Rockland Sheriff, Prison Educators to Discuss Breaking the Cycle

Learn how education breaks the patterns leading to repeated criminality from Hudson Link executive director, Sean Pica, who was also one of the program’s first graduates.

All are welcome to Rockland Community College’s upcoming screening of First Degree, a short documentary about the Hudson Link program that brings higher education opportunities to inmates at Sing Sing and other correctional facilities using a curriculum created with Nyack College and Mercy College.

Join Pica and Sheriff of Rockland County, Louis Falco III for a Q&A session after the short film.

Hudson Link was founded in 1998 to end the cycle of crime, poverty and recidivism through the redemptive power of education and now sets a national standard as the most successful privately-funded prison education program.

Its mission is to provide college education, life skills and re-entry support for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women to help them make a positive impact on their own lives, their families, and communities, with resulting lower rates of recidivism, incarceration and poverty. Building on the success of more than 430 alumni and 392 degrees conferred, Hudson Link now operates in five local correctional facilities with partner colleges that include Mercy, Nyack, Siena, Vassar, SUNY Sullivan and most recently, Columbia University.

As a founding member and alumnus of the Class of 2001, Pica made the most of his time behind bars after entering prison at the age of 16. With cooperation from the Sing Sing administration and the curriculum created with Nyack and Mercy colleges, Pica become the first person in his family to earn a college degree.

Continuing his education, Pica has earned a Master of Professional Studies from the New York Theological Seminary and a Master of Social Work degree from Hunter College. His responsibilities at Hudson Link include program and operations management, business development, fundraising and implementation of the strategic goals and objectives. Currently residing in Westchester County with his wife, Lori, Pica also serves on several advisory councils and is pursuing his MBA at Mercy College.

WHEN: 11AM-12:15PM Tuesday, March 8, 2016

WHERE: Technology Center, Ellipse, Rockland Community College

WHAT: Screening and discussion open to the Public