Kaia Stern, PhD., is an advisor, educator, and author.
Kaia Stern, Ph.D., is faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Director of Justice Initiatives at the Public Works Alliance. From Harvard Law School to The White House, her work is grounded in reimagining justice and public health.
In 2008, Kaia cofounded and directed the Prison Studies Project, which began at Harvard University and is now emerging as Freedom Classrooms. She is the recipient of the 2018-2019 Radcliffe Fellowship and was the first Practitioner in Residence at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute where she led the Law, Education, and Justice focus area. She has taught extensively on religion, ethics, and transformative education, and is the author of Voices from American Prisons: Faith, Education, and Healing (Routledge, 2014).
Kaia has significant experience implementing innovative and strategic partnerships across various stakeholders as well as proven success in adaptive leadership that supports organizational wellness, development, and transformation. Her contributions to the Vera Institute of Justice, Kings County District Attorney’s Office, The Riverside Church, Open Society Institute, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Harvard University have facilitated partnerships across numerous schools, community colleges, universities, county and state departments, and private foundations in various states for the last twenty-five years. She serves as a consultant to educational communities across the nation and is acknowledged for her willingness to take on less traditional assignments within traditional contexts.
Kaia holds a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Vassar College, a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a doctorate in Religion from Emory University. She is ordained as an interfaith minister and has completed numerous professional training programs in restorative justice, trauma/healing, and conflict resolution.
Recent Collaborations
Beyond Punishment: A Guide to Mass Incarceration
Beyond Punishment: A Guide to Mass Incarceration helps readers understand the history, structures, and lived impacts of mass incarceration in the United States. Produced by the Applied Cartooning Lab in collaboration with Freedom Classrooms (which is a continuation of the Prison Studies Project), this comic-style guide combines visual storytelling with historical context, personal accounts, examination of how systems of punishment operate, and opportunities for justice beyond incarceration.
Freedom Summer Series
Frontyard FM is a grassroots community organization and artist collective focused on fostering intergenerational community, collective joy, and local aid. They host public concerts and dance parties, free political education events, and mutual aid fundraisers in Brooklyn NY.
Freedom Classrooms cultivates educational opportunities in and beyond carceral spaces through action-based conversations about freedom, punishment, and justice. We design in-person and virtual programming that centers the humanity of people impacted by the criminal legal system, sparking critical consciousness through the arts, restorative practices, and collective learning.
Freedom Classrooms, in partnership with Frontyard FM, is launching a public teach-in series that will create spaces to gather around political education, community discussion, and live music. We aim to bring writers, scholars, organizers and community members into conversation with each other to engage with new ideas, mobilize, and enjoy great music together.