William Freeman III
Manager of Higher Education Justice Initiative
William leads and manages the Justice Policy Fellowship, where he works with the policy team to provide an equity perspective on higher education in prison issues. Prior to joining The Education Trust, William served as an inaugural Justice Policy Fellow. Before that, William worked part-time with Prison to Professional as a program coordinator, where he recruited program participants, tracked attendance and assignments, and organized a virtual job fair. William also works with Dr. Stanely Andrisse as a research assistant. A native of New York, William grew up in Baltimore, where one wrong decision after another landed him in prison with a life sentence. During his incarceration, he got involved in the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP). He reentered society after serving 21 years in prison with 73 transferable college credits. He transferred onto Goucher’s main campus, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in Sociology/Anthropology and was selected to deliver the commencement for his graduating class.
Favorite Sports Team
New York Giants
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Ride motorcycles
What drew you to education?
I needed something to leverage against the poor decisions I made in my adolescent years. Higher education did so much more. It transformed the way I understand my errored decisions but maintain accountability and remorse.
Why are you passionate about working at Ed Trust?
Ed Trust launched the Justice Policy Fellowship, which in my opinion exemplifies “power sharing.” There is just so much equity and inclusion work to do to make a measurable difference. I am super excited to join the Higher Ed team to continue to expand the initiative.
