The program
TRANSFORMATION BEGINS LONG BEFORE RELEASE.
Every woman who enters Empowering Women Out of Prison (EWOP) brings her own story. Many have lived through trauma, addiction, poverty, family instability, or other circumstances that shaped the road to prison. While their stories differ, they share one desire: the chance to build a different future.
EWOP helps women prepare for that future through education, personal growth, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and reentry support. Our work begins inside prison and continues long after release. The goal is steady: lives marked by purpose, stability, and hope.
The four phases
THE PROGRAM, PHASE BY PHASE.
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personal purpose, communication skills and character development.
Entrepreneurship & Career Readiness
Business fundamentals and a written plan, built with executive mentorship.
Graduation & Release Preparation
Graduation and Paying It Forward: serving on alumni committees and as leaders for the next class.
Reentry & Ongoing Support
Case management services, second chance employment and a community that stays connected.
The in-prison program
LEADERSHIP. CHARACTER. PURPOSE.
EWOP’s twelve-month in-prison program combines leadership development, personal growth, and entrepreneurship education.
In the first months, women build a foundation: accountability, character, communication, and the practical skills that steady a life after release. They learn to face their past honestly and to carry forward the confidence to begin again.
As the year continues, the focus turns to entrepreneurship. Women learn to think like business owners, and each one writes a business plan and presents it in a 7-minute shark tank style business pitch to a panel of volunteer business leaders at our Business Plan Competition. The plan matters, but the bigger outcome is what it builds in her: the discipline to finish, the nerve to stand up and defend her ideas, and proof of what she can do.
The year ends with a graduation ceremony that honors the work, growth, and determination each woman showed.
The reentry program
SUPPORT BEYOND THE PRISON GATES.
Our goal is not simply successful reentry. It is a foundation for the long term: healthy relationships, meaningful work, and lasting freedom.
The challenges of reentry do not end on release day. EWOP keeps walking alongside graduates as they return home and find their footing in their communities.
EWOP helps women across the state of Texas connect to housing, transportation, employment, healthcare, and mentorship in the critical months after release, when stability matters most. Our reentry program also gives alumni the opportunity to have free mental health services and monthly continuing education calls.
Community
A COMMUNITY THAT STAYS.
Transformation does not happen alone.
Throughout the program, women build real relationships with mentors, volunteers, staff, and one another, people who walk alongside them at every step. Monthly alumni gatherings, regional dinners, annual retreats, and ongoing mentorship keep graduates connected to a community that supports growth, accountability, and encouragement long after release.
We invite alumni to come back as mentors and role models. They offer hope to the next class and show, in person, that transformation is possible.
What begins as a program becomes a lifelong network of support.
When women succeed, families are reunited, children gain hope, and communities are strengthened.
What the program produces
OUTCOMES, MEASURED.
of EWOP graduates have not returned to TDCJ
of graduates employed within 90 days of release
women served since 2020
Source: EWOP program data, 2020–May 2026.
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