Boston Globe Feature
Reentry Sisters Education Initiative
‘I feel supported the first time
in my life: Maine group provides
opportunity for formerly
incarcerated women
Read the full article here.
Press Release
Reentry Sisters Education Initiative
Reentry Sisters Receives $150,000 Grant from Sunshine Lady Foundation to Launch Education Initiative for Formerly Incarcerated Women
Portland, ME – June 1, 2025 – Reentry Sisters, a Maine-based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting women transitioning from incarceration, is proud to announce it has received a $150,000 grant from the Sunshine Lady Foundation. This transformative funding will be used to implement the Reentry Sisters Education Initiative, a program to remove barriers to education for women who have transitioned back to their communities, offering access to academic advising, career counseling, tuition support, and mentorship. The initiative reflects Reentry Sisters’ mission to empower women with the tools they need to rebuild their lives, achieve economic independence, and reduce recidivism.
"We are very grateful to the Sunshine Lady Foundation for recognizing the need to support justice-impacted women in Maine. While we currently offer bridges to services, mentoring, and community connection services, this grant will expand our work to include a dispersed educational model focused on college persistence and retention,” said founder and Executive Director, Linda Small, of Reentry Sisters. Small founded Reentry Sisters in 2022 to serve incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated women across Maine.
Education is a powerful tool for transformation, and this grant will allow us to expand our services and help more women create new pathways to success.
The Sunshine Lady Foundation was founded in 1996 by Doris Buffett to support higher education in prison and reentry programs. Buffett’s Foundation has supported Maine in the past when it funded the first college program inside the Maine State Prison.
For more information about the Reentry Sisters Education Initiative or to support their work, visit reentrysisters.org or contact [press contact information].
Contact: Linda Small reentrysistersmaine@gmail.com
Interviews
Journey Magazine
Program Manager, MacKenzie Kelley is on the cover of Journey magazine.
Bangor Daily News Op-ed - Rehabilitation versus punishment: How American prisons contribute to recidivism by Megan Roberts mentions Reentry Sisters as a community resource helping women transition. https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/07/09/opinion/opinion-contributor/rehabilitation-versus-punishment-american-prisons-recidivism-joam40zk0w/
Recover Loud! with Mackenzie Kelley
Community Voices for Change (WMPG) radio talk show: Interview with Mackenzie Kelley and Linda Small of Reentry Sisters May 2024 https://www.wmpg.org/archive-player/?show_key=mon1300&archive_key=0
and a second episode with Linda Small and Brandon Brown in June 2023 (
Mackenzie Kelley, Maine Morning Star. "A Failure of the system': Over 700 People have died on probation in Maine since 2013" (March 4, 2024)
Colby Justice Think Tank presented their policy papers at National Alliance of Higher Education in Prison Conference in Atlanta and at the Goldfarb Center at Colby College
George Mason University Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution - Hope, Renewal, & Rights mini-conference. Guest speakers Linda Small and Reentry Sister Victoria Scott.
Jobs for the Future Blog on gender inequities in prison education written by Linda with the help of many Reentry Sisters.
Left photo: Linda Small at the 6th Annual Second Chance Pell discussing the challenges and possibilities of prison education. Ved Price, Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison (2nd from left) with moderator Amanda Nowak, Senior Program Associate (far right) of Vera Institute of Justice (July 2023)
Publications
Reentry Sisters
The Permanent Commission Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations report on restorative justice mentions Reentry Sisters as a resource.
Linda Small. Contributor to Supervision: On Motherhood and Surveillance, Edited by Sophie Hamacher and Jessica Hankey. MIT Press and Orbis Editions.
Linda Small (2024) The Freedom & Captivity Curriculum Project, in Higher Education and the Carceral State: Transforming Together Annie Buckley. Routledge.
Linda Small, Inside Blue, Poetry in Exchange
Chandler Dugal, Victoria Scott, Linda Small and Mark Van Sickle (January 2024) Implementing Alternative Sentencing, Community Reintegration, and Record Expungement in Maine. Colby College Think Tank.
Linda Small (March 2024) The Freedom & Captivity Curriculum Project in Higher Ed and the Carceral State: Transforming Together, Edited by Annie Buckley. Routledge.
Linda Small and Chandler Dugal (February 20, 2024) Earned Criminal Record Forgiveness Promises a Safe and Economical Second-Chance to Deserving Mainers. Bangor Daily News.
