The College And Community Fellowship Inc

What The College And Community Fellowship Inc does

The College and Community Fellowship (CCF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by Barbara Martinsons, a women's prison professor at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, to address the gap she observed in resources available to formerly incarcerated women seeking to complete their college degrees. Headquartered at The Interchurch Center (475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1626, New York, NY), CCF serves justice-involved women — a population estimated at over 70 million U.S. adults with criminal convictions — through a portfolio of six core programs: the Academic Support Program (ASP), which provides tuition assistance scholarships of up to $1,500 per semester for college enrollment or $1,500 per year for certification programs; the L.I.T.T.Y. Book & Writers Club for literary development; E.M.P.O.W.E.R.E.D. Entrepreneurship training; P.O.W.E.R. for civic leadership advocacy; V.O.I.C.E. for voter engagement; and Soular Sistas for wellness support. CCF also publishes the anthology "If These Scars Could Talk: Women Transforming Wounds into Wisdom," which debuted at #1 in Photo Essays on Amazon, and coordinates the Education from the Inside Out (EIO) Coalition alongside JustLeadershipUSA and the Center for Community Alternatives.

The organization operates without a proprietary technology platform, relying instead on standard web infrastructure (Squarespace-hosted website), Mailchimp for email marketing, the Givelively donation platform, and Microsoft Forms for member eligibility intake. CCF has directly supported nearly 1,000 women over 25 years, growing from an inaugural cohort of ten to a stated goal of reaching 1,000 more. The organization is currently led by Executive Director Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin (as of 2025), who brings over 30 years of leadership from NYC's Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, NYCHA, and community-based organizations.

CCF's business model is grant- and donation-driven. Revenue streams include foundation grants (notably a $750,000 general operating grant from the Ford Foundation in December 2021), individual one-time and recurring donations (the "Second Chance Squad" recurring giving program), modest revenue from the published anthology via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IngramSpark, and program-related scholarship expenditures. The organization is regionally focused on New York City but participates in national policy advocacy that contributed to four major New York and federal policy wins: Ban the Box legislation (NY 2015, NYC 2016), Pell Grant restoration for incarcerated individuals (2020), TAP restoration for justice-involved people (2020), and automatic voting rights restoration upon sentence completion (NY 2021).

Name

The College And Community Fellowship Inc

Legal name

The College and Community Fellowship Inc

Website

https://collegeandcommunity.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The College and Community Fellowship is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2000 that supports justice-involved women in New York City through tuition scholarships, entrepreneurship training, civic leadership programs, wellness support, and the Education from the Inside Out policy coalition.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Higher Education Support Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Higher education access
• Tuition assistance scholarships
• Reentry support services
• Civic leadership development
• Entrepreneurship training programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants: CCF receives grants from foundations including a $750,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for general operating support. These grants fund program operations, scholarships, and organizational activities.
2. Individual Donations: The organization accepts one-time and recurring monthly donations from individuals through its website and donation platform. Suggested donation amounts include $25, $50, $100, and $250 with custom amounts available. The Second Chance Squad is a recurring giving community.
3. Program Revenue: CCF generates revenue through its Academic Support Program (ASP) which provides tuition assistance scholarships up to $1,500 per semester for college or $1,500 per year for certification programs. Revenue supports the organization's educational programming.
4. Book Sales: CCF publishes and sells the anthology 'If These Scars Could Talk: Women Transforming Wounds into Wisdom' through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IngramSpark, generating revenue for the organization.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The College & Community Fellowship (CCF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports justice-involved women in pursuing higher education and economic self-sufficiency. It offers tuition assistance scholarships (up to $1,500 per semester for college or $1,500 per year for certification programs), mentorship, writing workshops, entrepreneurship training, civic leadership programs, voter engagement initiatives, and holistic wellness support groups. The organization also publishes and sells an anthology featuring stories from program participants.

Product overview

The College & Community Fellowship is a non-profit organization offering a portfolio of programs supporting justice-involved women through education, economic empowerment, civic engagement, and wellness. Core programs include the Academic Support Program (ASP) providing tuition scholarships, the L.I.T.T.Y. Book & Writers Club for literary development, E.M.P.O.W.E.R.E.D. Entrepreneurship for business skills, P.O.W.E.R. for civic leadership, V.O.I.C.E. for voter engagement, and Soular Sistas for wellness support. The organization also publishes the anthology 'If These Scars Could Talk' and coordinates the Education from the Inside Out (EIO) Coalition advocacy initiative.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Academic Support Program (ASP)

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 1,000 women supported in earning college degrees and advancing their educational pathways
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• Bard CollegemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 April 2021Bard College launched the nation's first tuition-free college dedicated to advocacy, arts, and sciences. CCF has partnered with Bard College on student success initiatives, supporting the transition from incarceration to reentry through educational programs.
• JustLeadershipUSAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJustLeadershipUSA is a key partner in the Education from the Inside Out (EIO) Coalition, coordinated by CCF. The coalition works to remove barriers to higher education facing students while they are in prison and once they come home, advocating for policies that increase educational opportunities inside correctional facilities and improve re-entry programs.
• Center for Community AlternativescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center for Community Alternatives co-coordinates the Education from the Inside Out (EIO) Coalition with CCF and JustLeadershipUSA. The coalition is a national, nonpartisan collaborative working to remove barriers to higher education facing students while incarcerated and upon release.

Scale indicators4 records

Direct peers

• JustLeadershipUSA: A national advocacy organization led by directly impacted people that co-coordinates the Education from the Inside Out Coalition with CCF. Operates in the same reentry and criminal justice reform space serving justice-involved individuals, including women.
• Center for Community Alternatives: A reentry and alternatives-to-incarceration organization that co-coordinates the EIO Coalition with CCF and JustLeadershipUSA. Provides direct reentry services and policy advocacy comparable in mission and member population to CCF.
• Bard College — Bard Prison Initiative: Bard's tuition-free college program for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students is a direct strategic partner of CCF. Both organizations focus on higher education as a reentry pathway, addressing a substantially overlapping justice-involved learner population.
• Petey Greene Program: Recruits and prepares volunteer tutors to provide educational support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Addresses the same higher education access gap for justice-impacted adults that CCF targets.
• Women's Prison Association: The nation's oldest organization focused specifically on women affected by incarceration, providing reentry, education, and family services. Closely aligned with CCF's mission and member population, though operating with a different geographic footprint.
• Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison: Provides higher education programs inside New York State prisons and post-release support. Operates a closely comparable model of higher-education-as-reentry that intersects directly with CCF's program portfolio.

Broad incumbents

• Osborne Association: A larger New York-based reentry and criminal justice reform nonprofit offering programs in education, employment, and family services for justice-involved individuals. Overlaps with CCF on education-focused reentry support but with a broader portfolio and larger scale.
• Vera Institute of Justice: A larger, well-established national research and policy organization working on criminal justice reform, including higher education access for justice-involved individuals. Operates broadly across the same reform space where CCF engages.

Others

• National Women's Law Center: A national advocacy organization advancing equity and opportunity for women, including on issues intersecting with incarceration and education. Comparable as a thematic advocate on behalf of women impacted by systemic barriers, though broader in scope than CCF.
• Brennan Center for Justice: A national law and policy institute working on criminal justice reform, voting rights, and economic justice — areas in which CCF also engages through policy advocacy. Provides research and convening infrastructure that is adjacent rather than directly competitive.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/collegeandcommunityfellowship

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The College And Community Fellowship Inc