Faces of Women Imprisoned

thelohm.org

Program

In 2018, we envisioned, developed, and launched a first-of-its-kind training program to prepare women and girls to be professional public speakers. We are a national leader in the conversation about how systemic racism, state-sanctioned violence, systems policing, and incarceration affect women and girls.

FOWI offers the tools, training, and resources for women to elevate their stories and change the narrative about who they are and what they can contribute to the world. It is an essential humanizing project that has the dual benefit of offering insight into individual lived experiences and providing directly affected women with a platform and entrepreneurial pathway to tell their stories and support themselves after incarceration.

The program is grounded in the understanding that women and girls offer a vital perspective on the overlapping systems that radically impact their lives. At the intersection of racism, sexual violence, and the criminal legal system, women and girls face outsized consequences, system involvement, and trauma.

The Ladies of Hope Ministries (The LOHM)

Dr. Whitney Hollins '21

Global Objectives

FOWI is a storytelling project—#RewritingHerStory—that aims to affect multiple systems and systemic failures: housing, juvenile justice, family wellbeing, sexual violence, criminal justice, employment and education, and opportunity. Specific objective(s):

Objective #1:

To change the narrative about women and girls most affected by the criminal justice system.

Objective #2:

To transform the systems and policies that affect women by developing a cadre of professional public speakers who can use their lived experience to increase access to education, housing, and job opportunities for formerly incarcerated women.

Objective #3:

To build robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning program to track activities, capture wins, evaluate and adjust training and learning and report progress publicly and vocally.

Gender Approach

It is essential to address trauma. The FOWI speakers have intergenerational trauma, but they also have intergenerational wisdom and power that they bring to this work. Current curricula and training emphasize their full power that builds through full self-expression and the ability to channel that trauma and pain for the purpose.

Monica Banks & Daughter Lyric '20

Kristy Lacshober '22

Developing & Fostering Entrepreneurship

At its core, FOWI is a training ground for entrepreneurs. Our LOHM Global Speakers Bureau is an entrepreneur support system. When we nurture entrepreneurship and pair it with support, we build self-sufficiency and illuminate pathways to independence and success. This shows up in their willingness to launch projects like standalone nonprofits, understand their role as independent, powerful women, and create businesses.

Meet the Speakers

Cohort Hummingbirds

Cohort Butterflies

Cohort Inspire Change (NFL)

Cohort Angel Faces

Cohort Fast Track

Hear their Stories

Get Inspired Now

Applicant Eligibility

Must be a woman or identify as a woman who has been directly impacted by the criminal legal system, state-sanctioned violence, or indirectly through family members impacted by either institution
Have reliable internet access and a device to attend live training sessions
Able to commit to class once a week for the duration of the six-month virtual training

FOWI Regular Track

The six-month course provides a safe space to address trauma and build

self-sustainability, emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship skills to empower women in their storytelling.

Apply

FOWI Fast Track

Faces Fast Track is a speakers' intensive course that focuses on sharpening your public speaking skills. This is an 8 week intensive public speaking training.

Apply

"The journey of each of these women demonstrates their strength, courage, and commitment. On behalf of Baloo, we are honored to provide a supportive tool that may bring comfort in a small, yet meaningful way as they re-enter the community."

- Founder & CEO, Elizabeth Grojean, Baloo