LOS ANGELES, Aug. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- World Possible is pleased to announce that it has been awarded $250,000 to launch World Possible Justice, a U.S. based prison education technology pilot program. The program will rely exclusively on open-source and creative commons licensed technologies to bring digital educational opportunity to correctional facilities. World Possible has hired Frank Martin, formerly the Education Administer of the Oregon Youth Authority, to lead the pilot program, which will build a roadmap for low-cost, high-quality digital education in state and federal, youth and adult, correctional facilities.

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"The incarcerated populations in the United States are not being given adequate 21^st century skills they need to re-enter society. By leveraging current open-source collections of content and unique offline technologies, we're bringing educational opportunities into a place that was off limits just a few short years ago," says Frank Martin. "If we prepare inmates, and I prefer the term students, for re-entry by equipping them with appropriate digital skills, access to education, and career content, we are going to reduce recidivism and unlock the potential that is in each of these returning citizens."

The pilot program will focus on the use of World Possible's RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) Offline technology and Endless Computers' educational Endless OS to implement technology without the need for internet connectivity.

RACHEL-Plus is built on Intel Corporation's Content Access Point and allows for a small slice of the internet to be stored locally on the device for use in a classroom or remote area without needing the internet. RACHEL-Plus is now used in over a dozen countries and is in independent pilot programs across correctional facilities in 11 states around the United States. Intel Corporation recently published a case study on the development and deployment of the innovative RACHEL-Plus solution.

"World Possible Justice is a natural extension of the programs we have run in Latin America and Africa over the past decade," says Jeremy Schwartz, World Possible's Executive Director. "We see immediate benefit to providing digital literacy, educational opportunity, and a pathway to a college degree in an offline setting that fits the needs of prison administrators."

World Possible will engage MANAUS consulting to document and study the pilot programs.

World Possible Justice marks the fifth chapter in World Possible's social entrepreneur program, following successful incubation of chapters in Kenya, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, and Namibia.

 

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Jana Melpolder
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SOURCE World Possible