Volunteer Opportunities
Connect with other Criminal Justice-related activities on campus
The Petey Greene Program
The Petey Greene Program envisions a world in which all incarcerated people have access to high quality academic programs and all people recognize their stake in supporting education in correctional facilities. Petey Greene supplements education in correctional institutions by providing individualized tutoring. The Program works to promote academic achievement in prison classrooms in order to support people and build stronger communities. Learn more at their website.
Prison Teaching Initiative
Princeton’s Prison Teaching Initiative aims to reduce incarceration rates, especially among poor and minority communities, in New Jersey by increasing access to outstanding post-secondary education. To this end, PTI provides credit-bearing college courses to inmates at two correctional facilities near Princeton’s campus. Courses in several disciplines are taught by volunteer instructors including Princeton faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, alumni, and advanced undergraduates. PTI works to provide students with the education and skills necessary to lead productive, intellectually engaged lives while in prison and when they return to their home communities. More information can be found here.
Project Solidarity
Project Solidarity (P.S.) is a student-run letter writing program designed to establish correspondences between Princeton students and individuals currently incarcerated in solitary confinement in the United States. The program is aimed at mitigating the effects of the unjust social isolation imposed upon individuals in solitary as well as familiarizing Princeton students with the phenomenon of solitary and the experiences of the approximately 80,000 US citizens subjected to it every day. Project Solidarity is an initiative of Students for Prison Education and Reform, conducted with consultation from Solitary Watch. More information can be found here.
Social Justice Grants, Internships and Fellowships
The Guggenheim Internships
The Guggenheim internships provide interns with placements each summer in the metropolitan New York area, at criminal justice non-profit organizations where they engage in direct client service, while working in legal services, social services, or policy and research. The program encourages students to develop on-the-job understanding of issues and successful programs in the fields of criminal justice, to learn about policy innovations, and to consider careers or further education in fields related to criminal justice. Find out more here!
The Class of 1978 Foundation
Since its inception, the Foundation has stayed true to its mission of supporting students' direct involvement in hands-on community service. Projects are as unique as the grant applicants themselves and the organizations they serve. Foundation recipients have helped build homes in the slums of Belfast and reintroduced biology courses to gutted high schools in conflict torn Eastern Europe. They have volunteered with community health initiatives in Cuba and worked with organizations serving urban Aborigines in Australia. Closer to home, Foundation-funded volunteers have helped teach younger students academic and test-taking skills they'll need for college; have briefed immigrants on their legal rights and protections, and have pioneered therapies and programs for hearing impaired elementary students. Find out more here.