Level Learning

Big news for our Level family! 💥 We are growing so that we can serve even more of your loved ones across the country.

We’ve just added five new facilities to our program, from South Dakota to South Carolina! This means more incarcerated learners will now have access to our entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and job-training guides. 📖✨

New facilities now serving:
🔹 South Dakota Women’s Prison
🔹 Jackson Parish Jail
🔹 Jenkins Correctional Facility
🔹 Tyger River Correctional Center
🔹 C.S.P. Los Angeles County

At Level, we believe that a brighter future is possible for everyone, regardless of where they are today. We are so grateful to the families and supporters who walk this journey with us.

Do you have a loved one at one of these facilities or the other 1,000+ we serve? Share this post or tag a friend who needs to see this! 👇🏽

🏠 "A 'house' is just a structure, but a 'home' is where you are loved." – David Jones

David Jones grew up in Northeast DC with a deep understanding of what it means to belong. But when he found himself incarcerated in a facility with zero educational programming – a "digital desert" – he had to fight to keep his mind active and his future bright.

David didn't wait for an opportunity to come to him; he reached out to Level.

While on the inside, David completed nearly 10 of our educational guides. He studied entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and more. When it came time for his release hearing, those certificates were more than just paper – they were proof to the judge of his dedication to change. ⚖️

David is now home, navigating his new life with resilience, ambition, and the same guides he used on the inside to build his credit and plan his future business.

At Level, we believe that education is a bridge. It connects the person someone is today to the person they have the potential to become for their family and their community. 🩵

Read David’s full story of perseverance and transformation here: https://learnlevel.org/david-jones-success-stories/

Please join us in welcoming David home and celebrating his hard work!

⭐️ "How do I get a job after prison?" and "What companies hire felons?" are questions we hear asked all the time by people coming out of prison. Our friends at Honest Jobs set up a company and a job listing service to answer these questions and help returning citizens find employment. It's good for companies, too, because it turns out that overlooked talent with a criminal record often end up being great performers with less turnover. We're big fans of Honest Jobs!

Which makes us all the more grateful when Honest Jobs posted a really kind blog post about Level's prison education service. "That's why we're proud to highlight the work of Level, a non-profit organization that is making a huge impact on incarcerated individuals by providing accessible, in-demand education while on the inside."

Read the post here -> https://www.honestjobs.com/post/level-prison-education-made-simple-across-the-country

💛🧡Check out the inspiring story of sponsor Diamond, who is working overtime to support her family and her loved one in prison. 🙏🏽💪🏽🙏🏽💪🏽💥

“When we are together, life is good.”

That’s how Diamond Quarles sums up being with Jerrod Jackson. The two met in high school and just seemed to belong together. Whenever life has separated them, they’ve managed to get back together, and it’s always for the better. When they reconnected during her senior year in college – just over 10 years ago, a fact that stuns Diamond (“Wow, that’s a long time!”) – they committed to each other for the long term. Now, they have two sons, ages 10 and six, and have built a real family.

“We do a lot with the kids,” Diamond says. “When we’re together, we travel. We do a lot of family functions together on his side of the family and on my side of the family as well.” She describes the two of them taking the boys on beach trips with Jerrod’s family, battling each other in dance competitions with the kids, trying new restaurants, and watching movies together. Diamond admits to falling asleep, but Jerrod, she says, “is really a movie guru.” And though he might not come across as someone who likes to read, he does. “He’s definitely one that you could find in the bookstore,” Diamond says, “and it’s kind of nerdy but cute at the same time.”

Lately, life has separated Diamond and Jerrod again, as a result of Jerrod being incarcerated in a county jail in Virginia. That’s taken him away from his family, from truck driving, a job he was truly passionate about, and from working on cars, another love of his. “Anything hands on, he’s the man for you,” Diamond says. Keeping Jerrod motivated for the future has been a challenge in a facility that doesn’t offer much in the way of educational programs. That’s where Level has played a vital role. Jerrod heard about the program from another learner and asked Diamond to look into it. She did and thought it offered him an opportunity to gain information and resources and connections that could benefit him when he’s back on the outside.

Check out the full story on our blog: https://learnlevel.org/diamond-quarles-success-stories/