Caption: Books from the OBB Library collection on their way to prisons around the state “Freedom begins with a book.” — Reginald Dwayne Betts, a formerly incarcerated Yale-educated lawyer, poet and founder of Freedom Reads Peter …
Odyssey Updates
Twenty years of experiencing A Raisin in the Sun (September 18)
Caption: APT’s Gavin Lawrence coached Odyssey students in readings from A Raisin in the Sun. Just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me what it is you want …
New enrichment classes build educational momentum
“We make a choice each moment that affects the rest of our lives and the lives of everyone around us. The decision is about whether we are the situation we are in — or if …
UW CHEP director’s letter
Caption: Students from OBB’s English 100 course at Oakhill, spring 2022 In May, Odyssey Beyond Bars (OBB) concluded an incredible semester of growth in which we offered courses in three new prisons, in addition to …
A seat at the table for Michael Lozano
UW–Madison may be only an hour’s drive from the Huber Correctional facility, but for Michael Lozano, caught in a cycle of incarceration, it might as well have been on the moon. By the time he …
Odyssey Project welcomes new instructors
The Odyssey Project is excited to announce the addition of two new staff members/literacy instructors, Erin Celello and Ben Shannon. Both Erin and Ben trace their passion for Odyssey’s mission in part to a parent …
20th Odyssey class selected
July marks the official start of the 20th year of the UW Odyssey Project. Thirty new students have been selected to form the Class of 2023. Beginning in September, they will receive two semesters of …
Recognizing our amazing monthly donors
Joy discovered Odyssey while working as a custodian at UW and found the program life-changing, a place where she felt unconditional love from staff determined to remove obstacles that got in her way. Five years …
Recognizing our award-winning team
As she stepped to the podium to accept her YWCA-Madison Woman of Distinction award last month, Odyssey teacher and Friends of Odyssey board member Professor Christy Clark-Pujara said, “I would like to thank Emily Auerbach …
Michelle Bozeman doesn’t give up
When Senator Tammy Baldwin visited the Odyssey Project, she asked alumni in the room how they discovered the free UW humanities program. Michelle Bozeman responded: “You asked me, ‘Did I find Odyssey or did Odyssey …