WHEP Presentation at the National Conference for Higher Education in Prison (NCHEP)
At this year's National Conference on Higher Education in Prison in Cleveland, WHEP made its debut on the national stage.
Our members presented "From Margin to Center: The Necessity of a Womxn's HEP Consortium," and for the first time, we got to introduce ourselves and our work to the broader HEP community. We opened with something that mattered deeply to us: the voices of formerly incarcerated women who earned their college degrees while incarcerated and now lead higher education in prison programs themselves. Their testimonies set the tone for everything that followed.
From there, HEP leaders who run programs in women-designated prisons shared what so many of us know from experience but rarely get to name together — the very real disparities and barriers that people incarcerated in women-designated facilities face compared to those in men's facilities. From limited program access and gendered vocational tracking, to strip searches just to attend class, to the weight of being a mother navigating incarceration and reentry, these are stories that don't get told enough in our field.
We were honest about why WHEP formed: out of need, and out of a feeling of isolation. So much of the work in HEP has centered men's experiences by default. We named those gaps. And we also named something equally true: the profound strengths, leadership, and community-building that emerge in women-centered spaces, and the unique opportunity we have to build something different.
The session closed with a group visioning activity that invited attendees to imagine what higher education in prison could look like if it were designed from women's strengths, not deficits. The conversation was generative and full of hope.
The feedback we've received since has stayed with us. Over and over, people have told us they've been operating in a silo — and that finding WHEP felt like finding their people. That's exactly why we built this.
We're so grateful to everyone who showed up, staffed the table, shared their stories, and kept the conversation going. Our community is growing, and we're just getting started.
Join us at whep.circle.so.
