About CORE

Western Mass CORE began in 2019 during a shared sabbatical by two Holyoke Community College professors, Mary Orisich and Nicole Hendricks. Their work was shaped by their experiences with students attending HCC who were impacted by incarceration, and by questions about how community colleges could better support students with lived experience of incarceration. Around the same time, they co-taught a Gender and Women’s Studies course at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, MA.

Inspired in part by the Rising Scholars model in California, this work began with a focus on creating pathways from incarceration to higher education. It has since expanded beyond that initial scope to reflect a broader, systems-level view—centering students who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, and the wider networks of families and communities connected to them.

What started as a local bridge program has since grown into a regional initiative grounded in partnership and access. In 2024, Western Mass CORE transitioned out of Holyoke Community College and is now an independent, community-based organization, fiscally sponsored by MassHire Holyoke.

Today, Western Mass CORE connects local jails, community colleges, and reentry partners—building the infrastructure needed to support educational pathways from incarceration to college, career, and community well-being.