• Our Roots

    ​Building Lives With Learning (BLWL) is a non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to providing educational and vocational opportunities to current and previously incarcerated women and their children.  BLWL was founded by women who benefited from the educational opportunities that empowered their personal growth and rehabilitation.

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    We believe that education is the key to creating change and unlocking opportunities. Education develops the critical thinking skills and knowledge necessary for the examination of life choices and causative factors that lead to crime, as well as lead to improved decision making and productive lives.

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    "There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free, and educated woman."  - Angelina Jolie

  • ​Books and
    school supplies

    ​Having access to current college textbooks and supplies is a huge challenge for those who are incarcerated.  At Building Lives With Learning, we are dedicated to stepping up our efforts in addressing this issue. This is by no means an easy feat, but through cooperation and community empowerment we believe we can facilitate progress in this area. We are always striving to make a difference, and invite you to learn more and lend your support.

  • Tuition

    ​With this initiative, our goal is to break down this barrier and promote great opportunities for those in need. With access to the right resources, people can become empowered by their own abilities and gain the confidence to fulfill their potential. Learn more about our work by getting in touch with our team today.

  • ​Scholarships for families

    ​With our organization’s mission always in mind, we strive to find new strategies for dealing with the challenge of encouraging the children waiting at home to continue with their educational pursuits and strive to be the best they can be.  This is something that we take very seriously, and our team is working each and every day to make a positive impact. Contact us to learn more about our commitment to this cause.

INSPIRATIONS & AFFIRMATIONS

"No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens."    
 -  Michelle Obama

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse to never have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing, save by effort.”
- Teddy Roosevelt

"Old ways won't open new doors."
- Simple Strong Words

“… with the help of [BLWL] buying the textbooks I needed, I was able to continue pursuing my AA.” – Patty C.

​Help us reach Building Lives With Learning’s  goal of raising $30,000.00 in 2018.  This amount will enable us to continue and expand funding educational pursuits for the women at the California Institute for Women (CIW), including offering  the opportunity to begin exploring Bachelor and Master’s studies.

​To date BLWL has spent $3500 on textbooks, tuition, and scholarships through first quarter of 2018.  We have assisted over 27 women in pursuing their goals of higher education, and the textbooks we have donated continue to benefit additional students each semester.

​Building Lives With Learning tracks each sponsored person’s course completion and the grade that they receive.  A “C” average must be maintained in order to receive further scholarships.

Books that are purchased are reused for the next semester  allowing a donated book to help more that one incarcerated person , which allows Building Lives With Learning funds to be used effectively.

We will know we are making progress as each college semester passes and number of incarcerated student inmates increases leading to obtaining their college degrees.

 

We have team members and volunteers in place to vet both student applications and preferred courses, procure applicable materials and manage fund raising efforts. We’ve experienced a slow yet steady growth as we have moved into our third year. We look to expand our efforts further was two of our board members become more available toward the end of 2018.

We are setting our sights on various areas to extend our philanthropic efforts, they include:

~    ​Launching the program at Folsom Women’s Facility (2019)

~    Launching the program at California Correctional Women’s Facility (2020)

~    Offering scholarship opportunities to the children of incarcerated women.  We want to help support and encourage the families that are at home separated from their mothers.  This scholarship will help to cover some of the costs of the school year.  The criteria for receiving this scholarship is still being finalized, more on this later. (2019)

Building Lives With Learning’s goal is to bridge the gap for incarcerated women by giving them the opportunity to achieve higher education or a marketable trade in a effort to break the cycle of incarceration by returning them to their families and community as productive members of society.

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