The Program in Ministry and Human Services began in 1995. Following Congressional action in 1994 eliminating federal college aid for prison inmates, New York, and several other states followed suit in 1995 eliminating their financial support as well. As a result, all college-level education was removed from the New York State correctional facilities. Thousands of men and women throughout the New York State prisons who were pursuing post-secondary education as a means of improving their lives and the lives of their families were left without any means to continue their education. Many were only a few credits short of earning their bachelors degree. Earning a college degree offered a real opportunity to end the cycle of failure and despair that plagued their lives.

At this critical juncture, the Rev. Dr. George W. (Bill) Webber, Director of the New York Theological Seminary's (NYTS) Masters in Professional Studies Program (MPS) in Sing Sing, was approached by an alumnus of the NYTS Masters program who proposed that NYTS sponsor an undergraduate program for the men in prison at Sing Sing. Dr. Webber, who recruited volunteer professors and sought donations, embraced this proposal. Sr. Marian Bohen, Ph.D. was asked to be the coordinator of the program and was made available by her Ursuline community to do this volunteer work. Some graduates of the MPS program were selected to act as teaching assistants and mentors. With the cooperation and support of the prison administration, the Program in Ministry and Human Services was approved and operational in three months. The Program in Ministry and Human Services was established to fill a small portion of the void left behind when college programs were eliminated.

Throughout the program's affiliation with NYTS, the seminary never provided funding for the program classes. Private contributors and the Church of the Living Hope, an East Harlem church founded by Dr. Webber and ex-offenders, provided all funding.

As a graduate school of theology, NYTS could not issue undergraduate course credits for these undergraduate-level classes. But NYTS recorded the grades the students earned for the courses and issued grade reports. When Program in Ministry and Human Services alumni have presented their academic records issued by NYTS to undergraduate degree-granting institutions, they have usually been accepted and credits have been awarded toward a bachelors degree. Many Program in Ministry and Human Services graduates have gone on to earn bachelors degrees and masters degrees.

In 2011, Rising Hope signed an agreement with Nyack College, a private undergraduate and graduate institution accredited by the Middle States Association and New York State with campuses in Nyack and Manhattan. There is a remarkable synergy between the courses offered by Rising Hope and Nyack College. Thus, Nyack has become the joint sponsor of the Program in Ministry and Human Services providing full accreditation for the program. In addition, Nyack College sends some of its faculty to teach some of the courses in the Rising Hope branches.