Humanities New York (HNY) is proud to announce that the Mellon Foundation has awarded $1.2 million to its Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership for a period of three years.
The 2023–26 HNY Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership (PIHP) will provide grants of up to $25,000 to organizations in New York State that serve individuals who have previously been incarcerated and their families. Humanities-based techniques will be used in each PIHP collaboration, bringing tools, shared experiences, and peer education to these networks with the aim of seeding life-long community enrichment. The award from the Mellon Foundation expands upon the first year of this signature Humanities New York initiative, the 2022 pilot version of the program, which funded five organizations: Herstory, Incorrigibles, Ritual4Return, Roots Wounds Words, and Time Out of Joint.
The Prison Policy Initiative estimates there are currently 92,000 incarcerated New Yorkers, a number that excludes the many more people who have been impacted by the prison system due to their own previous incarceration or that of someone in their family. Humanities New York’s PIHP seeks to address the myriad impacts of the prison system that reverberate throughout our state.
As an organization that seeks to strengthen democracy through the tools of the humanities, HNY is invested in pursuing these goals for all New Yorkers. There is a pressing need to support those affected by the prison system—to help these citizens strengthen their relationships and rebuild their lives. By doing so, communities in New York State grow stronger, as does our democracy.
Humanities New York is grateful to the Mellon Foundation for recognizing the importance of this work and for generously supporting it.
About the Mellon Foundation:
The Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.
