing true collaboration through shared leadership and allyship
Rise Up 2021 Sponsors
The time to form a collective power and act is now. We owe it to those we left behind and those who are to follow. Keeping that in mind we selected the 50th anniversary of that Attica uprising, September 9th, as the first day of a two-day conference designed and produced by directly impacted people.