Where it all started

Our History

Our Founder and CEO, Marnie Alexander, volunteered with Community College of Philadelphia’s Tech Prep College program for many years as a math and reading tutor at Strawberry Mansion High School (North Philadelphia) and Edison High School (Hunting Park Philadelphia) while she completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Well, one day as she was at Strawberry Mansion High School, there was a young man who was very respectable towards Marnie; yet, he had a tendency of “testing” the authority of others. Therefore, his reading teacher asked Marnie to have a conversation with him as he connected with Marnie very well. As Marnie had to travel down three floors to reach the cafeteria, in part, the young man decided that he was going to take a lunch break with another classroom. Upon her arrival, Marnie located the student as he was sitting at the lunch table with another male student. Marnie approached the young man and just began to have a conversation with the two of them. Their conversation progressed and eventually, Marnie asked the young man “if his mother was home.” At this juncture, his response was the paradigm shift that altered everything for our founder. The young man stated that “his mother was incarcerated.” His answer validated his lateness, unpleasant behavior, and testing the authority of most of the women teachers at his school –to the extent that some of the teachers expressed their discontentment for the young man. Eventually, he went back to his classroom with our founder. However, Marnie stated that “as she departed the school for the afternoon and when she arrived back at her vehicle, she wept because of the mere fact that he was our future.” This incident led her to do some research as to women in prison and ultimately discovered that the statistics for women inmates were staggering.

Although, it was a few years later, but when the opportunity presented itself for Marnie to volunteer within the women’s prison facility . . . Marnie did not believe that she could have a significant impact. Nevertheless, what appeared to be invaluable turned into fifteen years of volunteerism. Marnie enjoyed working with the women as the words of Maya Angelou ringed true: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Marnie ultimately became the leader of the Women’s Prison Ministry that served three (3) different Pennsylvania counties women prison facilities for many years.

Finally, during 2010, Marnie thought that mass incarceration was going in the right direction and decided to step down as the leader in an effort to earn her Master’s of Business Administrations (MBA: St. Joseph’s University). Only to face the harsh reality of “Tough on Crime” policies were working against women. Marnie decided that she could not stand by and watch the atrocity of families being destroyed because of a small offence as women often are incarcerated due to drug addictions or minor crimes. Marnie would reengage with the cause but from a proactive approach –annihilate mass incarceration and recidivism from the outside and empower women to build their own foundation.

Given that statistics has proven that “two-thirds of those released from prison are arrested again within three years. Breaking this incarceration cycle is a top policy priority, but it is unclear which programs are effective at achieving this goal. Those who are employed are less likely to reoffend, and this correlation has led many to think that increasing access to jobs could be the key to reducing recidivism” (Doleac, 2018). Hence, our tagline; “When people have the best resources, they make better choices.”

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Annual Reports

Thank you for your interest in our mission and focus. Our annual report also highlights our organization’s values, purpose statement, major achievements of the past year, financial statement and an account of major contributions.