This story is part of the QCBJ’s annual Newsmakers edition. This year-end wrap-up by the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal’s staff includes some of the biggest stories we brought you during 2024. Each story also includes an update on the subject. Excerpts from the original stories as well as the new updates appeared in print in our Monday, Dec. 23 edition.
The initial story was published in August of 2024.
As David Staples continued to seek justice through the Cook County Court system, the Rock Island man “is thriving” in graduate school at Western Illinois University, said Sharon Varallo, executive director of the Augustana Prison Education Program (APEP).
The goal of his Mental Health Counseling studies continues to be certification as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. He is still working with the Rock Island Downtown Alliance, John Howard Association, and “for the best boss ever at Staples Heating & AC,” Ms. Varallo said in November. Mr. Staples, the first APEP graduate, also continues to support the community through Heart of Hope Ministries, the Fully Free organization (organized by Project Now), and Augustana events in support of APEP’s mission.
As for the program, Ms. Varallo said, “We continue to fundraise, pray for MAP grants to be returned to incarcerated learners (which is the best investment Illinois could make, as each $1 spent saves $5 in reduced recidivism), and add new courses from around the college.”
This year and next will include APEPs’ first courses in Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Geography and Multimedia Journalism. It also has been working through the Illinois Department of Education Prison Education Program process to be able to offer Pell grants to qualifying students, Ms. Varallo said.
Currently there are 34 students enrolled at Augustana’s prison campus in the East Moline Correctional Center. Ms. Varallo said there will be four or five graduates for APEPs’ first-ever, on-site ceremony in Spring 2025. APEP administrators are coordinating with the EMCC warden to finalize details.
Faculty members also remain eager to participate in APEP. Eleven Augustana faculty were teaching in the prison during the fall semester. As always the classes they taught mirror those taught at the award-winning liberal arts college’s Rock Island campus.
Some 30 faculty and emeritus faculty have participated in APEP since its launch in 2020.
