As part of our commitment to removing barriers to community-engaged learning, CCEL proudly offers Transportation Support Awards (TSAs) year-round to faculty, staff, and registered student organizations. These awards, sponsored by Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), have funded travel for over 1,300 students to participate in projects with community partners across Michigan and beyond.

One program that relies on TSA support is Write On! in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures. Launched in 2022, Write On! provides training for both undergraduate students and incarcerated individuals to become reflective writers through writing groups, workshops, and other creative activities. Through a partnership with the Michigan Department of Corrections, Write On! was able to provide courses in 2024-2025 for MSU students to reflect on personal biases and work directly with writers at Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

“[The participants’] feedback after each visit directed our efforts, effectively determining our workshop content and supporting resources,” says Kirk Astle, Ph.D., Write On! program director. During MSU students’ first visit to Parnall, incarcerated participants expressed that they would like to start with a focus on grammar and punctuation rules. Students developed lesson plans in class and on the way to the facility. “During each workshop, everyone found themselves enthralled in conversation about grammatical structure, and how slight changes affected emphasis or overall meaning, considerations well beyond issues of correctness.”

Feedback from participants at Parnall shows that these workshops improved their self-efficacy as learners, especially for those in college-level courses as they prepared to be released within a couple of years. In turn, the program enabled MSU students to build a sense of community with a population facing significant stigma, offer individualized support within a prison, and amplify the voices of incarcerated learners and writers.

“Going into Parnall allowed me to pursue change in a tangible way,” says student Paige Haddas. “What will stick with me is the feedback we got after our final session. We helped these students regain a sense of agency.”

“With the belief that everyone has a right to education, it was inspiring to help individuals working towards a better future,” adds student Emily Walters.

“This experience will not only inform their future decisions regarding marginalized people but will also provide grounds for challenging and complicating dominant, unidimensional social narratives about incarcerated people, narratives that help perpetuate a punitive impulse in the criminal legal system,” says Astle.

CCEL is proud to support engagement with diverse communities through the TSA thanks to the generosity of MSUFCU. To learn more about the Transportation Support Award and apply, visit the Transportation Support Award page or our website.