I cannot thank Level enough for these guides and the knowledge that they contain. All of you all there at Level have given me the opportunity to show the initiative that I am putting into my rehabilitative efforts with each one of these certificates. So, from the four corners of my heart... I say thank you.
A.I. career mentor for people in prison
Bring the power of A.I. behind prison walls. In the "digital desert" of the American prison system, 2 million people are isolated from the tools and information that define the modern workforce. Level is bridging this gap by delivering personalized, data-driven career navigation directly to people in prison, providing a scalable path to employment after release – all without requiring internet or computer access.
The opportunity
Unlock human capital with A.I. for people leaving prison
Budget: $125,000
Raised: $11,000
Budget
$125,000 Raised
$11,000
$125,000 Raised
$11,000
The high cost of the digital desert in the American prison system: Every year, 600,000 Americans are released from prison into a high-tech economy they are no longer equipped to navigate. Incarcerated people live in a “digital desert” with zero access to the internet or computers, making modern career planning impossible and rendering many of their skills obsolete. This forced isolation results in a 470% higher unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people after release from prison, fueling a destructive cycle of recidivism that costs the American public $80 billion annually.
Bridging the technology gap with offline A.I.: Level is changing the script by bringing the power of Artificial Intelligence behind prison walls. Our A.I. Career Mentor – Carmen – uses advanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology to bridge the digital gap without requiring internet or computers. By processing handwritten data from learners and matching it with real-time labor market trends, Carmen provides personalized, localized career roadmaps that transform untapped potential into workforce readiness. Having already served 6,801 incarcerated learners at 1,058 prisons, Level is uniquely positioned to scale this mentorship to a national level.
Invest in a new narrative: Your support provides the critical infrastructure needed to deploy this technology to cell blocks across all 50 states. By making a donation today, you become a strategic partner in dismantling the digital desert and ensuring that the A.I. revolution includes everyone. Your investment directly funds the development of offline A.I. modules and the data integrations that turn a second chance into a data-driven career path. Join us in unlocking human capital and building a future where every person has the tools to contribute to a thriving community.
How to donate
Contributors to this project
We thank our communities of support
We are thankful to Jobs For The Future (JFF) and Nightlight Insurance Agency for being the initial backers of this project!
Have questions about funding this project?
We've included answers to some general questions below. Please get in touch with any additional questions. Thank you!
Level is a popular, independent, nonprofit prison education program that offers education, career training and personal development for people in prison and connects with family members and supporters on the outside. Our unique approach can reach nearly any person at any prison, even those in high security or solitary confinement. 6,801 people in prison have spent 94,050 hours using the Level program inside 1,058 prisons across the country.
Level sends printed educational modules - we call them guides - to people in prison across the country. Our guides are designed to pass the stringent restrictions applied to incoming mail at correctional facilities. People in prison can use our guides in their cells or in common areas. Each of our guides is designed to be a 10 hour study program about one topic. People complete our program at their own pace.
When a learner finishes a guide, they transfer their quiz answers onto a Completion Form and send it back to us. Our system registers their completion of that guide, creates a Certificate of Achievement, and then we send a new guide.
We send updates by text or email to family members and supporters on the outside each time a new guide is sent and each time a certificate is earned. These updates help create connections and break isolation.
Yes, absolutely! We don't put all that on this page because it's a lot! We are happy to send you detailed project, timeline, budget, measurement and impact information. Please reach out using this contact form and let us know what you'd like to see.
A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is a charitable investment account that allows you to contribute money and receive an immediate tax deduction. The funds can be invested to grow tax-free. You can then use the funds in this account to make donations to your favorite nonprofits (like Level) anytime.
If you have a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), you can use it to donate to Level directly on our website. Level incorporates DAF Pay, an express checkout option for Donor Advised Funds.
To donate to Level using your Donor Advised Fund (DAF), look for the button at the top of our donate pages that says DAF Pay. Using this feature, you can securely log into your Donor Advised Fund right from Level's website, check your balance and donate to Level with your DAF account in 3 clicks - faster than a credit card!
Don't worry, we don't see any of your DAF account login or account information - that is all securely transmitted to your DAF account and not viewed or stored by Level. Check the DAF Pay website for more information.
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